The Hepworth Wakefield

The gallery stands at the edge of a river beside a weir, on a former industrial waterfront. It was built to show the work of a major twentieth-century sculptor born in the town, alongside other collections.

The British design team composed it as a cluster of ten trapezoidal blocks of different sizes, whose pitched roofs and angled walls echo the industrial buildings nearby. The blocks rise directly from the water and are cast in a pigmented concrete with a soft, matt finish.

Inside, the galleries on the upper floor are lit from above through the sloping roofs, each room taking its shape and light from the block that contains it. Large windows frame views of the river, the weir and the town, linking the art to its setting.