A wall integrated into landscape. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles
03/10/2019.
[West Bretton - Wakefield] UK
metalocus, ÁNGEL TORNE
metalocus, ÁNGEL TORNE
The Weston, providing a visitor centre and gallery, is the latest addition to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park sits in the grounds of Bretton Hall, an 18th century country park estate. It sits on the eastern boundary of the park, closest to the arrival route for many visitors from the nearby M1.
Since its opening in 1977 the Sculpture Park has developed a series of indoor exhibition spaces that complement the sculpture arranged across the landscape.
Since its opening in 1977 the Sculpture Park has developed a series of indoor exhibition spaces that complement the sculpture arranged across the landscape.
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mikael Olsson
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mike Dinsdale
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mike Dinsdale
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mike Dinsdale
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mikael Olsson
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mark Fleming
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mikael Olsson
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Peter Cook
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mike Dinsdale
Landscape plan. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Site plan. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Ground floor plan. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Sections. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Axonometric. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Details. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
Details. The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles.
The Weston Visitor Centre and Gallery by Feilden Fowles. Photograph by Mikael Olsson
Feilden Fowles Architects has fully embraced the client intention in all its buildings, designing a close relationship between the buildings and the landscape.
The building sits on the site of a former millstone grit quarry. On approach, a monolithic, 50m long concrete wall, appears semi buried in the landscape, punctuated only by a single opening which forms the entrance. This concrete wall uses a variety of exposed local aggregates to produces a strata-like effect. It is almost as though the building has been hewn from the ground.
This wall acts as a buffer, shielding the northern end of the building to shelter and protect the gallery space. To the west the building becomes a glazed timber-framed pavilion giving panoramic views across the park.
The building sits on the site of a former millstone grit quarry. On approach, a monolithic, 50m long concrete wall, appears semi buried in the landscape, punctuated only by a single opening which forms the entrance. This concrete wall uses a variety of exposed local aggregates to produces a strata-like effect. It is almost as though the building has been hewn from the ground.
This wall acts as a buffer, shielding the northern end of the building to shelter and protect the gallery space. To the west the building becomes a glazed timber-framed pavilion giving panoramic views across the park.
Description of project by Feilden Fowles
The Weston is carefully designed to have minimum impact on its surrounding site and, in common with previous Yorkshire Sculpture Park developments, to fit sympathetically within the historic landscape. Inspired by land art works by Michael Heizer and Robert Morris, the building creates a clear threshold as both an entrance and a destination. It comprises of a new restaurant, gallery, public foyer and shop, and will significantly upgrade the visitor experience at the East Entrance to the 200-hectare Park.
Constructed from layered pigmented concrete, evoking the strata of the millstone bedrock beneath, the building which emerges from the hillside of a former quarry, is defined by a concrete saw-tooth roof and scalloped GRP crown. Its low profile protects it from the nearby motorway and forms a sheltered, sunken terrace with views across the park towards the Lower Lake and Bretton Hall.
The project aims to enhance physical, intellectual and sensory access to the landscape, ecology and heritage of the historic estate, as well as to sculpture presented elsewhere in the park. The planted wild-flower roof and outdoor terrace framed with staggered boulder-seating further root the scheme in its native landscape.
Well insulated and naturally ventilated, the centre features an air-source heat pump and a pioneering low-energy environmental control system which uses a passive humidity buffer to maintain favourable gallery conditions, which will showcase a changing programme of temporary exhibitions, by 20th- and 21st-century artists to complement the collection in the park’s outdoor space.
More information
Collaborators
Structural Engineers.- Engineers HRW. M+E Engineers.- Skelly & Couch. Landscape.- Jonathan Cook Landscape Architects. Concrete specialist.- Jonathan Reid. Project Manager.- Turner & Townsend. Quantity Surveyor.- BWA (Europe) Limited. Clerk of Works.- COWL Ltd.
Client
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Main contractor
William Birch and Sons
Area
673.0 m²
Location
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG, United Kingdom
Dates
Completed 2018, public opening 2019
Budget
£3.6 million
Photography
Awards
RIBA Yorkshire Award 2019, RIBA Yorkshire Client of the Year Award 2019, RIBA Yorkshire Building of the Year Award 2019 and RIBA National Award 2019.
Fergus Feilden, Edmund Fowles. Feilden Fowles
Feilden Fowles is an award-winning, London-based architecture studio, founded in 2009 by Fergus Feilden and Edmund Fowles who recognised their complementary talents through early student collaborations while studying at the University of Cambridge. The practice now delivers a range of buildings across the UK, producing architecture that is rich in character and distinct in identity.
They are passionate about education, they research and teaching at London Metropolitan University, where they have run a design unit since 2014. To date we have delivered 16 education projects including four masterplans, across a range of providers covering both the state and private sectors, and primary and secondary institutions.
They are passionate about education, they research and teaching at London Metropolitan University, where they have run a design unit since 2014. To date we have delivered 16 education projects including four masterplans, across a range of providers covering both the state and private sectors, and primary and secondary institutions.
