London-based Feilden Fowles has been selected to design a new visitor center for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP). To be located on the southern entrance of the park on a hillside that used to be part of a quarry, the rammed-earth building will arise from the ground. The center aims to increase the park’s capacity, which currently receives over 400,000 visitors every year, and will include a 140-square-meter restaurant, a 125-square-meter gallery space, an 80-square-meter public foyer and a 50-square-meter shop.
The design incorporates passive strategies, using “un-fired clay bricks to provide a passive humidity buffer” in addition to “a highly insulated envelope, natural ventilation, air-source heat pump and a dense, acid moorland green roof.”
The new gallery space will feature a concrete, saw-tooth roof with translucent GRP panels, providing adequate lighting conditions for artwork displays.
“We are delighted to have won this prestigious new commission through competitive tender, to work with Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The project provides a unique opportunity for the practice to forge a building truly embedded within the landscape, resonating with both its natural context and the significant works of sculpture surrounding it,” said Edmund Fowles, Partner, Feilden Fowles.
The visitor center is part of a series of projects undertaken by the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, including the refurbishment of their Chapel, the opening of the Longside and Underground galleries, and the transformation of the Kennel Block into a learning center and café. Construction is expected to wrap up by 2017.
Architects
Location
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 4LG, United KingdomLandscape Architects
Jonathan CookStructural Engineers
Environmental Engineers
Area
662.0 sqmProject Year
2017Photographs
Picture PlaneLocation
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire WF4 4LG, UKProject Year
2017Photographs
Courtesy of Picture PlaneArea
662.0 m2
