The other day I watched a film about an architect. Seeing Louis Kahn's National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, stunningly reflected in the water that is both the beauty and the curse of that low-lying country, reminded me of a watery reflection on a smaller scale, that of the Hepworth gallery by the river in Wakefield. And I remembered that when there in 2011 I took photos of the gallery and never got around to posting any here.
I remember too that, as I lurked at the roadside taking photos, a number of local people came up to me to say how much they disliked the building, which they saw as a charmless, grey, forbidding, series of boxes. I think the Hepworth Wakefield is beautiful: its angles and movement; the silky, subtle texture of its walls; its endlessly changing reflections in the water - a light and lovely place for art.
3 comments:
yeah I love it too - the way it seems to be sitting in the water, its windows and simple lines.
From the pictures, it seems to heighten silence using its boxy/square structure. Forbidding yes, but that might well be its charm. I'd associate serenity with this building.
Fire Bird, I remember that you liked it too when you visited.
Anil, hello! Yes, I think this building does evoke silence, serenity and spaciousness and these are all part of its attraction for me.
I was just thinking that I went straight inside, admired and enjoyed the Hepworths and other art displayed to great advantage in the gallery, and wondering if the outside would look different if one hadn't been inside. I suppose it would, but I think I'd still like it.
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