Visit: Barbara Hepworth building – HUDDERSFIELD CIVIC SOCIETY

BY JOHN LOCKWOOD

Stairway to the foyer in Huddersfield University's Barbara Hepworth Building

Barbara Hepworth Building, University of Huddersfield

Foyer in Barbara Hepworth Building, University of Huddersfield

Barbara Hepworth would have been amazed to see the huge glass enclosed space and dramatic stairway on the new building which carries her name at the University of Huddersfield.

Over twenty members of the Civic Society were privileged to enjoy a guided tour of the newly completed £30 million showcase building created for the students of the School of Art, Design, Architecture and Fashion, in December 2019.

Spectacular and visually stunning, this new building is situated canal side, opposite an elegant university textile mill conversion of earlier times with south facing views to Castle Hill.

Leaving behind the myriad of computers, 3D printers, the tools of modern architecture and designers, we walked across a newly landscaped area to view the restored, Grade Two listed bath house which the university had inherited from an industrial age.

At great expense it has been allowed to show all the signs of its past while it has been sympathetically converted into a small cafe and exhibition space.

We are grateful to our guide Helen Chadwick and to Carl Meddings of the School of Architecture who arranged our visit.