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What 1960's motorway runs through the centre of Wakefield? If Chipperfield is referring to Doncaster Road and Chantry Bridge (adjacent the Hepworth) then this road actually forms a physical and mental barrier between the old Chantry Church and his Gallery. The scheme could've been very different if the road wasn't in the way. Sadly Chipperfield and the Hepworth have missed a trick. The scheme should have an access from the bridge on Doncaster Road as the current entrance is hidden away and does not relate to any pedestrian flows from the city centre. Anyway the 1960s motorways are a fait accomplis.

If I was Chipperfield, I'd be more concerned about what the more recent interventions have done to Wakefield's city centre such as Marsh Way (commercial retail development in which one of the anchors Sainsburys pulled out of in less than a year's trading and moved back to its old store) and David's Adjaye's marketplace - a standalone 'iconic' building that bears no resemblance to context and more importantly does not function as a good market hall! Yet this disaster of a building that people hate and is not as succesful as the previous 1960s marketplace is considered to be good 'architecture'. Surely good architecture must function as its purpose too. Can you imagine if you bought an ipod because it looked good but then found out it cuoldn't play music?