26 November 2009
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Floating in the air above The Orangery?

The shape of things to come?

An arts pavilion high in the sky! Well, that's exactly what might be coming to Wakefield if an ambitious new plan goes ahead to extend and refurbish Wakefield's historic Orangery.

Back in the 1790s, when ladies and gents came to Wakefield to enjoy its social 'season,' the Dowager Viscountess Galway, a keen gardener and theatregoer, decided she needed a very upmarket greenhouse.

Since then The Orangery has been many things including a zoological garden, a school, a burial place and a public bathhouse. Now plans are in hand for it to be transformed into a Creative Centre for the Built Environment.

This new Centre, commissioned by the agency Public Arts, will provide exhibition and meeting space where, it is hoped, people of all ages can play their part in considering how the buildings and towns in which they live can be improved. Public Arts already use The Orangery as a base but now they want to develop its use as a regional centre.

The Orangery today

Now this might not sound all that surprising but the plan is to expand The Orangery not only outwards but upwards with a glazed rear ground-floor extension as well as an aerial pavilion "floating high" above. In this way The Orangery will remain intact under the glass pavilion.

The design is the work of architects SMC Alsop. It was Will Alsop who who came up with the ideas for a lake in the very centre of Bradford, a 'tunnel' of villages and towns along the M62 and bringing Tuscany to Barnsley. It is claimed the proposed high building is sympathetic to the site - The Orangery is surrounded by railway arches!

Today The Orangery is set in something of a backwater. However, is only part of a proposed facelift for the city. Last year Wakefield Council approved the Westgate Masterplan which includes the relocation of Wakefield Westgate station and the creation of pedestrian square to the rear of The Orangery.

Public Arts Executive Director Robert Powell says: "We think this 'New Orangery' will play an important part in the 'new' Wakefield. It will be an exciting and informative place open to local schoolchildren and the general public, and will be a real landmark and beacon for train passengers, visitors, and residents alike. Together with initiatives being led by the Theatre Royal, the Art House, and the Council's plans for the new Hepworth Gallery, it will also mark Wakefield out as a cultural destination."

If the plans go ahead, 21st Century railway users will be able to look out over the Orangery grounds, as well as the rest of the Westgate Conservation area, and see the aerial pavilion overhead. If the Dowager Vicountess who built the Orangery could only see this!

last updated: 03/05/06

Have Your Say

Good architecure or bad? Tell us what YOU think about the proposal to build a pavilion in the sky above Wakefield's Orangery?

Mike R
How utterly hideous! It's reminiscent of a failed Meccano model which I made when I was about 7 years old! How about soemthing simple and in good taste for a change? It could even be cheaper!

robert batty
an utter disgrace, to a beautiful building, as a child 80 years ago it was a magical spot, for me,and others of my generation, but to have these flying girders with no style only reminisent of a dhipyard derrics, what of the waterfront, do we not have common sence in the council chamber at all, if we are to have a city, then please, let us have people of vision, not morons, to change it . in 80 years you have accomplished one thing for wakefield, pugneys, why not extend now that you are robbing us of the park sorry but I have contacted the wakefield express ( at their request,) on three occasions about the regeneration of the city, not a word has been printed or taken notice of, so , I lost interest, and so will many other older people seeing the decay you are inventing.

SUE HOLDGATE
ANOTHER EYESORE IN VIEW OF THE FLOODS IN THE AREA WHY NOT DO THE FLOOD ELIVIATION PLANS THAT KEEP GETTING SHELVED TO FUND SILLY EYESORES LIKE THE THING THAT IS SUPOSED TO LOOK LIKE RUBBARB THINK OF THE PEOPLE OF WAKEFIELD FOR A CHANGE TIDY UP THE RIVERS AND STREAM,S LIKE YOU USED TO PROVIDE SKIPS ONCE A MONTH ON COUNCIL ESTATES THEN PEOPLE WONT BUMP IN THE BECK KEEP WAKEFIELD CLEEN SO WE CAN BE PROUD AGAIN ART MAY BE NICE BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF RUBBISH ITS JUST LOST

Atif
It's brilliant! Wakefield is lagging behind other towns like Leeds and Bradford. The plans, including this one, can put Wakefield on the map! There are these sort of buildings all over the world, it's high time we showed others we can put original and modern ideas into reality.

yvonne
Why not build around or above in the same design instead of an eyesore like this?

David Copley
Yhe arts pavilion in the sky is in keeping with all the latest modernisation, it is nothing short of an eye sore and should not be built,we have enough modern eyesores in Wakefield without ruining the Orangery.

Jayne Wainwright
It looks as ugly as the rest of the structures currently posing as 'art' in the garden.

Ndrew Allmark
I am very enthusiastic about the changes that are being made for Wakefield. The new extension on the Orangery should bring new life back into the building, and make the wonderful people of Wakefield more aware of the architecture of the city, and of the public arts work that goes on here. Wakefield already has some beautiful buildings dotted around the city centre, but the modern architecture in the city is very poor. This extension, along with the other building work they are undertaking, should help redress the balance, and finally give us modern building that we can be proud of.

Mr. FeZ
Alas, the Chavs will deface/destroy/loiter around everything the council has it's sights on achieving.

jonithefatboy.
NO

Don. Leicester
ridiculous typical Wakefield thinking is it going to be another bar. Another waste of money.

Stephen Holmes
This is a typically arrogant Alsop scheme - thankfully few of which ever get built. It is a wholly inappropriate design which does nothing to enhance one of the jewels in Wakefield's crown. Mr Smith's comment is of course misguided. This is not a Wakefield Council scheme even though the Planning and Highways committee did for some strange reason approve the planning application, against the advice of their officers and English Heritage.

Dan
Horrible.

colin smith
This is similar to most of Wakefield Councils great plans for the city :pie in the sky: Within a few years it will be scruffy and out of place like most of the cheap new buildings erected. The Orangery is good because it was built properly,something we dont appear to be able to do now.