Bauder Case Study: Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The underground gallery at Yorkshire Sculpture Park has Bauder turf roof as its crowning glory.

Bauder intensive green roof system for Yorkshire Sculpture Park Underground Gallery.

The Project.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a unique innovation that sets out to inspire art.

It is set within 500 acres of 18th century parkland and deemed to be an international centre for both modern and contemporary art that attracts thousands of visitors each year.

The underground gallery completed February 2005 is over 600m making it one of the largest purpose-built galleries that has been constructed in Britain in recent memory.

The Challenge.

With the architect situated in Bath and the project in Yorkshire, communications between all parties had to be precise and continual.

Project management of the roof by Bauder was delivered through two area technical managers - one servicing the architect and the other the client.

Furthermore all parties involved could not emphasise enough that on completion of the building, the transition of the roof and the surrounding landscape had to appear seamless when viewed from a distance.

The Solution.

The underground gallery was to have a Bauder turf roof as its crowning glory.

Bauder decided upon the use of a specialist piece of machinery that had to be hired from Germany in order to move the 500 tonnes of required soil from ground level up onto the roof within a couple of days rather than the weeks it would have taken if carried out by labourers.

This provided both significant cost and time savings helping to keep the project within budget and to schedule.

The incorporation of a ha-ha between the underground gallery and the gardens allowed for the seamless transition between the two to be achieve whilst acting as a deterrent to prevent visitors from being able to get up onto the roof and walk around.

The Outcome.

Created out of the surrounding hillside the new underground gallery at Yorkshire Sculpture Park has exceeded expectations providing a modern space for artists to come and exhibit their works.

The turf roof is a living work of art in its own right, sitting alongside all styles of art whilst blending into the famous 18th century Bothy Gardens.

As well as its aesthetic importance, the turf roof brings practicality too by helping to stabilise internal temperatures without the need for air conditioning, allowing the many visitors to enjoy both this unique gallery and its art in maximum comfort.

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