Hopkins Architects - Buildings: A Personal View

What are the key buildings in this strong ouevre? My view would be that the Hopkins House (1976) was the precursor, more a springboard than a prototype. It expressed the dominant UK style at the time, Hi-Tech. The house paid massive homage to Ray & Charles Eames so you could argue that Michael & Patti Hopkins became the English equivalent of the Eames architects at this point. The house clearly had a close relationship with the earlier Hi-tech London house (1967) by Richard & Su Rogers and Norman Foster & Wendy Foster.

But as they worked with other building types a variety of styles emerged. Most eye-catching is probably the white tent devised for Schlumberger (seen at the same time in their own Studio) which reached its climax at the Mound Stand where it became more curvaceous and where the radiant seams appear to be much repeated. This tent-like concept is probably the Hopkins' prime innovation for contemporary western architecture as the hi-tech house simply emulated an established style.

Other patterns emerge early on - hi-tech cabling and expressed structure similar to Rogers, Foster and Grimshaw but with a certain heaviness, eg the nodal castings at Bedfont Lakes or the window bays at Bracken House. Brick is also a common feature from Glyndebourne to the Inland Revenue Centre with timber becoming more common in later works such as the Norwich Refectory. But then stone also is frequently used from Queens College to Sherborne so Hopkins Architects can't really be accused of being overly repetitive: they show a healthy eclectism in materials, style and form.

The frequent use of the white tent has been criticised by some for showing a lack of responsiveness to location but my opinion is there is too much invention in western architecture over the last few decades and it is entirely appropriate that once architects and engineers have worked extremely hard to devise a system that works it is worth repeating and perfecting.

I feel that as the briefs for some massive buildings came along the architects struggled to fully modify their design to apply appropriate scale and modelling. Buildings such as Schlumberger and the Mound Stand are strong concepts that work from macro to micro. The early Greene King building and the later Wellcome Trust Gibbs Building aren't elegant enough, a level of articulation was missing which makes them good but not brilliant buildings. I struggle with many elements of Portcullis House too, the massive dark brooding chimneys and heavy patterned roof are at the opposite end to the elegant floating roofs of the Mound Stand and Schlumberger.

The strongest buildings are interspersed within the chronology of Hopkins Architects' works suggesting a journey of investigation with successes and maybe some wrong turns. The David Mellor Cutlery Factory (1989) appeared whilst I was studying architecture, it was referenced by many suggesting something special; for me it was outstanding as an elegant but unostentatious building. Simple contextual stone base with a delicious gap above, then the conical floating roof topped off by a delicate lantern. Hopkins achieves something here that the other British Hi-Tech architects didn't, something softer and more responsive to the human pysche.

Another highly successful building is a concurrent project, also for David Mellor (1991), in Shad Thames. I worked here for Conran (CDP at the time) and although this building is completely rectilinear compared to the Cutlery Factory it is just as elegant. The Kahnsian articulation of stair/lift core set off and back from the main block using glass is accomplished and the expression of the concrete structure is clear and successful.

After this there is quite a gap - past buildings that seem rather soulless such as Wellcome Trust Gibbs Building - until 2004 when the Norwich Cathedral Refectory Centre appears. Although bulky from some angles the contrast of old stone with new metal and timber is clever and subtle. The dominant feel is a move to use timber - probably for sustainable reasons - but the structure is expressed in a clear and elegant way, just like the Shad Thames building used concrete. Timber structure or cladding becomes a recurrent theme in subsequent buildings - Alnwick, Skipton and the Jubilee Campus. These more recent buildings suggest a return to the more approachable and human style of the Mound Stand and the Cutlery Factory.

Hopkins stands with Rogers, Foster, Grimshaw, Horden and Wilkinson as one of the English Hi-Tech architects that went on to develop a less doctrinaire approach to buildings. Ultimately Hopkins Architects' buildings have proved responsive to Clients and context and provide a welcome contemporary antidote to the all-too-common British traditionalism in architecture.

Comments re our brief critique of Hopkins Architects ouevre welcome:
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Hopkins Architects: VeloPark, London Olympics

Hopkins Architects - Featured Buildings (chronological):
Alnwick Gardens Visitor Centre, Northumberland, England

Alnwick Pavilion building: photo © Adrian Welch
Michael Hopkins Architects - Alnwick Visitor Centre

Evelina Children's Hospital, London
Hopkins Architects : Evelina Childrens Hospital - Stirling Prize 2006 Nominee

Dynamic Earth Building, Scotland

Dynamic Earth building: Entry image © Adrian Welch
Hopkins Architects : Edinburgh building

Schlumberger Research Centre, Cambridge, England
Hopkins Architects : Cambridge building

The Queen's Building - Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Queens Building Cambridge: photo © Adrian Welch
Hopkins Architects : Cambridge building

Shin-Marunouchi Building, Marunouchi district, Tokyo

Photography by Miyagawa Inc
Hopkins Architects : Tokyo building

Portcullis House - Parliament building, Westminster, London, England
1989-2000

Portcullis House London : photograph © adrian welch may 2007
Hopkins + Partners : London building


Hopkins Architects - Buildings (chronological):
VeloPark, Olympics Site, London, UK
2007
Nicosia Cultural Centre, Cyprus
2007-
Chemistry Building, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA
2005-
Kroon Building - School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
2005-
Northern Arizona University - Advanced Research & Development Facility, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
2003-
New Science Building, Bryanston School, Blandford, Dorset, southwest England
2002-07
Shin-Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan
2001-07
National Tennis Centre, Roehampton, southwest London, England
1999-2007
Alnwick Gardens Visitor Centre, Northumberland, northeast England
2003-06
Evelina Children's Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, Lambeth, south London
1999-2005
Ickworth House, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, southeast England
2005
Ambulatory Cancer Care Centre, Totttenham Court Road, central-north London
2005
Utopia - Broughton Hall, Skipton, Yorkshire, north England
2001-05
Wellcome Trust Gibbs Building, Euston Road, north London, England
1999-2004
Norwich Cathedral Refectory Centre, Norwich, Norfolk, southeast England
1995-2004
Inn the Park, St James' Park, Westminster, central London
1998-2004
GEK-Terna HQ, Athens, Greece
2000-03
Haberdashers' Hall, City of London, England
1996-2002
National College for School Leadership, University of Nottingham, England
2000-02
Manchester Art Gallery - redevelopment + new gallery, Manchester, north England
1994-2002
Forum building, Norwich, Norfolk, southeast England
1996-2001
Hampshire County Cricket Club, Southampton, Hampshire, south England
1997-2001
Goodwood Racecourse, Goodwood Estate, Sussex, southeast England
1997-2001
Wildscreen@Bristol, Bristol, southwest England
1995-2000
Charterhouse - Sheltered Housing, Charterhouse, City of London, England
1994-2000
Portcullis House - Parliament building, Westminster, London, England
1989-2000
Pilkington Laboratories, Sherborne School, Dorset, southwest England
1995-2000
Jubliee Campus, University of Nottingham, central England
1996-99
Westminster Underground Station, Westminster, London, England
1990-99
Our Dynamic Earth, Holyrood, central Edinburgh, Scotland
1990-99
Saga Group HQ, Folkestone, Kent, southeast England
1996-98
Lady Sarah Cohen House, London, England
1993-96
Emmanuel College - Queen's Building, Cambridge, southeast England
1993-95
Buckingham Palace Ticket Office, Green Park, west London, England
1994-95
Inland Revenue Centre, Nottingham, central England
1992-95
Glyndebourne Opera House, Glyndebourne, Sussex, south England
1989-94
New Square building, Bedfont Lakes, Feltham, Middlesex, south England
1989-92
Bracken House, City of London, England
1987-92
Schlumberger Research Centre, Cambridge, southeast England
1982-1992
David Mellor Offices & Showroom, Shad Thames, southeast London, England
1988-91; later converted to Conran shop + offices
David Mellor Cutlery Factory, Hathersage, nr. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England
1988-89
Solid State Logic, Begbroke, Oxon, Oxfordshire, south England
1986-1988
Mound Stand, Lord's Cricket Ground, London, England
1984-87
Fleet Velmead Infants School, Hampshire, south England
1984-86
Hopkins Studio, Marylebone, northwest London, England
1984
Patera Building System, [Canary Wharf, east London, England]
1980-82; 85
Greene King Brewery - Draught Beer Cellars, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England
1977-80
Hopkins House, Hampstead, north London, England
1975-76


Dynamic Earth, overview image © Adrian Welch

Hopkins Architects


Dynamic Earth, south-east view - 2001 image © Adrian Welch

Michael & Patricia Hopkins - RIBA Gold Medal Winner 1994



Hopkins Architects : original page on our site

World Architecture : e-architect - a guide to key buildings across the globe

Evelina Childrens Hospital - Hopkins Architects : Stirling Prize 2006

Address: Michael Hopkins & Partners 27 Broadley Terrace, London
Contact: 0207 724 1751

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Michael Hopkins buildings - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt