David Chipperfield Architects marks 15 years of two landmark museums in new short film

David Chipperfield Architects has released a short film marking the 15th anniversary of the Hepworth Wakefield gallery in West Yorkshire and the Turner Contemporary museum in Margate — two buildings the studio calls its "most important projects."

The two museums opened within weeks of each other in 2011. The studio shared the film exclusively with Dezeen.

"This year marks the 15th anniversary of both Turner Contemporary and Hepworth Wakefield, two of our most important projects," David Chipperfield Architects told Dezeen.

"Opening within weeks of each other, they represented something of a homecoming for the practice after years of success outside the UK."

Why do these two buildings matter to the studio?

According to the studio, the projects set the formal direction for much of its subsequent work. "Fifteen years on, both museums have exceeded expectations," it said.

"The projects share not only similar civic ambitions and timing, but also a formal approach: sculptural, monolithic responses to their settings, with a focus on natural light that would go on to influence our later work."

The film documents the impact of the two galleries through interviews with people who work at and visit them, interspersed with views of the buildings.

What does the film say about Margate?

One interviewee, Turner Contemporary employee Katie Barber, says in the film that the museum triggered a creative renaissance in Margate — despite initial hesitation from the local community.

"Turner Contemporary was conceived in the mid 2000s," Barber said. "Margate was going through a pretty low ebb; it started a bit of a creative resurgence."

Who made the film, and what comes next?

David Chipperfield founded his practice in 1985. The studio recently transformed a historic Spanish bank into the Faro Santander museum and is currently designing the red-brick Nobel Center in Sweden.

Credits for the short film:

• Producer: Household Pictures
• Camera: Jude O'Connor and Luke Harrison Darby
• Edit: Kate Contadini
• Sound: Steven Villacís

With the two 2011 museums now framed by the studio as formative to its later architecture, the film positions Turner Contemporary and the Hepworth Wakefield as the reference points against which the practice's current and future museum work — from Santander to Stockholm — will be read.