Spring 1971: Hyperbolic Huddersfield

“Like a parade of upturned umbrellas caught in a blustery West Riding shower.”

In 1971, brutalism went to market. Huddersfield market, to be precise. The Queensgate hall brought the shock of the new to Yorkshire, taking the traditional requirements of the market stall – shelter, natural light, flexibility – and turning them into something concrete and monumental.

Designed by Leeds-based J Seymour Harris Partnership, the hall took the form of 21 double-curved hyperbolic paraboloid (“hypar”) shells, like a parade of upturned umbrellas caught in a blustery West Riding shower. CQ was particularly impressed by the scale of the roof: “It lends height and dignity to the hall, the board-marked shell soffits providing a perfect neutral canopy for the complex colour and detail below.”

Each shell was supported by a single column, placed off-centre and varying in height from 3.3m to 7.6m. This made the structure asymmetrical, lending it a “more sculptural” effect, CQ noted. The shells cantilevered 10m in one direction and 7m in the other, with a concrete thickness of 76mm and 178mm respectively “to preserve equilibrium”.

The formwork for the 72-tonne shells consisted of four timber units, one for each shell face. At about 1.5 tonnes, these were extremely heavy, ensuring a good bond between timber and concrete. This resulted in continuous markings that “emphasised the paraboloid curves”. The units were raised into position by chain hoists on steel trolleys and the shells were cast in one operation, “seven shells being obtained from each of the three completed forms”.

There was nothing particularly new about the hypar form – modernist architects had exploited double curvature on everything from cooling towers to cathedrals, and Felix Candela had long used hypar umbrellas to cover commercial space. But as the 20th Century Society notes, Candela’s shells brace one another; in Huddersfield, each functions independently.

This is thought to remain unique. The market was grade II-listed in 2005, and after being threatened with redevelopment, is being refurbished as a food hall and covered library, set to open next summer. 

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