Beautiful new constructions in England

Opened in 2011, the Hepworth Wakefield is a beautiful new waterside home for the work of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and other 20th-century artists. Skylights and huge windows flood the gallery with light, while its angular design is intended to mirror the shapes found in Hepworth’s much-loved sculptures. Make time to also explore the Hepworth Wakefield Garden, a free, flower-filled public space next to the gallery.

The newest addition to Jodrell Bank Observatory – itself a Unesco World Heritage Site – is the First Light Pavilion, an enormous, grass-topped concrete dome, which is designed to echo the shape and scale of the iconic Lovell Telescope (a radio telescope at Jodrell Bank). It contains exhibition space as well as a custom-built ‘space dome’ auditorium, but the building is also pretty cool for another reason. First Light Pavilion aligns with the sun. The sun shines in through a slim window right in the centre of the building and moves across the entrance foyer as the day goes on, like a giant sundial.

After Hastings’ original pier was destroyed by fire in 2010, a new and incredibly lovely to look at pier by dRMM architects was built in its place, which reopened in 2016. Hastings Pier, which has picked up a number of architectural awards for its sleek and simplistic design, is now a wide open space with uninterrupted views of the waves. There are beach huts selling drinks and snacks, while open-air musical performances fill the space during thesummer months.