National Centre for Popular Music

Hallam Union Building of Sheffield
The National Centre for Popular Music
Former names	National Centre for Popular Music
Alternative names	The HUBs
General information
Type	Museum
Architectural style	Avant-garde
Location	Sheffield, South Yorkshire
Address	Paternoster Row
Coordinates	Coordinates: 53°22′39″N 1°27′58″W / 53.377466°N 1.466036°W / 53.377466; -1.466036
Current tenants	Sheffield Hallam University Students' Union
Completed	February 1999
Inaugurated	March 1, 1999
Cost	£15 million (Lottery funded by £11m)
Owner	Sheffield Hallam University
Technical details
Structural system	Stainless steel drums
Design and construction
Architect	Nigel Coates
Architecture firm	Branson Coates

The National Centre for Popular Music was a museum in Sheffield, England, for contemporary music and culture, a £15 million project largely funded with contributions from the National Lottery, which opened on 1 March 1999, and closed in June 2000.

Building design

The building, designed by Nigel Coates Architects following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions, consists of four giant stainless steel drums, surrounding an atrium area, the upper floor of which has a glazed roof. The drums, whose tops were built to rotate in to the wind, no longer rotate and have been left pointing in various directions.

Unusual features

The unusual building has acquired a number of local nicknames including the curling stones, drums and kettles. The Museum featured a 3D surround sound auditorium in one of the drums (called Soundscapes) created by Sheffield-based musician and producer Martyn Ware, who later used the same technology as the basis for his touring project "The Future of Sound". Two other drums were called Perspectives (music for different purposes) and Making Music (hands on). The final drum was used to show music around the world, but was supposed to accommodate changing exhibitions - this never happened as the museum closed. The interactive exhibitions were developed with the Philips electronics firm.

Facilities

The ground floor contained office space, a shop, a bar, a cafe and a further exhibition space. Access to this floor was free, with only the top floor forming the museum.

Additional images

View of two of the four stainless steel drums from across an empty road. The main entrance is visible between the two drums with a circular sign above containing the words "the HUBS".

The front of the building from Paternoster Row.

The upper half of the drums featuring the formerly rotatable tops. A deep blue sky featuring wispy clouds is seen above.

The roof of the HUBS.

The very top of one of the drums can be seen in the bottom of the frame, with the rotatable top taking up most of the picture. The top consists of an almost rectangular opening, which protrudes back and down into the top of the drum. Weathering can be easily seen to have degraded the drum and top.

Detail of one of the tops.

Commercial failure

High estimates of visitors

However, the Centre failed to attract enough visitors and cash flow to ensure its viability for its 79 workers — BBC News described the centre as having been "shunned" by visitors, and, despite a £2 million relaunch, the Centre closed for good in 2000. Ticket prices were about £21 for a family of four. It was hoped to have attracted 400,000 visitors a year. After seven months, 104,000 visitors turned up - mostly out of initial curiosity. At this point on October 18, 1999, the building's owners Music Heritage Ltd, called in PricewaterhouseCoopers to administer the day-to-day running. The company was to be liquidated in that November if administration was not successful. It was saved in the interim although it was owing £1.1m to 200 creditors. The estimates for visitors per year was reduced to 150,000. Martin King, the chief executive who took over from Stuart Rogers, then resigned in January 2000.

Subsequent use of building

It became a live music venue for a period from July 2001 and then being taken over by Sheffield Hallam University from September 2003, who bought it from Yorkshire Forward for £1.85m in February 2003. It is now the university's Students' Union.

External links

Sheffield Hallam University Students Union
Made in Sheffield
Mallinder, Stephen. (September 2007) Sheffield is not sexy, Nebula, vol 4, issue 3.

News items

Buildings in Sheffield, England

Civic and institutional	Central Library City Hall Cutlers' Hall Jessop Hospital National Union of Mineworkers headquarters Northern General Hospital Old Town Hall Royal Hallamshire Hospital Royal Infirmary Shrewsbury Hospital Town Hall

Commercial	Castle Market Crystal Peaks Digital Campus Dyson House 2 Haymarket Hillsborough Barracks Meadowhall Orchard Square St Pauls Tower Sheaf House Telephone House V1 Velocity Tower West.One

Educational	Alfred Denny Building Arts Tower Bioincubator Drama Studio Firth Court Goodwin Sports Centre Hicks Building Information Commons Octagon Centre Owen Building Pennine Centre Redvers House Sir Frederick Mappin Building University House

Industrial	Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet Beehive Works Brooklyn Works Butchers Wheel Cementation Furnace Cornish Place Globe Works Green Lane Works Leah's Yard Little Matlock Rolling Mill Moore Street electricity substation Sharrow Mills Shepherd Wheel Sydney Works Taylor's Eye Witness Works Well Meadow Street Crucible Furnace

Leisure and entertainment	Abbeydale Picture House Academy Birley Spa The Boardwalk Carbrook Hall The Cremorne Crucible Theatre Gatecrasher One Glossop Road Baths Hallam Tower Kelham Island Museum Leadmill Lyceum Theatre Millennium Galleries National Centre for Popular Music Old Queen's Head, Sheffield Odeon Sheffield Plug Sheffield Arena Showroom Cinema Weston Park Museum Winter Gardens

Religious	Churches in Sheffield Madina Mosque Wilson Road Synagogue

Residential	Birley Old Hall Broom Hall Burrowlee House Carbrook Hall Endcliffe Hall Fair House Farmhouse Fulwood Hall Hallfield House Hancock & Lant Tower Hillsborough House Leader House Loxley House Manor Castle Mount Pleasant Mylnhurst Norton Hall Oakes Park Old Bank House Onesacre Hall Parkhead Hall Park Hill Queen's Tower Regent Court Revell Grange Riverdale House Stumperlowe Cottage Stumperlowe Hall Sugworth Hall Tapton Hall The Towers Whiteley Wood Hall Whitley Hall

Sporting	Bramall Lane Don Valley Stadium English Institute of Sport Hillsborough Stadium IceSheffield Owlerton Stadium Ponds Forge Sandygate Road Ski Village

Transport	Bridgehouses station Crystal Peaks bus station Interchange Midland station Victoria station Wicker station

Other structures	192 Shoreham Street Cholera Monument Cobweb Bridge Lady's Bridge Park Square Bridge Tinsley Viaduct Totley Tunnel Wicker Arches

Lists of buildings	Brutalist apartment blocks Buildings and structures Listed buildings Pubs Tallest buildings and structures

Demolished buildings are shown in italics

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