Sat at the heart of a Unesco World Heritage Site, Cheshire's Jodrell Bank in England, the First Light Pavilion is quietly nestled in the green landscape's rolling hills. The site, by the small town of Macclesfield, is home to an observatory first established in 1945 by radio astronomer Bernard Lovell, and it includes the impressive Lovell Telescope. Now, this new piece of pavilion architecture, designed by Hassell, has been added to the popular tourist destination, as a centre that welcomes visitors who want to find out more about astronomy, science and technology at Jodrell Bank and beyond.
The pavilion ‘aims to open up the inspirational history of Jodrell Bank by engaging visitors with the fantastic stories of its pioneering scientists and their groundbreaking feats of science and engineering', offers a Jodrell Bank statement. At the same time, its architecture, defined by gentle concrete curves, was conceived to be subtle and respond to its leafy context and the nearby, familiar forms of the Lovell Telescope and astronomy equipment in general.
The First Light Pavilion's 76m-diameter dome is topped by grass, ensuring it commands a clear, yet discreet presence in the Jodrell Bank campus. Inside, exhibition designer Casson Mann composed a display that tells the story of the site and the science ‘of the exploration of the universe using radio waves instead of visible light'. Within the exhibits, interactive projected animations by digital media studio Squint/Opera, in partnership with exhibition builder Realm and software developer ISO, promise an informative and engaging visit for guests.
‘That transformational development in this quiet corner of Cheshire completely opened up humanity's understanding of the universe and allowed us to discover previously undreamt of things such as pulsars, quasars, and even the fading glow of the Big Bang,' says professor Tim O'Brien, associate director at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics. Jodrell Bank is host to the world’s oldest existing radio astronomy observatory, and the First Light Pavilion visitor centre celebrates this through its gentle presence and contextual nature.
INFORMATION
-
Frieze London 2025: all the fashion moments to look out forThe best fashion happenings to add to your Frieze London 2025 schedule, from Dunhill’s curation of talks at Frieze Masters to an exhibition of furniture by Rick Owens
-
Artists reflect on Kate Bush lyrics for a War Child auctionPeter Doig and Maggi Hambling are among artists interpreting Kate Bush’s 1985 track ‘Running Up That Hill’ for War Child’s online auction
-
Explore Tom Kundig’s unusual houses, from studios on wheels to cabins slotted into bouldersThe American architect’s entire residential portfolio is the subject of a comprehensive new book, ‘Tom Kundig: Complete Houses’
-
‘Belonging’ – the LFA 2026 theme is revealed, exploring how places can become personalThe idea of belonging and what it means in today’s world will be central at the London Festival of Architecture’s explorations, as the event’s 2026 theme has been announced today
-
Join us on a first look inside Regent’s View, the revamped canalside gasholder project in LondonRegent's View, the RSHP-designed development for St William, situated on a former gasholder site on a canal in east London, has just completed its first phase
-
The Royal College of Art has announced plans for renewal of its Kensington campusThe Royal College of Art project, led by Witherford Watson Mann Architects, includes the revitalisation of the Darwin Building and more, in the hopes of establishing an open and future-facing place of creativity
-
Power Hall’s glow-up shines light on science and innovation in ManchesterPower Hall at The Science and Industry Museum in Manchester was given a spruce-up by Carmody Groarke, showcasing the past and future of machines, engineering and sustainable architecture
-
Celebrate the angular joys of 'Brutal Scotland', a new book from Simon Phipps'Brutal Scotland' chronicles one country’s relationship with concrete; is brutalism an architectural bogeyman or a monument to a lost era of aspirational community design?
-
Max Creasy on the future of architectural photography and a shift to the ‘snapshot’A show of photographer Max Creasy’s work opens at the AA in London, asking a key question: where is contemporary architectural photography heading?
-
Tour this immaculately composed Islington house for an art collector who loves entertainingAn Islington house by Emil Eve Architects, on coveted Thornhill Road, combines warm minimalism and some expert spatial planning
-
Inside the Apple House, the sustainable centrepiece of Tom Stuart-Smith's gardening EdenThe mission? To explore and celebrate the ways in which nature can impact well-being
