Bishop Edward King Chapel, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire
Bishop Edward King Chapel, Cuddesdon, Oxfordshire
Ripon Theological College is an Anglican seminary and its collegiate buildings, built of warm Cotswold stone by G E Street in the 1850s,in Oxfordshire. In these idyllic surroundings, in a clearing flanked by a huge copper beech dating from 1710, is the new Bishop Edward King Chapel, designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects.
The chapel is an elliptical drum of Clipsham stone;
The internal space of the building is a serene and light-filled place of worship with the altar and a solid oak lectern semi-enclosed in an inner ellipse created by a series of lofty glulam arches which rise and curve to create an open diagrid above it. The seating arrangements are fixed benches made of ash.
The wall and roof structure
The structure can be divided into two essentially independent and self-supporting parts; firstly, the external wall, secondly the roof structure, glulam columns and lattice diagrid.
Glulam was chosen for the internal timber structure for its ability to create elegant curved columns and beams. A series of Glulam columns curve inwards into the elegant open diagrid which arched over the centre of the chapel. Single 60mm thick glulam columns (tapering from 300 to 430mm) run at the curved ends of the ellipse.
As they rise upwards, the outer members curve inwards in different directions, connecting to adjacent glulam members to form the diagrid, while the central member curves upwards in the opposite direction to meet the clerestory mullions.
The spruce glulam components were CNC machined to profile and to create their concealed connections, then cut and finger jointed to produce the curved haunches of the portalised columns. The glulam structure was fabricated off-site and the individual elements were then craned and bolted into place.
Surfaces
The materials of the chapel interior – stone, lime plaster, ash furniture, oak doors and spruce glulam columns share similar natural colours; the glulam was treated fire retardant stain, giving it a light, white-washed appearance.
Products
Specified For the ash furniture and panelling;
- Tikkurila Kiva Waterborne Lacquer Tinted to TVT1600
For Fire protection to the Glulam;
- Envirograf Waterborne Adhesion Primer - ES/VFR Primer
- Envirograf Q/VFR Fire Retardant Coating Tinted to TVT 1600
Fire rated to EN 13501-1 B/S1/d0 The highest classification for these types of product.
Awards
RIBA Award 2013
Wood Award 2013
Civic Trust Award 2014