Re: Re: STW Churches ! ?

Great last shot – I remember that view very well 🙂
The bright lighting and all the busy glazing bars made it feel like there was a lot of activity going on, with something special taking place inside. Symbolically it also opened the church up to the community, being visible from all around.

I don’t think the minimalist approach is at all inappropriate for a parish church; rather I just feel the glazing makes you feel too exposed inside – a personal gripe probably. And if you do want seclusion, I suppose you could avail of one of the shady side seats under the ‘eaves’.

It’s a classic example of a Vatican II church for a young emerging community though isn’t it, whether over-zealously interpreted or not as some may see it – the altar given no special position in sharing the same vacuous volume as the congregation, everybody seated in a broad way as to be visible and participating with each other, the altar elevated to a level apparent to all but the clinically blind etc etc…
It’s a Vatican II building executed from scratch, rather than an existing church to which the new thinking was hamfistedly ‘retrofitted’ as we often saw across the country.

It’d be sad to see it disappear rather than refurbished: what’s the thinking behind its demolition Peter – too small? Would it be replaced on site?