Eleventh Church

 

A new Church near Kings Cross St. Pancras station.  We converted and extended a dilapidated historical building in a Conservation Area to provide a 60-seat auditorium, reading room, Sunday school, offices and ancillary spaces.  The upper floors were refurbished as separately rentable office space to provide long-term economic sustainability for the Client. 

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A new shopfront for the bookshop / reading room creates a welcoming character to the street. This is open to the naturally lit auditorium behind, but can be closed off for multi-use flexibility.

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We designed a simple wall cladding system for these spaces - a framework of oak battens does various jobs of screening spaces, cladding walls, opening / folding / sliding doors, window to Sunday school lightwell, translucent window screen to adjacent public alleyway, acoustic baffles, bookshelves and cupboards.

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These calm, contemplative spaces were created through innovative use of natural light and high quality natural materials, together with a strong environmentally sustainable approach to achieve low cost in-use and easy maintenance. 

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Project undertaken as McDowell+Benedetti

Photography by Agnese Sanvito