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St Justus Church |
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New Church and meeting rooms, Rochester, Kent. Extract is taken from the RIBA South East Region Yearbook 1992; "The new church stands in a prominent position within a large housing estate. This prompted the incorporation of the tower with its spire and the interesting roof line - a distinctive element in the architect's designs. The building certainly forms a focal point in the community, with its roof of coloured country slates which shine as the sun hits the various slopes. The general design has been developed to reflect the architectural traditions of the Medway area- the naval architecture of Chatham Dockyard, and Rochester's historic Cathedral with the new church's spire reflecting the Cathedral's south turret to the west facade. Furthermore, the building is set above The Fairway and the graded banks reflect the surrounds to Rochester Castle. The wrought iron railings enclosing the Garden of Remembrance at the front of the building are of Regency style - again reflecting the character of Rochester and linking the present with eh traditions of the past - and the foundation upon which the Church has been built. A requirement of the Church Council was that the materials used in construction should require the minimum of maintenance in the future. The gutters and rainwater pipes are of pre-finished aluminium and the windows, all of which are double glazed, have pre-finished aluminium frames. The facing bricks are handmade Galtress Sherburn bricks. The heating is gas-fired with aluminium fin type radiators. To help with running costs the system is zoned, affording control to the various areas and usage of the building. The structure of the new building has taken into account the exposed site, and indeed all elements have been designed for severe exposure. While the walls are generally load bearing, glulam portal frames have been used to the worship area. The portal frames are exposed forming a tall open area with the introduction of high level north facing glazing and other roof lights to create good and exciting natural light in the building. The imposing interior creates an atmosphere which people can relate to a church but at the same time does not rely upon revival design. The exciting lighting scheme adds to the overall effect, by the used of a balanced mixture of up-lighters, tracking, spot and floodlighting, all to provide, no only an interesting effect but adequate lumen levels and lighting to suit a variety of occasions. The building is mainly on one level comprising a worship area, a large meeting hall of 150 square metres, smaller meeting room, chapel, parish office, crèche and tape/bookstall and a large kitchen designed to satisfy the latest statutory public health requirements and so planned to provide a servery to the entrance lobby and other areas when the main hall is in use. The meeting hall has a separate external entrance from the car park to enable its use when the church is closed and is connected to the well-equipped kitchen by both door and serving hatch. The toilet accommodation incorporates facilities for the disabled including a shower situated between the worship area and meeting hall and is within easy access and there is a separate toilet for the disabled off the main entrance hall. There is a mezzanine floor, part of which overlooks the worship area, approached via a circular staircase. This provides further meeting rooms and an audiovisual studio with visibility to both the church and the hall. The entrance hall is an important part of any church building, and so sufficient area is provided for welcoming forming a central gathering area with direct access to all the rooms within the worship centre. The adjacent chapel provides an easy and accessible space for counseling. There is a glazed screen between the entrance hall and worship area so that parents with crying youngsters can take their children outside but still feel part of the service without disturbing other worshippers. The screen also forms a viewing point for latecomers! The design of the worship area provides for worship in the round, bringing the congregation as near as possible to the sanctuary area, and has a seating capacity of 300 on individual chairs enabling flexibility in worship. The flooring is a patterned designed PVC tile which reflects the natural light creating an exciting design. The colouring has been kept simple with the walls painted in magnolia, enabling the church to develop the colour with banners and other decorative hangings. The large raised carpeted sanctuary area provides not only an adequate space for the celebration of Holy Communion, but also an area for drama and dance, an integral part of the Anglican worship. The sanctuary is constructed of timber allowing for flexibility should liturgy change at some future date. Large windows form a backdrop to the sanctuary area through which the congregation can view the Garden of Remembrance, enclosed by Regency style gold tipped black railings mounted on a dwarf brick wall. The church faces out to the people to which it is called to serve. A feature of the worship area is a sunken baptistry. It is situated in the base of the tower to one side of the sanctuary with the tower's high level windows providing natural light. Octagonal in shape, the baptistry has steps going into and out of the pool to facilitate baptistry by full immersion and a font at the rear to provide for baptism of infants by sprinkling. Water runs down the front of the font made of St Corneille Ramage stone which has a carved dove etched in gold to the front facade. The architect has designed the communion table, vicar's prayer desk and lectern together with the font so as to be unified. Provision has been allowed for the incorporation of items of furniture and fittings from the original church. The Church Council, mindful of the need to respond to modern techniques of communication, requested the latest audiovisual equipment, including a loop system in the worship area and main hall. All the rooms are linked to the system. Adequate facilities are provided for electronic musical instruments and the digital organ. The church building certainly makes a statement of its purpose and will be not only an encouragement to the regular worshippers, who have faithfully attended services in a school hall for the past two years, but also to the parishioners who have been without a church to which they might look. The new building is a response to both." |
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