Trinity Inspires McLaughlin’s New Church - Architects’ Journal
December 2006
Text Richard Vaughan
Images Níall McLaughlin Architects
Níall McLaughlin Architects has unveiled these images for a new Catholic church in Peckham, south London. The practice has designed a simple plywood ‘waffle’ structure to make a central nave with side chapels and a community hall. The firm says it has taken a “simple structural principle, which is elaborated to create a great variety of luminous spaces.”
The site of the new St James’ church opens on to three different streets, and each element of the building can be used separately or together depending upon the nature and scale of the event. The practice plans to replace the existing church, a Romanesque style building dating from 1904, with this 1,200m² scheme. The design of came about “through an extended dialogue with the community,” allowing the varied parish to “articulate their needs and desires for a new building.” According to the practice, the process has led to a general agreement on the workings of the church among the parishioners, and the project is being widely supported by the community.