DEDICATION SERVICE FOR THE BISHOP KING EDWARD CHAPEL
FEBRUARY 2013
The Bishop King Edward Chapel at Ripon College, Cuddesdon is now complete. The theological college celebrated the opening of its new chapel with a service of dedication attended by the Bishops of Oxford, Gloucester and Dorchester. The services were followed by a dinner and presentation ceremony for those involved in the project.
The Sisters of Begbroke, who are resident on the college campus and who have funded the project, expressed their delight at the finished chapel, ‘We knew that what was needed was not just a building but a work of art which would touch the spirit. We are thrilled that this is what Niall McLaughlin has delivered.’
ATHLETES OCCUPY OLYMPIC HOUSING
AUGUST 2012
In the run up to the London Olympics, the Athletes’ Village housing block N15, is now occupied with athletes’ preparing for the games. Niall McLaughlin Architects have designed the external skin of the housing block on a ‘chassis’ designed by Glen Howells. The facade samples fragments of the Elgin Marbles, scanned from the British Museum and converted into 3D pre-cast panels depicting galloping horses from the Parthenon Frieze.
Niall McLaughlin commented on the practice’s approach to the unusual commission in Building Design. ‘I was very interested in the principle of the facade being delaminated from the building’s core form. Usually it’s something one tries to swim against to retain a sense of ‘authenticity’, but here we decided to embrace it….I like the idea of setting Ruskin’s conception of the craftsman against the absolute Taylorism of the construction process. Through digital reproduction, these deracinated stones are now doubly lost.’ (Building Design 27.01.2012)