RIBA JOURNAL FEATURE ON THE BISHOP EDWARD KING CHAPEL
JULY 2013
Under the tile ‘Happy Ending’, Jan-Carlos Kucharek has reviewed the Chapel for Ripon Theological College in Oxfordshire. The article reflects on the conversations with the client to develop the design, together with the stories and architectural precedents that worked together to inform the building’s final form. Kucharek writes, “…there’s no questioning the positive effect of McLaughlin’s £2.6m chapel on the picturesque Ripon College, both functionally and aesthetically.” He goes on to describe the elliptical form, accessed on the diagonal between the long and short axes, as “a master stroke.”
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)