Church of Our Lady and St Vincent and Parish Centre
Client: The Westminster RC Diocese Trust
Architect: Francis Weal and Partners
Structural engineer: Andrew Waring Associates
Contractor: Durkan Pudelek
Bricks: Hammill - Light Red Stock
The idea of the Apostles as ‘fishers of men’ leads to the marine analogies in the design
The merging of two parishes in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, presented the community with the opportunity to build a new church and parish centre. Westminster Roman Catholic Diocese Trust appointed Francis Weal and Partners as architect in March 2003 but the design was developed with Father Timothy O’Connor and the church building committee.
‘What do you understand by an “antiphonal church”?’ was the first question Father Timothy asked the architects. The answer is a church in which the length is used for the mass with the congregation on either side. No one is more than five rows from the priest, making a large space feel surprisingly intimate.
Located on one of the main approaches to Potters Bar, the original church had been built at the back of the site. But it was decided to bring the new one to the front to make it an accessible and welcoming landmark, entered under a large canopy designed to encourage interaction.
The axis of the church is east-west but the decision to place the building at the front of the site means it is entered from the east. This is a break with tradition. However, it works well as the liturgical journey starts at the baptismal font by the entrance and proceeds across the sanctuary past the ambo (lectern) to the altar and presiding chair at the west end. The space between the altar and the ambo is used for distribution of communion at the edge of the sanctuary floor and for funeral biers, bridal parties and the gathering together of children before the altar. The Reconciliation Room and Blessed Sacrament Chapel are planned on the cross-axis to the sanctuary.
The symbolical themes that run through the design were fundamental to the initial concept. The idea of the Apostles as ‘fishers of men’ leads to the marine analogies in the shape of the sanctuary and the roof deck. Old Testament references to the ‘pilgrim people’ and their travelling ark are picked up in the shape of the church and roof – tent and boat. Internally this produces a space enclosed by curved walls and a pine structural deck ceiling which, thanks to a continuous ribbon of light from the clerestory windows, seems to float above the space. A spine roof light gives direction to the liturgical action and four broad bands of vertical windows, discreetly hidden from view at each end, bathe the curved walls with light.
The fittings – font, ambo, altar, chairs, credence table and pews – were designed by the architect. The font allows for both conventional and immersion baptism – the top bowl is used for the former while an accessible pool at the base allows water to be poured over the heads of the candidates for baptism by immersion. During services ‘living water’ can flow very gently from the upper level to the shallow pool in the floor.
The Westminster parish buildings surveyor insisted the building materials should be durable and easy to repair. A soft red stock brick was selected for the external skin of the cavity walls. The bricks were laid in hydraulic lime mortar which was supplied in silos, thus removing the uncertainty of onsite mixing. The mortar has a gritty texture because of the sharp sand. It gives the brickwork character and avoids the need for expansion joints in the middle of the four segments of the curve. The roof is slate and the gutters and downpipes are in zinc.
The church and parish centre are a good example of the way in which an imaginative designer can produce a worthwhile building to a tight budget. Indeed Father Peter Newby, chairman of the Westminster diocese art and architecture committee, said at the consecration: ‘This church raises the benchmark for new churches in the diocese.’