Near Oxford (England), on the campus of Ripon Theological College, the Bishop Edward King Chapel replaces a 19th-century temple. In terms of form the chapel is the result of a number of influences. The interior space has clear echoes of English Gothic tradition and the sacred typology of centralized churches in both the elliptical geometry of the floor plan and the slender supports and beams of timber veneer, which cross one another overhead to form a beautiful lattice-like ceiling, through the perimeter of which daylight seeps in.

The exterior, for its part, makes references to the country’s building tradition, in particular the masonry walls of limestone. Although the composition of the entire facade follows the same scheme – an inner layer of stonework with thermal insulation –, the stone cladding of the outer layer varies in accordance with height. Whereas the plinth is executed with ashlar work in very light tones, cut with precision and with hardly any joints, the central volume is built with Clipsham, a kind of limestone present in the history of British architecture – from King’s College Chapel to Parliament –, which here is bonded in a masonry of small ashlars placed in such a way that the pieces of each course are positioned at a 45º angle with respect to the previous ones. The complex is crowned with a clerestory defined by the rhythm of slender slats of the same limestone.

Photos: Niall McLaughlin Architects