Site Specific: A Porch for St Paul’s Cathedral

Connolly Wellingham Architects - London, 2022

CWA St Paul’s Cathedral likely requires little introduction to those who know London. The commission to design the new cathedral was given to Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire in 1666, and the building was completed in 1711. It is considered to be Wren’s masterpiece and a high point of the English Baroque. Three hundred years later, as the UK celebrates ‘Wren 300’, the church remains a major focal point for state and sacred ceremonies alike, for the city and the nation more widely. 

This latest phase of work completes a decades long ‘Equal Access’ vision for the Cathedral: unlocking truly step free access onto the church floor for the very first time. The new entrance takes the form of a sweeping external ramp, coupled with the internal porch; and is required to meet stringent technical parameters for security, circulation, air-tightness, thermal and acoustic performance – not to mention the highly specific nature of the church’s myriad ceremonial uses. The beautifully crafted external ramp was delivered by Cathedral Surveyor Oliver Caroe in 2018 and, in 2019, Caroe Architects in collaboration with Connolly Wellingham Architects (CWa) began the process of designing and delivering the internal porch.

Several drawings survived in the archives demonstrating previous iterations of porches that had stood in the transept. These designs, smaller in footprint than the current design, were not capable of accommodating the operational infrastructure required for a Cathedral in the 21st century. By 2021, and in response to the global pandemic, the brief had evolved to also incorporate a monumental role: a memorial touchstone, the physical presence in which to house the Cathedral’s digital Book of Remembrance.

The elliptical plan form engages with the sweeping arc of the outer portico as well as the technical specification of the revolving doors; enabling access whilst providing the appropriate thermal barrier. This form also protects views to existing marble memorials either side of the historic doorway.

The elevation respects several datums that rise up through the cathedral interior, whilst the language of ‘fluting’ and ‘beading’ that runs through the cathedral helps define our new tectonic, signifying thresholds and softening the acoustics. At the upper level a new circular clerestory provides glimpses of gilded saucer domes, and the great dome of the Cathedral itself beyond.

A full scale mock-up to test the scheme’s principals was constructed in place before the main construction process began in January 2022. The porch was completed by July later that year. The two-storey glulam frame reduces the overall weight on the historic floor as well as reducing the carbon footprint of the structure. Exquisitely crafted joinery panels were fabricated off site and assembled in the cathedral by Neil Burke Joinery, working within Sir Robert McAlpine’s ‘Special Projects’ division. The scheme was completed and opened in advance of Elizabeth II’s Ceremony of Thanksgiving as part of the UK’s Platinum Jubilee celebration.

As architects with a specific interest in building on the built, we remain fascinated by church joinery. Resolving the fixedness of ancient structures to the ever-evolving needs of their communities and congregations has, for us, a profound resonance with the modern day challenges of architecture, across all scales.

At St Paul’s Cathedral, the challenge is particularly potent: furniture and fittings are crafted to the highest standard, navigating the precision of Wren’s exacting geometry. There is a dignified, civic quality, alongside that of the sacred and the divine and all on a heroic scale. From the outset, we remained interested in the timber structures of our archival research, but also committed to finding a new language; a grain and tectonic that might enable contemporary architecture to appear within this historical context. In other words: we sought to introduce a vibrant young family member who might sit proudly alongside their more recent forbears and historic ancestors.

NOTES

Thanks to Charles and Fergus at Connolly Wellingham Architects for their help in posting this project.

CWa worked alongside Caroe Architecture Ltd to complete this project.

Completion photographs courtesy of Neil Burke Joinery.

Another project by CWa has been added to our Archive here.

Published 22nd November 2023.