Sherwood Church opening the doors to a closed church and halls with glass and light
Alongside gentle and delicate upgrading and restoration works throughout this beautiful
Victorian church and halls, we were challenged with creating a new entrance foyer that
provided level access to the buildings and a welcoming gathering space to invigorate the
congregation.
Our response contrasts the heavy and closed walls of the church, with a delicate glazed
pavilion, opening to the street corner and flowing from the previously dingy slot between the
church and the hall. The architecture draw on the scale and proportion of the existing buildings
with a new stepped lead roof adopting the level of the existing string course and new conical
glass rooflights echoing the copper spire. A covered ramped surface seamlessly leads the
congregation into a warm, light gathering space. Delicate crafted benches around the glazed
edge offer a place to perch, a place to gather a place to wait. A beautiful red sandstone floor
surface blurs the lines between old and new.