Friday April 16 2021

GOOD NEW IDEAS IN CHURCH BUILDING

SEVERAL good new ideas in design and function have been incorporated in the latest crop of new church buildings

Outstanding among them is St David’s, Broomhouse, Edinburgh, with its “Hall of Friendship”.

You can’t miss the church is this post-war housing area. The modern design, its clean fresh lines, convey a sense of usefulness and purpose and dignity – “Here stands the Church!”

The octagonal building is eye-catching both outside and inside. The spire has been placed centrally on the aluminium roof and from this position its triple-tiered glass sides let the light flood down into the interior of the church below.

The “hall of fellowship" at the main entrance gives the congregation and opportunity to mix freely and talk before and after services. This is also the entrance to a suite of halls with easy access to the kitchen and cloakrooms. A private corridor leads to session house and vestry.

You will look in vain for a boiler house and chimney, for this is a smokeless area. The building is heated by electric cables embedded in the concrete floors – the first time this form of heating has been used by the National Church Extension Committee.

Ramp for the Disabled at Balornock

The new church under construction at Balornock, like the South Parish Church at East Kilbride, will have a ramp so that people who cannot climb stairs may be enabled to enter the church and join their families and friends in worship.

Model of Church at Paisley Exhibition

Visitors to the Industrial Exhibition in Paisley Museum and Art Galleries can have a preview of the new Thread Street Church. Although the design has been described as “strikingly novel”, it has been prepared to harmonise with a setting which will include both modern architecture and Paisley Abbey.

Church for Car Builders

Many new buildings have gone up in connection with the car factories at Linwood and the village has become almost a town. A new town needs a new church, and on a recent Saturday afternoon many of the people on the housing estate watched the laying of the foundation stone of their new church. The stone was laid by Mr. Robert Leitch, Session Clerk for 33 years at Linwood.

Subscribe to a digital or print edition of Life and Work here