Nicolas Pople Architects has created a facetted cross-laminated timber chapel for a church in the town of Stroud in southwest England.
Built for the Christian Community in Stroud, the timber chapel was made from a combination of cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels and glue-laminated (glulam) structural beams.
Nicolas Pople Architects worked with structural engineer Corbett Tasker to create the facetted CLT structure, which was designed to invoke the feeling of a contemporary gothic cathedral.
Nicolas Pople Architects has created a vaulted CLT church in Stroud
"We wanted to create a contemporary, well-crafted sacred space, inspired by the great medieval gothic cathedral and church builders in a way which isn't noticeably of a particular style or religious group," explained Peter Corbett, co-founder of Corbett Tasker. "It's a space where the structure is honestly expressed without being visually distracting. In the words of Aaron Mirkin ? priest at the Stroud chapel ? it is 'uplifting but not overwhelming'," he told Dezeen.
The interior is made from facetted CLT panels
Within the main chapel, the walls and roof are made from angled slabs of exposed structural CLT.

The architecture studio wanted to create a space with interesting geometries, but one that had clean lines and did not distract from the Christian Community services that take place.
The chapel has an exposed CLT roof
"The space should not be the focus of attention: the ritual is what ...