2.1.7 Construction – The Four Phases of the Design

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

2.1.7 CONSTRUCTION – THE FOUR PHASES OF THE DESIGN The construction of the building can be broken down into four chronological phases, during which there were numerous minor changes to the design as it progressed. These changes were brought about by a range of factors, but most significant of these was the re-design of the building in 1956, brought about by financial pressures that made the competition design unfeasible. The Competition Design – 1951 The competition design retained almost all of the ruined cathedral. To link it to his new building, Spence had removed a part of the north wall of the old nave and this defined an axial route from the nave of the old directly, via a set of steps, to the nave of the new.

A low porch, taking its cue for scale and height from the ruins, joined the two structures together and provided shelter between them. Because the canopy was subservient to the ruins in terms of height, the two buildings appeared on elevation to be distinct from one another. The new cathedral rested on a base of granite blocks with a series of angled buttresses on the north side. The two chapels were both based on a cylindrical plan and were positioned to balance each other on plan. The Chapel of Unity was designed to have a fortified, almost castellated appearance on the exterior, to contrast with the lighter interior and echoed Robert Lorimer’s National War Memorial in Edinburgh.10

The interior of the competition entry design was defined by three principle factors: an immense, long nave; a wide, concrete groin vault supported on slender columns; and a `great picture’, behind the high altar – a large tapestry.

Designed to be built in red sandstone, to echo the materiality of the ruins, the Cathedral combined tradition with modernity. For the interior aesthetic, his primary source material was the Notre Dame du Raincy church by Auguste Perret of 1922-1923. A large, elegant vessel of space, light and rich colour – the latter being afforded by the expanses of stained glass.

Competition elevation drawing showing the overall composition and granite base. © Canmore DP00024477

10 Lorimer’s building was completed in 1927 was an extension to Edinburgh Castle. It is a circular shrine with external sculpture and stained glass designed in the Gothic style.

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

Coventry Cathedral competition. Elevation from west. © Canmore DP 028422

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

Developments 1951–1954 Spence’s competition designs were widely published and scrutinised. Those qualities for which it had stood out for the assessors, were seen in a variety of ways, particularly from the architectural press. The Architects’ Journal found it not radical enough, dated and anachronistic. Albert Richardson, the great church architect, compared Spence’s design to an exhibition pavilion – a criticism that considering Spence’s work to this point, must have hit home.

Of the assessors, the most vocally supportive was Sir Edward Maufe, an architect who had already designed a cathedral himself and whose career also balanced the traditional and the modern in architecture. In response to a wide variety of comments, Spence developed his design. Spence removed the building’s base of grey granite, remodeled the porch and approach stairs and enlarged the west window. The most significant alterations, however, were made to the structure of the building. The building’s interior relied on high, slender columns that formed an impression of the nave aisles and allowed for freedom of movement and clear sight through the interior – giving direction and perspective to the view of the tapestry behind the altar.

In October of 1951, Spence invited the Danish engineer and pioneering modernist Ove Arup to take up the position of consulting engineer on the Cathedral project. Arup’s first major intervention into the design came in the form of his suggestion to separate the internal vaulting from the walls – this idea allowed Spence a greater degree of freedom to develop a vault that echoed Gothic forms like lierne or fan vaulting, instead of the simple groin vault he had originally envisaged. By 1952, Ove Arup’s assistant Povl Ahm, collaborating with Seppe Stockli from Spence’s office, had made considerable changes to the roof that had a fundamental impact on the overall appearance of the nave. Most importantly, the changes reduced Spence’s rows of nave columns from four to two. These refinements also helped to unify the roof and the elegant nave columns with the other designed fixtures of the space.

Spence’s employment of a number of artists whose work would be central to the building also happened early on in the process. Graham Sutherland was the first to be approached after the competition and in 1952, Spence approached John Hutton, whom he knew from previous collaborations at the Festival of Britain. The same year, Spence invited Robin Darwin at the Royal College of Art to recruit artists for the stained-glass windows planned for the nave.

Spence was assured in his choices but subsequently relied quite heavily on other members of his office to monitor progress – particularly Roger Button. The nave windows had an important impact on the development of the design and once they were started, he could make no further fundamental changes to the nave. THE QUESTION OF A CENTRAL ALTAR In 1952, Bishop Gorton asked Spence to revise the design of the interior and bring the altar forward in line with the progressive liturgical ideas on church design at the time. In November, Spence’s revised design, shown in sketch form to the Reconstruction Committee, arranged the seating for the clergy and the Bishop’s throne around a more centrally positioned altar, placing the choir between the seating and the altar. The Committee, led by Ernest Ford, rejected the scheme, defeating Gorton’s vision for a liturgically progressive cathedral. Spence reverted to his original layout, but the consideration of a central altar did change the interior in other ways.

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

The first perspective drawing for publication after winning the competition, showing the visual relationship between the ruins and new cathedral. August 1951, © Canmore DP 012268 Interior perspective from north towards Great West window, Coventry Cathedral. © Canmore DP 018491

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

The evolving design showing development of columns and ceiling showing early sketch of the tapestry idea, 1951 Plan of cathedral showing nave seating and proposed Lady Chapel, 1952. © Canmore DP 024537

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

Crisis and Redesign 1954–1958 The money for the new cathedral was provided by the War Damages Commission but their policy was to fund only a ‘plain replacement’. Elements of Spence’s design that he considered of paramount importance to the concept therefore, became superfluous under the funding rules of the Commission. Between 1951 and 1954 he was occupied both in refining the design, particularly the structural design, and raising funds. Spence embarked on a number of lecture tours one of which was a trip with the Provost and the Bishop’s Chaplain to Canada. Spence also needed to generate support closer to home for whilst Gibson was a firm supporter of both Spence and his scheme, the City Council were not. They were concerned that the re-building of the Cathedral was taking precedence over the re-building of the city. But the Cathedral was not just for the city said others, including the Minister of Works, David Eccles. The licence to build, was granted in May 1954 and the excavations commenced soon after. To add to the complexities Spence’s quantity surveyor had been delayed providing accurate figures for the work. It transpired, in 1956, that the Cathedral project was going to cost more than double the original estimate. Faced with a derailed project or a seriously rationalised design, Spence wisely chose the latter. The changes to the design were numerous and overall, represented a tightening up of the design. Seppi Stockli and Tony Jackson were responsible for the working drawings that followed. In 1957, the side walls were redesigned to rise above the nave windows, which gave rise to a series of jagged edges to the buildings profile. The most fundamental change came in the form of the substitution of concrete blocks for the originally planned stone ones in the interior of the nave. Spence’s new design proposed that these blocks be roughly rendered to give texture to the walls. Spence also re-designed the Chapel of Unity, demolishing the stone linking structure and replacing it with a lighter, more transparent link – this also removed the necessity for the vertical screen that had divided the chapel from the nave. Spence reduced the scale of the chapel’s footprint and re-designed the concrete fins that were to hold Margaret Traherne’s dalle-de verre glasswork.

Spence looked finally to the porch as an area that could be rationalised and improved. He did this by taking out some of the stonework and re-designing the steps, which were now free of the building.

The interior of the building generally, as the decade progressed, saw refinement and increased clarity of the design. The tapering cruciform columns in the nave, the vaulting of the roof and the canopy stalls all contributed to the expression of a modern Gothic. Gone also, was the wall that separated the nave from the Lady Chapel. This decision was important for the tapestry, which now filled the entire back wall of the new cathedral. In response to comments from both Spence and the clergy, Sutherland’s final design of 1957–1958 was more stylised and dramatic than previous incarnations of the design.

Spence’s sketch of Sutherland final design for the tapestry. © Canmore DP 027561 Structural details showing ground floor of Chapel of Unity Ove Arup 1954 © Canmore DP 027496

UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLACE

The Final Design 1958–1962 The rationalisation of the design after the disclosure of the financial difficulties in 1956 saved the project. Spence’s ‘streamlined new design’ was well underway in 1958 with the nave walls under construction. The final phase of alterations was facilitated and partly driven, by the arrival of a new Provost, Harold Williams, in 1958. Williams was a progressive churchman whose ideas about liturgy – in particular about the relationship between clergy and congregation – informed some of the last changes to the design before completion. The impact of these changes was most acutely felt in the sanctuary. The altar was enlarged, the reredos eliminated and the altar cross was mounted on a pedestal. To balance the gap between the vast tapestry and the altar and to define the sanctuary as a separate entity visually from the nave, Hans Coper was requested to design large ceramic candleholders. The choir stall canopies and the pulpit and the lectern by Dame Elisabeth Frink also helped to re-shape the design of the sanctuary at this stage. Most importantly for the outward appearance of the new cathedral was the re-instatement of the Guild Chapel, now renamed the Chapel of Industry and Christ the Servant. Positioned to overlook the industrial workshops of the city, the chapel was finished in clear glass, for transparency – Spence’s idea of inserting medieval glass into the fenestration was never realised.

Internally, the chapel benefited from the close collaboration of architect, artist and craftsmen, with Anthony Blee and Hans Coper in particular, working closely on the altar.

The impact of Williams was felt in the final design for the Gethsemane Chapel, where his desire for more figurative sculpture in the new cathedral was realised in the form of Syke’s mosaic. Lastly, Williams’ thoughts about the Cathedral as a performance space – particularly for music and dramatic performance – informed Spence’s final alterations to the porch and his redesign of the shallow steps leading to the Chapel of Unity.

The Cathedral completed - view of the porch and apse of old cathedral from the north-east. © Canmore SC 1066470