Fitzwilliam College, Chapel

The chapel of Fitzwilliam College in the University of Cambridge, constructed to the designs of MacCormac, Jamieson and Prichard (MJP), 1990-1991.

MATERIALS: the chapel is constructed of blue-brown brick with white concrete bands. Internally the building has a concrete structure and white oak fittings.

PLAN: the building is axially planned to continue the line of Lasdun’s accommodation blocks, and has a traditional liturgical orientation facing east. There are two storeys internally; a lower chapel in the undercroft and the principal worship space above. The upper storey has a cruciform layout within the building’s drum shaped volume.

EXTERIOR: the chapel is a tall drum that stands between Lasdun’s residential P Staircase and the gardens of the Grove. A narrow two storey opening separates it from Lasdun’s block. The archway itself echoes his earlier entrance way between O and P, now (2024) partially infilled. The access to the chapel is glazed in its upper storey, lighting the rear of the chapel.

The north and south walls explode outwards and arc to give the building its circular form. Bands of white concrete blocks follow the expressed floor slabs of Lasdun’s residential buildings. Pairs of slit windows are the only break in these curved surfaces.

The east end has a solid base of curving, rough concrete bands. Standing on this is a projecting, two-storey grid of clear glass, set back from the north and south walls, and glazed even across its roof.

INTERIOR: the chapel is entered from the ground floor, where symmetrical stairways lead upwards to the principal worship space, or a central doorway leads down into the lower chapel or undercroft. This lower space is walled in rough-faced concrete. The ceiling bows downwards and is boarded with planks of white oak so that it resembles the hull of a ship floating above. The curving east wall is framed by two concrete pylons that lean towards the outer walls and receive the weight of the structure above. To the north and south there are re-sited stained-glass windows and memorials from the First and Second World Wars.

Ascending to the first-floor worship space, the stairs follow the curve of the outer walls. The balustrade of the upper level leans outwards, so that the chapel feels like the upper deck of a ship. This, and all of the timberwork including the organ, is made of white oak. At the crossing of the cruciform plan is a cubic volume framed in polished concrete columns and beams. To the north and south sides the oak roof fans outwards, supported by wooden struts from a concrete cill, and is lit from above by roof lights.

At the east end, the chapel looks out towards a mature plane tree, and to the Grove beyond. A wide oak altar or communion table forms a liturgical focus. It has a curving underside and rests on stanchions of polished steel fixed into concrete blocks. Beyond this, the balustrade conceals a third staircase providing access to the vestry and undercroft for the chaplain.