Níall McLaughlin
Architects

BISHOP EDWARD KING CHAPEL SHORTLISTED FOR RIAI GOLD MEDAL 2013-2015

DECEMBER 2024

Bishop Edward King Chapel was shortlisted for the RIAI Gold Medal 2013-2015. Presented by the RIAI since 1934, the Gold medal is the highest honour in Irish Architecture. 

The jury noted: 

This unique project for Ripon Theological College, developed over time from an initial design competition responds to the context of the existing 19th century college campus and surrounding trees and is also grounded in the wider South Oxfordshire landscape, overlooking the valley to the west.

The architect has created an exquisitely detailed nave type space for collegiate gathering, defined by the tracery of a Glulam structure and equipped with a perimeter ambulatory, side chapel and sacristy in which the control of space and light is exemplary.   

Through its refined architecture this chapel becomes truly a spiritual space, an ethereal place set apart in heart of English countryside, and capable of responding to the changing requirements of the College.

The RIAI Gold Medal 2013-2015 was awarded to Donaghy+Dimond Architects for The Model School, Inchicore.

MICHAEL WEBB WRITES A FEATURE ON NIALL MCLAUGHLIN IN MARK MAGAZINE

OCTOBER 2013

Under the title ‘London Maverick’ Mark Magazine has profiled Niall McLaughlin and a wide ranging showcase of the practice’s work. The article includes projects from the Bandstand at Bexhill-on-Sea in 2001 to the Chapel for Ripon Theological College completed last year, the latter being described as a project that “restores one’s faith in the capacity of architects to reinvent traditional forms.”

The work of the practice is described as defying categorisation and characterised by “poetry and invention”. Drawing on the broad theme of materiality, the review reflects on the design process for a selection of projects including House at Goleen, the student accommodation for Somerville College, the Information Centre in Hull and the Housing for the London Olympics.