Uncertainty and the Modern Church: Two Roman Catholic Cathedrals in Britain
- Submitting institution
-
Glasgow School of Art
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 2862
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
-
-
- Book title
- Sanctioning Modernism: Architecture and the Making of Postwar Identities
- Publisher
- University of Texas Press
- ISBN
- 9781477307595
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- June
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
0
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This chapter is included in the book Sanctioning Modernism: Architecture and the Making of Postwar Identities (Austin: University of Texas, 2014), edited by Vladimir Kulić (Fort Lauderdale), Timothy Parker (Norwich University, Vermont) and Monica Pinick (Wisconsin-Madison). The book presents a reappraisal of post-war modern architecture, in an international context. Collectively, the book’s research demonstrates that far from being a coherent school of thought, modernist design could be shaped to fit the particular purposes of the organisations and individuals that deployed it. It is divided into three sections that examine: the political state, religion and the US domestic context.
Through two case studies, Proctor’s chapter contributes a detailed discussion of the ways the Roman Catholic Church used modernist architecture to forge a progressive image, during and following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65); a time that hailed an era of modernisation in the face of secularisation and depleting congregations. The case studies are: Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral (Frederick Gibberd, 1960-1967); and Bristol’s Clifton Cathedral (Ronald Weeks, 1965-1973). Commissions such as these were seen as potential fixes for the ailments of the Church.
Through detailed archival research, including original correspondence, designs and contemporaneous popular and specialist press coverage, this chapter maps the mutual misunderstandings between client and architect that led to two distinct approaches: in the case of Liverpool, a somewhat confused design criticised for being functionally deficient; and, in the case of Clifton, a more consultative process that ensured fulfilment of the client’s requirements. The chapter effectively demonstrates the difficulties of adhering to modernist principles whilst working for a conservative institution seeking to progress into a modern entity.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -
