Described as a ‘pavilion on the edge of the park’, the Kingston Quaker Centre has a calm and spacious feel. It was designed as a modern, harmonious hub with sustainability at its heart, where Quakers can worship and the wider Kingston community can enjoy its facilities.
Featuring excellent acoustics, the new building also makes extensive use of natural light and is designed for efficient consumption of energy and water. A tall exhibition space with a courtyard and an uplifting light well connects to a Quaker meeting room, hall, committee rooms and children’s room. A covered colonnade outside leads to an informal garden encouraging bio-diversity and wildlife habitats.
The environmental design is rooted in several sustainable features:
• Robust construction and airtightness to minimise energy consumption;
• Innovative natural ventilation strategy for the meeting room and hall through an underfloor void and four roof towers /rooflights to assist stack effect and passive cooling from thermal mass, eliminating the need for local cooling units and reducing electrical demand;
• Window design to maximise the penetration of daylight without causing potential overheating and glare issues;
• Air source heat pumps used in conjunction with underfloor heating and cooling;
• Rainwater recycling for toilet flushing and landscape irrigation and the implementation of low water-efficient fitting.
Kingston Quaker Centre has won the 2015 Art & Christianity/RIBA Award for Religious Architecture.
£1.8m
Fanshawe
Tectus Architecture
Skelly & Couch
Quantity Surveying
2017
