Royal Artillery VC Chapel and Cloister

The judges were pleased to have the chance to look at a building somewhat out of the normal run. The new chapel and cloister constitute a memorial to those lost while serving in the Royal Artillery, incorporating plaques formerly at the garrison church at Woolwich, which was destroyed in 1944. The cloister wall shows a blank face to the nearby road, though certainly not an uninteresting one, with its use of different coloured bricks, and stone capping to its piers. The design is repeated on the other side, but with the addition of the relocated memorial plaques. At the eastern end of the cloister, the chapel is something of a tour de force of decorative brickwork, coupled with stone columns and carved capitals. The judges applauded the effort which had been put into creating something very distinctive, while still picking up on themes and motifs from the regiment’s past, and not compromising the appearance of the adjacent 1930s garrison church. The design was clearly the outcome of a great deal of thought, coupled with a commitment to sourcing the right materials, and finding the right people to build with them, a process requiring some quite specialist skills. The judge were more than happy to recognise the work put in, with a commendation.

Architects: John Simpson Architects, London