HOME
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
Frederick Gibberd | |
| location | Liverpool |
| function | church, religion |
| contributed by | haaijk |
The competition to design the cathedral was held in 1959. The requirement was for a congregation of 2.000 to be able to see the altar, in order that they could be more involved in the celebration of the Mass, and second, for the Lutyens crypt (remnant of the unfinished, pre-war, neo-gothical design) to be incorporated in the structure. Gibberd achieved these requirements by designing a circular building with the altar at its centre, and by transforming the roof of the crypt into an elevated platform, with the cathedral standing at one end of it. The cathedral is built in concrete with a Portland-stone cladding and a lead covering to the roof. Its plan is circular, having a diameter of 59 m, with 13 chapels around its perimeter. The shape of the cathedral is conical, and it is surmounted by a tower in the shape of a truncated cone. The building is supported by 16 boomerang-shaped, concrete trusses which are held together by two ring beams.
No MIMOA account? Register here!