SCALA Civic Building of the Year Competition, 2007
Alteration or Extension category: Winner
Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern and Wycombe District Council
Chilterns Crematorium
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The brief was to develop a masterplan for the existing 22 acre crematorium site, creating a second chapel and ancillary spaces, together with floral tribute viewing areas to both chapels, whilst creating accessible routes to the majority of the site. The sloping site lies in an ancient woodland within the green belt and the Chiltern area of ‘Outstanding Natural Beauty’.
The volumes of the new chapel are defined through the use of materials echoing the existing building. Copper, brick and glass, combined with dynamic timber, planer roof and canopies enclose and define spaces within the regenerating woodland setting.
Described as the ‘Tardis’ by the Rector of Amersham, the built form and choice of materials help diminish the external scale, whilst capturing an intensely light, spacious and tactile environment within.
Natural daylight, ventilation, views and the use of natural materials were maximised to create a series of spaces that through plan and section are both light and open, yet still private and personal.
The new development provides the busiest single chapel crematorium in the country with a new facility that successfully provides longer, calmer and more personal ceremonies.
- Architect:
- Haverstock Associates LLP
- Quantity Surveyor:
- WG Edwards
- Mechanical and Electrical Engineer:
- CBG Consultants
- Structural Engineer:
- Jenkins & Potter
- Main Contractor:
- Collier & Catley
- Landscape Architect:
- John Tierney Associates
