Coventry Cathedral, Coventry, UK
Crafting a legacy of design excellence
From the Sydney Opera House to the Grand Egyptian Museum, Arup’s designers have helped create some of the most recognisable buildings of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Many of our projects have become protected historic buildings in their own right.
One example is Coventry Cathedral, now listed at Grade I. After the city’s medieval cathedral was destroyed in the Second World War, the new church became a landmark of resurrection and reconciliation when it opened in 1962. Set next to the ruins of its predecessor, it incorporates aspects of traditional design while remaining uncompromisingly modern.
We designed the structure alongside the architect Basil Spence. The vault above the nave is separated from the roof above, as on medieval cathedrals. It features a three-dimensional network of concrete ribs – a reference to Gothic fan-vaulting – with slender pre-stressed columns accentuating the height and length of the building. Above this a four-inch-thick concrete shell supports both a 24m space-frame spire and a full-height glass screen etched with dancing angels.
