St Dunstan's Church Woking

St Dunstan's is a new church with a capacity for 350. The interior has been designed to be welcoming and to reinforce a sense of a community gathered for worship.

The seating, arranged in a fan shape, focuses on the altar in the sanctuary, but also makes members of the community aware of each other and that they are gathered as one with one purpose.

The liturgical furniture is designed to express a balance between nature, created by God, and God's greatest creation Humanity. Creation is represented by a naturally occurring material - Portland stone. Humanity is expressed by the carving of the stone by human hand in a pattern suggesting life-giving water flowing from it - as the stone struck in the desert by Moses.

The altar is the central focus of the Church, setting the tone and theme for the interior. It is a solid square block of whit bed Portland stone carved and shaped to a profile that suggests a table.

Stone is beautiful in itself being the preference of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. This type of stone contains fossils and fissures which show that it is a naturally occurring material.

The Crucifix, suspended over the sanctuary, creates a visual stop above the altar. It depicts the Triumphant Christ shedding his blood for all mankind. The encircling wheat brings to mind Christ’s gift of himself, the Bread of Life, in Holy Communion. The style of the cross suggests Christian Orthodox culture - a deliberate connection to the Eastern Church and wider Christian community.

It was designed and carved in wood by Stephen Foster.

A lengthy review process resulted in the parish deciding to emphasise outreach to the community. They consolidated their buildings from two locations into one new building complex that would accommodate worship and support outreach.

In addition to the worship space, offices, meeting rooms, social room, kitchen and toilets were grouped around a central circulation/breakout space. Additional flexibility is provided by openable partitions that allow overflow from big liturgical celebrations at Easter and Christmas into the breakout space.

The building is integrated into the site by means of geometry, and placing the worship space and bell tower at the most prominent corner. The different functions are expressed externally by architectural form with the worship space dominant in the hierarchy. Materials were chosen to integrate the development into its suburban surroundings and in compliance with strict council planning requirements. 

The Baptismal font is also made from Portland stone and features the water motif which flows to it from the altar along the centre aisle. Placed in a baptistery at the entrance to the worship space it acts as the holy water stoup so that on arrival worshippers can renew their baptismal commitment from a single source.