Description
I Metzstein, J Cowell and A MacMillan of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia, 1966. Seminary buildings, originally linked to Kilmahew House (now demolished) consisting of a large main block, 4-storey over a partly raised basement accommodating chapel, refectory and study bedrooms; 2-storey over raised basement, lecture theatre/library block joined at right angles to main block; single storey kitchen wing (now partly demolished) linking the main block to Kilmahew House; 2-storey convent wing formerly adjoined to Kilmahew House to N. Concrete slab and column construction, brown pebble facings to precast concrete slab cladding; interior of main block with non-structural vaulted ceiling of metal lath and plaster. MAIN BLOCK: 184 x 84 ft. Clustered concrete columns to basement with sunken undercroft. Supporting columns running through the ground floor to support pyramid formed by 3 upper bedroom/study floors, expressed externally by a series of superimposed cantilevers in a stepped ziggurat-like elevation of precast concrete slab cladding. Chapel at S end flanked by a silo-like side chapels, top-lit form half domes. Chapel top-lit at liturgical E end. Altar with ramp descending around behind down to sacristy and lower chapels. Hall and staircase area between chapel and refectory at N end. Upper storeys vaulted and stepped-back reflecting exterior elevation, interior access balconies at each level open to central space. Pine panelled and random-spaced timber mullions to windows (now mostly gone). In-situ reinforced concrete escape stair to N end, cantilevered from a reinforced concrete chimney. LECTURE THEATRE/LIBRARY BLOCK: 2-storey over raised basement. Basement with perimeter precast concrete columns, formerly housing library and recreational rooms. Glazed upper storey formerly housed classroom. Top storey supported on 4 large internal columns with beams carrying cantilevered projections up to 40ft at both ends with in-situ concrete wall board-marked in a diagonal herring-bone pattern. This floor originally houses top-lit lecture theatres. SERVICE/KITCHEN WING: single storey. Harled. Small windows irregularly placed, now blocked. CONVENT: cluster of small rooms most with curved walls, harled and pierced with small windows partly set in under cantilevered almost rectangular-plan upper storey. Harled at ground, concrete slab and column construction with brown-pebble facings to precast concrete slab cladding to upper storey.
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