St. Bride’s Church
Architect - Gillespie, Kidd & Coia
Builder - N/A
Location - East Kilbride, Scotland
St. Bride’s Church in East Kilbride, just outside Glasgow is probably the best building I have ever visited and a must see if in the area. The church was designed in 1957 by Professors Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia and built between 1957 and 1964. Externally the church appears as a brick monolith, without windows and with an entry hidden in a curved fold in the brickwork.
The entry brings you into the side of the main space, off-axis, and the inside is dark and serene. There are no windows, with the space being predominantly top lit. Detailed into the thick brick walls are light wells that illuminate spaces for statues and brick splays.
Light is diffused and soft adding to the serenity of the space. When the sun-shines in East Kilbride, which is not often, the roof lights and light wells would be spectacular.
The design of St Bride’s is a Scottish interpretation of the brutalist style of architecture and is regarded as one of the finest examples of British twentieth-century ecclesiastical architecture and received the RIBA Bronze Medal for architecture in 1964.
In 2013 St Bride's Church was named in the top 3 of the Best Modern Churches architecture competition run by the National Churches Trust, the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyor's Association and the 20th Century Society.
