A major renovation work has been done for the Chapel of St. Albert the Great in George Square, in the area of University of Edinburgh. The architectural firm Simpson & Brown Architects signed the project, completed at the end of 2012, and transformed the space in a landmark dedicated to students, staff and the local community. Nodal factor of the work was the choice of materials: SK Bruce Joinery Joinery carpentry in fact looked a nice looking, stable and with excellent coloring timber making the choice fall on American white oak. This was used for the coating of the ceiling above the altar and pray spaces, while the ceiling is supported by four tree -shaped COR-TEN steel columns. A fundamental characteristic of this type of timber is that it is naturally fire retardant, vital as all the interiors of the church are white oak; not least its ability to prevent any type of echo. The structure of the chapel appears straightforward: the deep angled window allows the penetration of natural light into the space, creating , thanks to the ceiling in sedum, a natural continuum between the building and the surrounding garden. Natural light also from the windows and the ventilation shaft of light with openings in the roof, accentuated by the presence of mirrors and filtered through adjacent panels in oak along the entire wall of the chapel. A set of structural solutions and choice of materials that contribute to the creation of a coherent and extremely pleasant project, which was awarded with RIAS Award for Best Gathering Place 2013, RIBA Award and was nominated for RIAS Andrew Doolan Award finalist in 2013.
