St. Paul's Church

St. Paul's Church, Glenrothes completed in 1957 was the first major collaboration by architects Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan. The Archdiocese required a building which could seat 300-350 people and contained a high altar, a side altar, baptistry, confessionals, two sacristies, call room and accommodation for a Priest and his household. The site provided by the Development Corporations was close to the centre of the new town of Glenrothes. It was roughly triangular, bounded on two sides by roads and at the back by a belt of mature trees. The buildings were placed on the higher portion of the site and are visible from a considerable distance all round. A deceptively simple organisation to the planning of this church went on to inform Metzstein and MacMillan’s later buildings. Once the altar, side chapel and pulpit had been considered, the decision to turn the flanking walls inward was taken as the brief for the size of the congregation meant that had the pews been arranged full width, the nave would have been very shallow. The long wall of the presbytery provided a processional axis that at its close allowed a glimpse of the sanctuary before turning to enter the narthex. Turning again, the standalone block of the confessional focussed a view to the baptismal font, before the view of the sanctuary again opened up. The church is lit from the rear wall and the sanctuary from above, focussing the congregation onto the altar that is animated by the movement of the sun.