{"id":13738,"date":"2024-03-30T16:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T16:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/a-500-year-old-chapel-438-solar-panels-and-an-architectural-squabble\/"},"modified":"2024-03-30T16:46:03","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T16:46:03","slug":"a-500-year-old-chapel-438-solar-panels-and-an-architectural-squabble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/30\/a-500-year-old-chapel-438-solar-panels-and-an-architectural-squabble\/","title":{"rendered":"A 500-Year Old Chapel, 438 Solar Panels and an Architectural Squabble"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/28\/multimedia\/00UK-chapel-09-mpwt\/00UK-chapel-09-mpwt-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A 500-Year Old Chapel, 438 Solar Panels and an Architectural Squabble\" title=\"A 500-Year Old Chapel, 438 Solar Panels and an Architectural Squabble\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Clambering across the sloped roof of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kings.cam.ac.uk\/chapel\/history-of-the-chapel\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">King\u2019s College Chapel<\/a> with the agility of an undergraduate, Toby Lucas, 56, pointed to where his craftsmen had welded solar panels to an expanse of newly installed lead. It was the scariest part of the project, he said, because an errant spark could have ignited the 500-year-old timbers underneath, which hold up the roof of this English Gothic masterpiece.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s an iconic landmark in Cambridge, and it\u2019s part and parcel of where I live,\u201d said Mr. Lucas, whose firm, Barnes Construction, did the restoration. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be the person who is responsible for burning part of it down.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The chapel came through the project unscorched and now stands at the heart of Cambridge University, no longer just a glorious relic of the late-medieval period but also a cutting-edge symbol of the green-energy future. Its <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kings.cam.ac.uk\/news\/2023\/plans-install-solar-panels-chapel-roof-approved-city-council\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">438 photovoltaic panels<\/a>, along with solar panels on the roofs of two nearby buildings, will supply a shade over five percent of the college\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">King\u2019s College Chapel is one of several landmark houses of worship in England that have installed solar panels in recent years. The cathedrals in Salisbury and Gloucester have them, and this project may open the door to more: A neighboring Cambridge college, Trinity, is contemplating whether to put photovoltaic panels on the roof of its chapel, which dates to the 16th century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But this being a college town, and King\u2019s College Chapel being such a nonpareil work of architecture, the debate over installing panels was long and lively \u2014 a heady mix of aesthetics, economics and politics. Even now, with the scaffolding dismantled and the panels beginning to soak up the late-winter sunlight, critics are eager to point out why the project was a mistake.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYou have this extraordinary openwork parapet, which is a really bold feature,\u201d said John Neale, gesturing toward the top of the chapel, where a crenelated wall runs along the north and south sides. \u201cYou can see through the parapet.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNow what you can see through the parapet, and indeed above it, depending on where you\u2019re looking from, is a reflective layer of solar panels,\u201d said Mr. Neale, the director of development advice at Historic England, a preservation group. \u201cThat will be radically at odds with the historical character of the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In truth, the solar panels are scarcely visible from ground level, though they are more noticeable from a distance. But Mr. Neale noted that they change color depending on the weather, as light plays off them. While the effect is muted during the frequently overcast winter, it could become more conspicuous in the summer, with clouds scudding across a blue sky.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Neale was at pains to say that he does not, on principle, oppose retrofitting old buildings with new features. He pointed to a nearby cafe in the nave of St. Michael\u2019s Church as a worthy example of converting an old building into new uses. Historic England, he said, has endorsed panels on other churches.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But \u201con the whole, you shouldn\u2019t put panels on prominent roofs,\u201d Mr. Neale said. Far from setting a precedent, \u201cthis actually is the outer limit, and we think has crossed a line that shouldn\u2019t have been crossed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other critics argued that the relatively small percentage of electricity generated did not justify the aesthetic cost. In a hint of a culture war, some suggested the solar panels were the kind of politically correct gesture typical of a progressive institution like King\u2019s College, whose graduates include the economist John Maynard Keynes, the World War II code breaker <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/06\/05\/obituaries\/alan-turing-overlooked.html\" title=\"\">Alan Turing<\/a> and the novelist Zadie Smith.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThere are many ways to address fears about rising temperatures,\u201d David Abulafia, an emeritus professor of history at Cambridge, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spectator.co.uk\/article\/cambridges-kings-college-chapel-is-no-place-for-solar-panels\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote in the right-leaning Spectator magazine<\/a> last year, as Cambridge City Council weighed whether to approve the project. Installing solar panels, he added, was \u201cquite simply, another example of virtue-signaling.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Asked how he viewed the panels now that they were in place, Professor Abulafia kept his sword sheathed. \u201cIt\u2019s happened now!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The leaders of King\u2019s College were aware of these critiques when they considered installing panels, along with a new lead roof. The dean of King\u2019s College Chapel, Rev. Dr. Stephen Cherry, said he was initially skeptical of the idea, which came up during a planning meeting several years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe needed to think very carefully about the visual impact and the amount of energy generation we would achieve,\u201d he said. \u201cI was very concerned that we would be tempted to make an empty symbolic gesture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A study concluded that the photovoltaic panels would generate an estimated 123,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. That is enough to reduce the college\u2019s carbon emissions by more than 23 tons each year or the equivalent of planting 1,090 trees. The college\u2019s nearby Wilkins Building and Old Garden Hostel have panels, but no other surface offered that kind of opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As for the visual impact, Dr. Cherry said it was mitigated by the fact that the panels virtually covered the roof, which at least made it consistent. While the polished sheen of the panels was a change from the textured gray of the lead, both were utilitarian rather than decorative features, he argued.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNobody has said, \u2018Goodness me, that\u2019s quite an eyesore,\u2019\u201d Dr. Cherry said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Among the students, he said, the project has been popular, perhaps even giving the chapel a currency it has not had at King\u2019s College for years. With its magnificent fan vault, carved between 1512 and 1515 and the world\u2019s largest, the chapel almost stands apart from King\u2019s College, a tourist attraction that draws visitors who barely linger to look at the manicured frontcourt or the dining hall.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s not so much signaling virtue as signaling a clarion call for change,\u201d Gillian Tett, the provost of King\u2019s College and a columnist for The Financial Times, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/education\/2023\/nov\/29\/solar-panels-pull-medieval-kings-college-chapel-into-climate-crisis-era\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">told The Guardian<\/a> in November. \u201cYes, it\u2019s a symbol, but symbols reinforce what\u2019s normal, and we\u2019re trying to change what\u2019s thought of as normal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For Mr. Lucas, the construction supervisor, who has restored several old buildings in Cambridge, it was an engineering challenge and a labor of love. To reduce the risk of fire, he used thermal imaging every evening to make sure his workers did not leave behind hot spots. In laying the frame, they had to compensate for a barely perceptible sag in the middle of the 289-foot-long roof.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After months on the roof, Mr. Lucas became a student of its ways. He pointed out peregrines that alight on the chapel\u2019s four corner towers to hunt. He noted how over centuries, visitors carved their initials in the stone wall along the spiral stairs leading to the roof. \u201cHelen 2009,\u201d reads a recent inscription.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Given that the chapel has stood for half a millennium \u2014 the product of a 70-year construction project under four kings: Henry VI, VII and VIII, plus Richard III \u2014 the furor over the solar panels will end up being at most a transitory distraction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe new roof should last 100 years,\u201d Mr. Lucas said. \u201cThe life span of these panels is 25 to 30 years. They can always take them off.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Clambering across the sloped roof of King\u2019s College Chapel with the agility of an undergraduate, Toby Lucas, 56, pointed to where his craftsmen had welded solar panels to an expanse of newly installed lead. It was the scariest part of the project, he said, because an errant spark could have ignited the 500-year-old timbers underneath, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/03\/28\/multimedia\/00UK-chapel-09-mpwt\/00UK-chapel-09-mpwt-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[19267,19269,19268,6331,362,19270],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13740,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13738\/revisions\/13740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}