[5] Goalen's designs for the Church of Our Lady drew on Continental examples; the Église Notre-Dame du Raincy in France and Karl Moser's Kirche St Anton in Basel, Switzerland being the most direct influences.

[2][a] His other main influence was the thinking of the Liturgical Movement, which sought to break down barriers between worshippers and priests; to this end Goalen set out the church on a T-plan, and placed the altar in the centre of the congregation.

The technique, developed in France, uses thickened glass to create depth of colour and was pioneered in Britain by Dom Charles Norris of Buckfast Abbey.

[7] The glasswork covers some 60 per cent of the church's interior walling, creating what The Twentieth Century Society described as a "kaleidoscopic [effect of] glorious colour and light".

[8] The society's senior casework officer, Clare Price, wrote that Our Lady's was a "pioneer of a unified scheme of dalle de verre glass and modern design".