- MIT Chapel
The MIT Chapel (dedicated 1955) is a non-denominational
chapel designed by noted architectEero Saarinen . It is located on the campus of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology , next toKresge Auditorium and Kresge Oval, which Saarinen also designed, inCambridge, Massachusetts . Though a small building, it is often noted as a successful example ofmid-Century modern architecture in the US. Saarinen also designed the landscaping surrounding all three.Leland M. Roth included the building in his "History of American Architecture," using it to illustrate the contrast between Saarinen's approach and that of Mies (who designed a chapel for IIT). Roth said that "through the sheer manipulation of light and the its focus on a blazingly white marble altar block, Saarinen created a place of mystic quiet." [cite book|title=American Architecture: A History|author=Leland M. Roth|year=2003|publisher=Westview Press|id= 0813336627, [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813336619&id=pH7rd6EFImgC&pg=PA437&lpg=PA437&ots=Mp-Zn2F09X&dq=saarinen+%22mit+chapel%22&sig=8cbRI0XUdUYOIQFYA_-IwbPyB1o p. 437] ]
From the outside the chapel is a simple, windowless brick cylinder set inside a very shallow concrete moat. It is convert|50|ft|m in diameter and convert|30|ft|m high, and topped by an aluminum spire. The brick is supported by a series of low arches. Saarinen chose bricks that were rough and imperfect to create a textured effect. The whole is set in two groves of birch trees, with a long wall to the east, all designed by Saarinen. The wall and trees provides a uniform background for the Chapel, and isolates the site from the noise and bustle of adjacent buildings.
Within is a remarkably intimate space, stunning in its immediate visual impact. Windowless interior walls are undulating brick. Like a cascade of light, a full-height metal sculpture by
Harry Bertoia glitters from the circular skylight down to a small, unadorned marble altar. Natural light filters upward from shallow slits in the walls catching reflected light from the moat; this dim ambient light is complemented by artificial lighting.The chapel's curving spire and bell tower was designed by the sculptorTheodore Roszak and was added in 1956.The chapel has an excellent organ that was custom-designed for the space by Walter Holtkamp of the
Holtkamp Organ Company , located in Cleveland, Ohio. Holtkamp was instrumental in the 1950s, in the revival of the classic school of organ-building.References
See also
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Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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