Inspiration from Plato drove the majority of this design. A chapel is a building that must be eternal; it must be able to stand the test of time for generations of followers to be able to visit the building. As such, geometric design is something that has been done for centuries, partly due to the lack of development of design materials or methods that allow many of the seemingly impossible designs of the past few decades. For this reason, I designed the building according to a very simple circle of 6-foot panels centered at the middle of the lobby. Each of these panels is separated at 15 degrees to create 24 total roof panels, one for each hour of the day. Secondly, I experimented with the possibilities of different materials and structural configurations that may not have been used in architecture of centuries past. In this way the building respects the past and looks forward to the future.
I also looked to particular architects for inspiration. I mainly looked at those who use nature, especially water, extensively in their buildings, and I also looked at buildings that hint at the idea of ascension. The first building of inspiration is Carlos Scarpa's building shown in the first photo. This building rests on a pool of water, and given the site near the remains of the Sutro Baths, I thought to myself, "Why not try to bring back the Sutro Baths in a unique way?" Eero Saarinen's Kresge Chapel helped me decide where and how I would use the "new baths" in my project. The Kresge Chapel is in the middle of a moat, with the walls of the building separated from the interior to allow the infiltration of water. The issue with this is that the lighting doesn't seem to really be effective. As such I decided to try to place the entire chapel on water. At first it sounded impossible, and in terms of available materials and how they are used, it is a challenge.
Nonetheless, I did the best I could to create as little separation between floor supports while still allowing infiltration of light. The site on which the chapel rests is a series of water pools with 1-foot stone rows as the barriers. The pools are only 7.5 feet wide so that the translucent floor (corrugated plastic or corrugated glass) has support it needs.
In terms of the design of the entire building, there is one roof covering the project, to bring a sense of unity to what lies inside. The classroom, minister's office, side chapel, main chapel, and restrooms are all located off a central lobby (pictured above). In the picture above we can see the entrance to the side chapel (door the the left of center). The side chapel is small 160SF room surrounded by three walls of concrete and one of glass. The glass wall faces west off the edge of the cliff and gives a full view of the ocean.
From the center of the lobby, and only at a point where one is facing the chapel entrance, the beloved detail and structural core of the building is shown. The structural support would be a 1-foot thick, square steel beam hanging from the top layer of the roof system. This top layer is supported on all sides so it would be strong enough to help support the lower layers of the main chapel. In addition, with the lighting effect, several strips of light penetrate into the lobby, creating a sense of relief from the convergence of all the roof layers of the chapel as well as relief from the overall "closed" feeling of a central lobby surrounded by 10-15 foot walls.
Finally, the expressive light detail comes from the main chapel. The translucent floor brings in a soft light that is strong at the edges, and still visible near the center of the floor system. In addition, this is a relief from the traditional practice of light coming from above or from the walls. As we can see in the photo, the walls are massive and dark, with only thin strips of light coming in through 6-inch glass windows to give the walls a sense of receding illumination. In the translucent floor system, one experiences light from the floor, or reflections from the "new baths." The idea behind this is for the Sutro Baths to bring in the strongest source of light, or life, in the building. In addition, the walls increase in height in 1-foot intervals to mimic Alvaro Alto's Vouksenniska Church in Imatra. The increasing height creates the illusion of ascension, followed by relief at the front of the chapel where the minister would give his/her sermon. Behind the minister is small, 4-foot-wide view of the ocean that lies at the edge of a cliff. It is small enough to minimize glare and distraction from the sermon, but large enough to bring peace knowing that one is still part of nature, especially the beach and vast ocean at the horizon.
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