The Chapel of St. Ignatius and the Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center will serve the campus community as an environmentally sensitive and sustainable sacred space. It is designed with awareness to the context of the overall site, both in relation to the Gothic-style adjacent buildings and the surrounding environment. The Chapel will have a perceived sense of mass and weightiness that evokes a feeling of permanence as seen in other buildings on campus. The building will be timeless and not mimic the historic architectural style on campus, but it will rather elevate the harmony between the other buildings by having its own distinctly contemporary character.

In the Chapel’s circular shape and connected reflective spaces, visitors receive a sense of wholeness and invitation to community. Internally, the repetition of the circular motif further realizes the value of oneness of a campus community learning together to integrate the pursuits of faith and reason.

Qualitatively, the building is meant to evoke calmness, warmth, and mystery. Ample natural, diffuse daylight will wash the spaces within the new Chapel to provide an inviting and natural environment; a large oculus and skylight will be integrated within the sanctuary space’s ceiling in order to create a connection with the sky and heavens. Large glass entry doors allow for a direct visual connection from the campus into the heart of the sanctuary and vice versa, creating a welcoming addition to the campus community.