Structure
The structure of the Chapel is composed of three basic geometric forms: the cube, the sphere, and the plane. The cube comprises the majority of the building, including the main seating area, while the dome (a semi-sphere) rises high above the cube. The granite plane bisects the cube and opens up the chapel to light. The cube and plane interplay with the dome, creating a sense of the dome not being a closing vault on top of the Chapel, but rather an opening to the heavens.
The Chapel itself contrasts with all of the other buildings on campus, as it is composed of white stucco and black granite as opposed to the rose-colored brick that comprises the exterior of the other campus buildings. Through its height, the Chapel dominates the whole campus. The gold dome at the top of the structure proclaims the university's Christian character, and can be seen from miles away from large buildings throughout downtown, uptown, and the medical center.
A setup of the architecture also shifts the focus of the building. The entry to the outdoor narthex of the Chapel is created with a tent-like flap extending over the entry, creating an enclosed space that is still outdoors. The entrances to the Chapel are faced away from the center of the building and towards the tabernacle as a reminder to all who enter that the central point of the Chapel is not the altar or the crucifix, but rather the location of the Eucharist.
The structural design was performed by CJG Engineers, based in Houston and Austin.
Read more about this topic: Chapel Of St. Basil
Famous quotes containing the word structure:
“The structure was designed by an old sea captain who believed that the world would end in a flood. He built a home in the traditional shape of the Ark, inverted, with the roof forming the hull of the proposed vessel. The builder expected that the deluge would cause the house to topple and then reverse itself, floating away on its roof until it should land on some new Ararat.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?
May no lines pass, except they do their duty
Not to a true, but painted chair?”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)
“There is no such thing as a language, not if a language is anything like what many philosophers and linguists have supposed. There is therefore no such thing to be learned, mastered, or born with. We must give up the idea of a clearly defined shared structure which language-users acquire and then apply to cases.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)