AKA: Seattle University, St. Ignatius Chapel, Seattle, WA

Structure Type: built works - religious structures - chapels

Designers: Baugh Construction Company, Building Contractors (firm); Berger Partnership, Landscape Architects (firm); Holl, Steven, Architect (firm); Olson / Sundberg, Architects (firm); R. H. Baugh (building contractor); Thomas L. Berger (landscape architect); Steven Holl (architect); James W.P. Olson (architect); Richard Paul Sundberg (architect)

Dates: constructed 1996-1997

1 story, total floor area: 6,100 sq. ft.

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Overview

Steven Holl (b. 1947) designed this contemplative chapel for Seattle University a Jesuit institution of higher learning. Holl was born in Bremerton, WA, and attended the University of Washington (UW) College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), graduating in 1969. While at the UW, Holl, along with Seattle architect Edward Weinstein, was part of the first class to attend the UW Rome Center, developed by Prof. Astra Zarina (1929-2008) at the Palazzo Pio in Rome. Holl became strongly influenced by its program and immersed in Italian culture. He has been an important supporter of the Northwest Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies (NIAUSI), located in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy.

Building History

Olson Sundberg Architects, Seattle, WA, associated with the Seattle-born architect Steven Holl (b. 1947) on this renowned project; Holl based his practice in New York, NY. The Chapel, with its reminiscences of Le Corbusier's Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamps, France (1954), was dedicated on 04/06/1997.

Building Notes

Soon after its completion, the Chapel of Saint Ignatius won a design award from the American Institute of Architect (AIA), New York Chapter. New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) accessioned a model of the chapel into its permanent collection. Soon after construction finished, cracks developed on the chapel's stucco exterior. Tel: 206.296.6075 (2012).

PCAD id: 4151