Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle University

Related people

Ryan Palider (was created by)
Steven Holl (was created by)

Description

"Architect Steven Holl chose "A Gathering of Different Lights" as the guiding concept for the design of the Chapel of St. Ignatius. This metaphor describes Seattle University's mission and it also refers to St. Ignatius - vision of the spiritual life as comprising many interior lights and darknesses, which he called consolations and desolations. Holl conceived of the chapel as "seven bottles of light in a stone box," with each bottle or vessel of light corresponding to a focal aspect of Catholic worship. Light passes through each bottle in a specific area of the building to define physical and spiritual spaces with pools of clear and colored light." --Seattle University web site The structure utilized tilt-up slab construction. Twenty-one slabs were poured horizontally, cured for eighteen days, and then raised in only twelve hours. The largest slab weighs 80,000 pounds.

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