Seattle University Chapel

Today in Seattle, rain sun wind chills warmth. We drove all around and eventually came to the chapel at Seattle University, a small Jesuit college just east of downtown and I-5. The chapel was designed by new york city architect Steven Holl, whose work I've admired for two decades. I've seen bigger works by Holl at Cranbrook, in Helsinki, and in Bellevue, WA. But this small chapel is my favorite. In plan, It is a simple rectangle. The drama is in the roofscape, where seven sculpted, curving skylights redirect seattle's hazy sunlight into the chapel, into alcoves, niches, and behind the alter.
It was my third visit to the chapel. The first time was on my first visit to Seattle about 12 years ago. I sketched it then. The second time, 6 years ago, when we thought it would make a great wedding location. However it's only available for SU students and alumni. As a consolation, we had our wedding reception in the Steven Holl-designed Bellevue Art Museum. Today there was a wedding going on, so we didn't interrupt the sacrament.
The chapel sits along a main pedestrian thoroughfare on campus, between the quad and a lower parking area. It's limited grounds include iconic features of religious architecture, like a bell tower and a shallow reflecting pool and forecourt leading to a pair of heavy wooden doors, one smaller for ordinary use, one larger and ceremonial. Inside, the skylights allow wondrous colored light into the intimate spaces, and Beautifully crafted furniture and glasswork complete the ensemble.