infinity chapel
won buddhist training center
chapel of the light
project: Infinity Chapel
location: Greenwich Village, NY
client: Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist
size: 8,000 s.f.
date: Construction to begin April of 2006
cost: $2,600,000
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The Infinity Chapel for the Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist features a cubic sanctuary deformed by light. The new sanctuary is a place where the sacred geometries of squares, golden section rectangles, and ‘spheres of light’ will surround worshippers. Three curving walls - one from the south, one from the north and one from the east - suggest the large spheres. These forms evoke the shape of a ‘Klein bottle’ or moebius strip, simple figures that suggest infinity by having no beginning and no end.
In front of the sanctuary facing the street are the combined lobby and Christian Science Reading Room, designed as an open, relaxed space for study and conversation. Below this ground level are the Sunday school and boardroom with borrowed natural light entering from light monitors projecting through the first floor. |
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view of chapel / sanctuary
Inifnity Chapel : sanctuary view
in construction Nov 2009
construction detail
in construction October 2009
view of chapel from mezzanine
chapel from back
Reading Room
Reading Room
view of private 'Reader's Rooms; glass topped table in foreground serves as 'light well into the basement Sunday School below
view from Reader's Room
early study model for 'light wells' - view of light filtering into basement
early study model for 'light wells'
Klein bottle - infinite shape
sketch diagram of inward-curving surfaces of Chapel inspired by the Infinity sign
facade and entry with view into Reading Room
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