United States Air Force
Academy Cadet Chapel
Submitted By-
Vaishnavi Wagh
Sampada Ladke
United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel
ARCHITECT:OWINGS & MERRILL SKIDMORE, WALTER
NETSCH
YEAR: 1959 - 1962
LOCATION: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, UNITED
STATES
Introduction:
Cadet Chapel was the highlight architectural element of the
master plan by the architectural firm SOM for the entire
campus of the United States Air Force Academy.
Designed by Architect Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings &
Merril of Chicago its proposal was controversial in its origins
but over time the Cadet Chapel has become an example
classic and very appreciated of modernist architecture.
In 1996, the Chapel of Cadets won the Twenty-five Year
Award from the American Institute of Architects as part of
an Area of Cadets was named Historical Monument
Nacionall of United States in 2004.
Location :
The Chapel of the United States Air Force Academy is a
religious building completed in 1962 in the area of cadets,
north of Colorado Springs, in the area known as El Paso
County area, Colorado, United States. With 46m high is
placed on an area adjacent to the Court of Honor podium.
Concept
The Chapel was specifically designed to accommodate three distinct areas of worship
under one roof. Inspired by Sainte-Chapelle chapel in France and the Basilica of St.
Francis of Assisi in Italy, architect Walter Netsch stacked spaces on two main levels.
The architect faced the challenge of bringing together under one roof different spaces for
different faiths and creeds, while creating a national monument. For this reason he
considered that a single needle involve a message of a single religion and a deck with
three towers would make no sense, in addition to a design that will leave no doubt that it
was a place of worship without using traditional architectural exterior badges of any
faith.
Spaces
The building has a surprising succession of 17 needles of glass and aluminium, each
composed of 100 tetrahedral, involving the whole deck continuous panels of bright
coloured glass tubular dress tetrahedral, allowing diffused light into the building.
The front facade on the south side, has a wide granite staircase with steel railings topped
by a handrail aluminium leading to a esplanade which highlights the band aluminium
doors gold anodized aluminium sheets also anodized gold, apparently covering the
original windows.
Program
The main program requires three distinct and separate entrances
chapels: a Protestant chapel with 900 seats, a Catholic chapel with 500
seats, and a Jewish chapel with 100 seats. Each chapel has its own
entrance, and services can be maintained simultaneously without
interfering with each other.
PLAN
SECTION
Chapel Protestant
The main floor of the Protestant chapel, on the top floor, is enclosed by the extruded aluminium coated tetrahedral
separated by continuous panels of coloured glass and special laminated glass windows.
Catholic Chapel
The terraced level of the Catholic chapel on the ground floor, is characterized by the prefabricated masonry forming
the pattern of the roof, sidewalls with amber glass windows and rows of faceted crystals.
Jewish Chapel
Jewish chapel is a circular room closed with cypress frames and slabs of coloured glass with a brown lobby
Jerusalem stone donated by the Air Force of Israel. It is located on the ground floor as well as the Buddhist shrine.
The small Buddhist shrine, 27,87m2, was added in 2007 and in 2011 outdoor space known as Falcon circle, a circle
of large stones and created for fans of “The Earth Cantered Spirituality” was created.
A little lower than the Buddhist Chapel some rooms for other possible services confessions were enabled, no special
symbolism in order to be used by each and two conference rooms
Structure
The building that houses the chapels rises 46m, has a length of 85m and a width of 26m. The most striking aspect
of the chapel is its row of seventeen towers. In the original design nineteen needles were contemplated, but this
number was reduced due to budget problems.
The structure is a tubular steel frame consisting of 100 identical tetrahedrons, each 23m long and weighing 5tn,
coated aluminium panels. Tetrahedrons 0,30cm are spaced from one another, creating holes in the frame are filled
with stained glass 25mm thick
Materials
Tetrahedral that make up the needles are covered by triangular aluminium panels, while the tetrahedral generated
between them are covered with a mosaic of coloured glass with aluminium frame. The panels that cover the 17 needles
were manufactured in Missouri and shipped by rail to the site.
