New York office
Butler Rogers Baskett Architects have been awarded an
AIA New York 2010 Design Award for their renovation of a chapel at a New York school.
Called Johnson Chapel, the interior features a slot in the ceiling
that funnels in daylight and wooden panels on two sides that
incorporate doors, seating and storage.
The text that follows is from Butler Rogers Baskett:
BUTLER ROGERS BASKETT ARCHITECTS RENOVATE
JOHNSON CHAPEL AT TRINITY SCHOOL IN NEW YORK
Butler Rogers Baskett Architects (BRB) has renovated the Johnson
Chapel at the Trinity School, the 300-year old college preparatory,
coeducational, independent day school on New York’s Upper West Side.
The 1,000 square foot chapel will support a variety of activities,
including regular services, memorials, religion classes, and talks by
speakers from various religious traditions. The Johnson Chapel provides
a place of repose amidst the vibrant bustle of school life.
The Chapel was recently honored with an AIA New York Chapter “2010
Design Award” for outstanding interior, one of only thirty-four overall
winners in four different categories. Additionally, the Chapel has won
a 2009 Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) Professional
Design Award, an Award of Merit in New York Construction’s “Best of
2009” competition and an Interior Design “Best of Year 2009” Award in
the institutional category.
BRB’s design methodology has been one of subtraction, refinement and
integration. Natural light is introduced by a light slot along the
north wall, reflecting diffuse warm sunlight deep into the space. This
wall becomes an ever changing canvas throughout the day as a cool
indirect morning light transforms to cast Mediterranean shadows at noon
and later emanates a warm afternoon glow. The light slot is mirrored on
the floor with a bed of river rock and a gently bubbling stone
fountain, which lend texture, shadow, sound, and detail to the crisp
white backdrop. The ceiling plane floats, disengaged from perimeter
walls, and is lit indirectly, creating a cloud-like effect. The design
reinforces this effect by keeping the surface unencumbered by light
fixtures, access panels, diffusers, smoke detectors and other systems.
The cloud is punctured by a large light cone, which gathers light and
spills it around the altar table.
A displacement ventilation system introduces conditioned air at very
low velocity through the bed of river rock, filling the occupied
portion of the room much as water fills a bathtub. The warm “used” air
is extracted via the reveal at the edge of the ceiling cloud, resulting
in a healthy, efficient, and extremely quiet system with no visual
access to diffusers or grilles.
Doors, seating, lighting, hymnal slots and a sound system are
carefully integrated into a wide ribbon of woodwork, which wraps two
sides of the space. The figured Maple ribbon creates and intimacy and
provides a warm counterpoint to the crisp perfection of the
plasterwork. The spare material palette includes a walnut plank floor,
white river rock and several blackened steel elements designed by local
artisan Kristina Kozak. Kozak collaborated with BRB in creating five
hand-worked candelabra and the custom door pull. The hand hammered
blackened steel crucifix, also designed by Kozak, is easily removable
and can be hung on a custom armature in the sacristy.
Since its opening in January 2009, the Johnson Chapel has found
unplanned uses, including meditation, yoga and pilates, and is often
visited by individuals seeking a moment of pause in their day. It is a
sacred place of serenity, light and balance, where people of all
traditions are welcome.
RB Trinity/Johnson Chapel Project Team:
Robert Vuyosevich – Partner in Charge
Mark Maljanian – Project Designer
Joseph Zappulla – Project Architect
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