ATLANTA (August 10, 2007) -- John Smith II joined President Elizabeth Kiss this week to inspect progress on construction of The Julia Thompson Smith Chapel.
Smith and Kiss both marveled at the progress -- on track for spring 2008 completion. The steel framing of the striking building now is clearly visible as the structure rises from the dell behind the president's home. Chapel visitors will enter the building from the college's Science Quadrangle. It will be the first freestanding chapel to serve the college.
A Christian chapel welcoming people of all faiths, it will be named for John Smith II’s mother -- the late Julia Thompson Smith, a 1931 graduate of Agnes Scott and wife of the late Hal Smith, long-time chair of the college's board of trustees.
The chapel's contemporary gothic design was created by Maurice Jennings + David McKee Architects of Fayetteville, Ark. Jennings and McKee uphold the principles of "organic architecture" as espoused by Fay Jones and his architectural mentor Frank Lloyd Wright.
One of Jones' best-known designs, Thorncrown Chapel in West Eureka Springs, Ark., set an architectural precedent now championed by successor firm Jennings + McKee. Agnes Scott's Julia Thompson Smith Chapel is distinctive among six recent Jennings + McKee chapel creations for its brick-and-mortar design reflecting the primary building material on the college's 100-acre campus. The use of brick represents a departure from the floor-to-ceiling glass walls and wood beams featured in the firm’s other chapel designs.
The Julia Thompson Smith Chapel interior plans feature seating for approximately 100 people, a multi-faith meditation room to accommodate about 20, restrooms and storage space. It will be built on a sloping site between the Alston Campus Center and Mary Brown Bullock Science Center once home to the college’s Snodgrass Amphitheatre and May Day Dell. A distinctive landscaped garden surrounding the chapel will provide vistas and spaces for gathering and meditation.
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