ATLANTA – Contemporary gothic design features of Agnes Scott College's Julia Thompson Smith Chapel created by Maurice Jennings architects of Fayetteville, Ark., uphold the principles of "organic architecture" as espoused by Fay Jones and his architectural mentor Frank Lloyd Wright.
These principles include harmony between the buildings and surroundings, the close relationship of the individual elements of a building to each other, the generous use of natural light and the honest expression of materials.
One of Jones' best-known designs, Thorncrown Chapel in West Eureka Springs, Ark., set an architectural precedent now championed by successor firm Jennings. Agnes Scott's Julia Thompson Smith Chapel is distinctive among six recent Jennings 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 and a multifaith meditation room to accommodate about 20. Surrounded by trees and gardens, the chapel stands 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 provides spaces for gathering and meditation.
The chapel welcomes people for worship services, meditation and prayer, small Bible study groups and other religious study. Additional uses might include occasional lectures and intimate concerts. A rare Brombaugh Opus 31 d organ, moved from the college's old Thatcher Chapel in the original Alston Campus Center, will provide music for the new chapel.
Another surviving detail of the Thatcher Chapel, a nine-panel, jewel-colored stained-glass window, was given to the college by the class of 1952 in honor of Wallace M. Alston, the college's third president and has been reformatted to fit the space. The window designed by Joseph V. Llorens will provide a striking accent among the chapel's clear glass.
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