Client: Chapman University
Artist: Susan Narduli

Designed by AC Martin Partners, the chapel is a contemporary worship space that uses light and color to produce an inspirational, non-denominational milieu. Five artists collaborated on the program, each one helping to create a spiritual, reflective, and welcoming space for all members of the university and greater community. Susan Narduli created landscaping and earthworks in the front plaza and, in the rear, a columbarium and Garden of the Senses that contrast the exuberance of the fragrant herbs and glowing onyx benches of the garden with the somber stone of the columbarium. Lita Albuquerque’s installation, “Solar Star Score,” begins with a relief in the paving under the entrance canopy, flows into a blue grass channel running the length of the interior vestibule, and continues to a nine-foot, gold-leaved fountain. Inspired by medieval cathedral processions, Albuquerque chose to engage the viewer with a musical score derived from the patterns of the constellations overheard on the winter solstice and sandblasted into the ground at the entrance of the vestibule. The building’s elegant bronze and glass entrance door was designed by Seattle artist Norie Sato, who also designed the thirty-foot glass window sculptures for the interior of the main sanctuary. Richard Turner created a monumental metal sculpture that hangs against the back wall of the main sanctuary, while William Tunberg designed the chapel furniture.