Chapel Dedication and Celebration
The chapel is officially complete! On Sunday April 11 we will dedicate the chapel during our worship service, and celebrate after worship with a special reception at the rear of the nave. Please plan to join us for this special occasion.
The Chapel at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Waynesboro
The chapel is a special place set aside for worship, prayer, and quiet contemplation. Designed by congregation member, artist, and architectural designer Joan Huiner Ranzini almost 50 years after the original church building was completed, the chapel uses architectural materials and stylistic “language” that relates and responds to the work of architect Milton Grigg.
Mr. Grigg reportedly thought of this building as representing an ark. Ms. Ranzini continued this theme, choosing to emphasize the time after the flood when God’s people went out into the world. The design of the chapel and its individual components express this theme.
Ms. Ranzini writes about her design process:
The space seemed an unlikely choice for a chapel. Formerly an interior classroom, the stacked block walls of this curved, rainbow-shaped sliver of a room were punctured at irregular intervals by six doors opening onto outer classrooms, a closet, and a restroom. The ceiling plan was eccentrically arranged as well, with asymmetrical placement of skylights and fluorescent fixtures. It was a tight, shallow room, built on a radius with no right angles, with lots of doors and an absence of windows, tucked into the education wing well away from the nave and fellowship hall.
It seemed unlikely and yet, given the congregation’s yearning for a dedicated chapel within the existing building, the most unlikely of choices would have to be the foundation for my work. I began by setting an architectural “program” with three major goals to guide my decisions: 1) the chapel was to be a designed and not simply redecorated space that would enhance worship experience. 2) The chapel would relate to the rest of the building. It would show through architectural language and materials that it was responsive to and inspired by the design of the historic nave. 3) The chapel would take advantage of idiosyncrasies, establishing an exciting new design enriched by the apparent restrictions of quirky proportion and asymmetry.
Once the prosaic, functional decisions were made regarding efficient seating arrays and the placement of the altar, basic material selections were made. The back and side walls were unified with plaster board while the stacked block entry wall was retained as found, to add texture and interest. Cork flooring was selected to match the nave, and an existing altar and processional cross were repaired and refinished.
Now with the stage set for poetic decisions regarding theme and imagery, I turned to the 1954 designs for Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church by architect Milton Grigg, who used the image of an ark to help him imagine the design of the building. I chose to continue this theme in the chapel, emphasizing the time after the flood when God’s people went back out into the freshly washed world, ready to work and emboldened by God’s covenant. I explored this idea with Maryland tapestry weaver Ulrika Leander, with whom I collaborated to develop the tapestry design. Ms. Leander created a panoramic view, as if we were standing on the deck of the ark after the flood had receded. The landscape is full of potential and new growth. A green valley and soft, blue mountains suggest that we’ve settled in the Shenandoah Valley, and that we are among those people out in the world engaged in daily mission. The tapestry’s story, functioning like a stained glass window, expands our view from the smaller, contained chapel out into the larger world.
Over the altar hangs a sunburst-shaped canopy of wood and aluminum. Similarly shaped canopies are used as decorative sounding boards above lecterns in old European churches. Here in the chapel, the sculptural element echoes the fan shape of the room, and creates a focal point over the altar while discreetly disguising randomly placed skylights. The canopy energizes the room and ties into the ark theme with its stylized beams of sunshine and an etched glass image of a dove flying overhead carrying an olive branch in its beak.
As much as possible in this chapel design, I used materials that matched the nave. In some cases, I actually used leftover materials from the original building. The aluminum for example, in the table and canopy, is all remaindered. When Brad Keefer unearthed an old stained glass port-hole unused in the nave, I warmed to the idea of creating similar port-holes for the chapel. Finding appropriately colored slag glass was a challenge, but once obtained, I designed a set of windows reminiscent of Grigg’s designs, which were then built by Waynesboro glass artisan Mary Yuhasz. These are installed on the side chapel walls.
Pastor Humphrey requested that I design a small table appropriate for use in a funeral service. This table stands along a side wall of the chapel. Its style is harmonious with the chapel and nave furnishings. Bishop VA Moyer requested that I mark the doors with a cross to help visitors identify the purpose of the room. The etched cross I used here replicates that hanging over the altar in the nave. The modernist candle holders in the chapel are a stock design by Hampshire Pewter. The beautiful cloths known as paraments, on the altar and lectern, were woven by Laurie Duxbury of Charlottesville. Together we selected colors representing the liturgical seasons to coordinate with the colors in the tapestry. Remodeling and woodworking were done by Brad Keefer, Bob Moyer, Joe Moyer, and Bobby Hull, with electrical by Eddie Etter. The metal work in the table and canopy was done by metal artisan Willy Ferguson of Staunton.
Speaking with congregation members who were here when this building was first built, and reading architectural publications of that time which featured this building, I know that we have an architectural legacy to be proud of. Our location as a central meeting place for so many synod functions, and our mission as providers of hospitality fit well with this commitment to maintaining a beautiful facility. I believe that the canopy and tapestry together with the additional chapel appointments works well as an ensemble, and creates a vibrant new chapel space which we and our guests will enjoy for many years to come. It was an honor and a delight to have an opportunity to design this space.
March 2010
Design, construction and furnishing work: Fall 2004 to Summer 2009 Dedicated: April 2010
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