Bigelow Chapel
New Brighton, Minn.
HGA, Inc.

Hammel, Green and Abrahamson modulate scale and light to create a glowing chapel on the campus of a Midwestern seminary

© Paul Warchol

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By Camille LeFevre

Respecting the subdued context while adding an inspiring place of worship was the challenge facing the architects of the Bigelow Chapel at the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in New Brighton, Minnesota. For 44 years, the seminary—a Christian-based, ecumenical graduate and professional school whose 225 students come from a variety of faiths—had occupied simple, Modern buildings made of buff-colored brick and precast concrete. In the spirit of Midwestern frugality, a multipurpose room served as the seminary’s chapel. But when a former student and board member donated $1 million for a chapel, the school took advantage of the opportunity to add a new kind of experience, not just more space. “We wanted the building to suggest a spiritual invitation to worship,” says Wilson Yates, president of the seminary. “It really had to do with the creation of sacred space.”

To create a sacred space that didn’t overwhelm its quiet, 11-acre-campus setting, Joan Soranno, AIA, a design principal at Hammel, Green and Abrahamson (HGA), manipulated scale and light. “In traditional religious spaces like synagogues, Gothic cathedrals, and mosques, the scale is monumental, with the darkness generating intimacy,” explains Soranno. Bigelow Chapel, which she designed with her HGA colleagues John Cook, AIA, and Steven Dwyer, is the inverse. “Here, we made the scale smaller but flooded the sanctuary with light.”

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Formal name of Project:
Bigelow Chapel, United Theological Seminary

Location:
New Brighton, Minn.

Gross square footage:
5,300 sq. ft.

Owner:
United Theological Seminary

Architect:
HGA, Inc.
701 Washington Avenue North
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55401
612.758.4000
612.758.4199
www.hga.com