The windows created for the Christian Theological Seminary’s chapel transmit light information into the chapel, transforming the space into an environmental vessel.
STRUCTURAL GLASS PRISMS
INDIANAPOLIS, USA
1987
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THIS WINDOW SIMULTANEOUSLY PRESENTS A CONVENTIONAL VIEW AND ITS SYNTHESIS
THE WINDOW MAINTAINS CLEAR VIEWS OUT
THE STRUCTURAL GLASS REFLECTS AND TRANSMITS LIGHT AND IMAGE
THE WINDOW MAINTAINS ACCESS TO VIEWS OF THE SURROUNDING LANDSCAPE
TIME-LAPSE PHOTOGRAPHY RECORDING THE COMPLEX TEMPORAL DISPLAY OF LIGHT INFORMATION
DIAGRAM OF THE 32 FOOT MONOLITHIC VERTICAL GLASS LENGTHS BRACED BY SHORT HORIZONTAL LENGTHS
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Description
The windows created for the Christian Theological Seminary’s chapel transmit light information into the chapel, transforming the space into an environmental vessel. The 32-foot-high glass blades are stabilized with horizontal panels of dichroic glass, creating an all-glass structure. Two reflected and two transmitted images are projected from each horizontal glass section, creating reflection and transmission patterns of remarkable complexity that change over the course of the day. The colors change as natural light moves into the room from the southeast before noon to mid-afternoon, tracking a subtle and complex path through the space.
The images and movement of clouds and birds passing through the sky are directly projected into the space by the upward slanting bars of light. Simultaneously, wind movements of leaves from the adjacent trees are projected into the space by the downward slanting bars of blue light, thus creating a superimposition of landscape and sky. Of critical importance to one’s reading of the phenomena, is the appearance and disappearance of the image based on the fluctuations of the sky brightness. The images shift from absence to a muted presence, to moments of crisp, intense legibility, connecting the viewer to the variables of the outside world.
Client: Christian Theological Seminary
Architect: Edward Larrabee Barnes