This 5,300 SF addition provides a formal chapel adjacent to Pitt County Memorial Hospital’s main entrance for up to 150 occupants.  The building includes 2 small meditation rooms for private reflection, offices, sacristy space for hospital spiritual staff, and related support spaces.

In response to its constrained site, the linear building is oriented parallel to the patient tower. An interior courtyard is defined by the space between the two structures. The building is bisected by the primary circulation from the hospital, separating the sacred spaces to the south from the utilitarian spaces to the north.

The design incorporates the natural elements of water, earth, and sky to create a non-denominational spiritual space. The view through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall at the head of the room features a specimen tree as the focal point, with a reflection pool in the foreground and the sky in the background. One long wall includes 6 vertical windows made of translucent Tiffany confetti glass, which modulates and enhances the natural light entering the space while obscuring views to a parking lot.

Slate floors, maple ceilings and furniture, and maple candle altars establish the material palette in the chapel and mediation rooms. Exterior finishes blend with the white stucco of existing structure. A curved copper-clad wall stands as a landmark against this monotone canvas and extends the natural materials outward to the public, while the siting of the buildings creates a sculpture and contemplation garden. High courtyard walls screen undesired views of the surrounding area.

 

SF: 5,348

SEATS: 150

COMPLETION: 2010