42°21′30″N71°05′39″W / 42.35833°N 71.09417°W /42.35833; -71.09417

TheMIT Chapel (dedicated 1955, completed in 1956^[1]) is a non-denominationalchapel designed by noted architectEero Saarinen. It is located on the campus of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology inCambridge, Massachusetts, next toKresge Auditorium and the Kresge Oval, both of which Saarinen also designed. Though a small building, the Chapel is often noted as a successful example ofmid-century modern architecture in the United States. Saarinen also designed the landscaping surrounding all three locations.

From the outside, the chapel is a simple, windowless brick cylinder set inside a very shallow concrete moat. It is 50 feet (15 m) in diameter and 30 feet (9.1 m) high, and topped by an aluminum spire. The brick is supported by a series of low arches. Saarinen chose bricks that were rough and imperfect to create a textured effect. The whole is set in two groves ofLondon Planetrees, with a long wall to the east, all designed by Saarinen. The wall and trees provide a uniform background for the chapel, and isolate the site from the noise and bustle of adjacent buildings.

Within is an intimate space, stunning in its immediate visual impact. Windowless interior walls are undulating brick. Like a cascade of light, a full-height metal sculpture byHarry Bertoia glitters from the circular skylight down to a small, unadorned marble altar.^[2] Natural light filters upward from shallow slits in the walls catching rippling reflected light from the moat; this dim ambient light is complemented by artificial lighting. The chapel's curving spire and bell tower were designed by the sculptorTheodore Roszak and added in 1956.^[3][4]

The chapel has an excellent pipe organ that was custom-designed for the space by Walter Holtkamp of theHoltkamp Organ Company, located in Cleveland, Ohio. Holtkamp was instrumental in the 1950s, in the revival of the classic school of organ-building. In May, 1970, the musicianNed Lagin performed an eight-channel, four-tape-recorder electronic music piece especially created for the chapel in the presence ofJerry Garcia,Phil Lesh andMickey Hart. Although Hart passed out, Garcia and Lesh invited Lagin to join theGrateful Dead inCalifornia.^[5]

Leland M. Roth included the building in hisHistory of American Architecture, using it to illustrate the contrast between Saarinen's approach and that ofMies van der Rohe (who designed a chapel forIIT). Roth said that "through the sheer manipulation of light and its focus on a blazingly white marble altar block, Saarinen created a place of mystic quiet".^[6]

In the summer of 2014, MIT started the first comprehensive renovation of the Chapel since its original construction. The moat was rebuilt to repair leaks and to allow it to be refilled with water which is recirculated and filtered. The external envelope of the building was repaired, and internal restoration and improvements to mechanical systems were performed. The Chapel was reopened in 2015.^[7][8][9]

With the demolition of nearby Bexley Hall and its replacement by a landscaped garden, the MIT Chapel became more visible from Massachusetts Avenue for the first time. The renovations preserved the Chapel as a sanctuary of tranquility, just steps from the bustling 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance to theInfinite Corridor, from Kresge Auditorium, and from theStratton Student Center.

• Architecture of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• List of works by Eero Saarinen

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• Churches completed in 1955
• 20th-century non-denominational churches in the United States
• Eero Saarinen church buildings
• Modernist architecture in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology buildings
• University and college chapels in the United States
• Churches in Middlesex County, Massachusetts
• 1955 establishments in Massachusetts

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