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A Chapel for Concordia University

Part 2 Project 2024
Nathan Walz
University of Notre Dame | USA
Concordia University Nebraska has a reputation for excellent church worker programs focused on service within the Lutheran church. What the college does not have, despite its faith-based mission, is any sort of chapel or dedicated place of worship.

The best buildings, while rarely changing locations, span many lifetimes and eras. The built environment that our communities inherit stands as a constant, whether we celebrate or reject it. The central concern, therefore, is not about designing a building that is of its time but rather a building that is of its place. At one level, masonry walls, pitched roofs, and long vertical windows are all responses to the needs of the Nebraska climate. At the same time, the rugged exterior and stripped-down massing somehow contribute to the sense that the chapel has grown up out of the prairie, a vertical punctuation on a long horizontal expanse.

This project was shaped by Concordia, Nebraska, the American Midwest, and the global Lutheran church. Nothing is copied— the design which resulted is evocative, not repetitive. It brings to life the idea that the construction of something new can connect us back to our roots— to community, history, and faith.


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2024
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