Infinity Chapel by Hanrahan Meyers Architects

A chapel is a vessel for faith – a room, building or space standing between the real world and a higher transcendence for all believers. It is a place of sanctuary. When Hanrahan Meyers Architects (hMa) designed Infinity Chapel for the Tenth Church of Christ, Scientist, they created something truly special. The place of worship was guided by perfect geometries, pure materials and mathematical principles; resulting in sensuous surfaces of curves in light. What has been created is an intimate space where the real world, sanctuary and spirit are one through architecture that captivates the soul.In New York’s Greenwich Village, the luminous Infinity Chapel is a transfiguration of a once concealed, gloomy interior. The chapel is a sculpted 4000-square-foot cubic volume of perfectly placed walls and openings derived from pure mathematical forms – squares, golden sections and hypercubes. Slivers of natural light accentuate the surfaces of the chapel’s complex curves that celebrate the faith of all worshippers within.

Three inwardly-curving walls from the south, west and north suggest large spheres – ‘spheres of light’. The illusion of a continuously-curved room is created by interplays of walls that suggest an infinite surface similar to the forms of the Klein bottle or Möbius strip – simple figures that suggest infinity by having no beginning and no end.

The seating area is defined by a clean cubic space furnished with elegant timber pews that face the stage. The stage area and organ create a perfect golden section in harmony with the chapel’s congregational seating. A vivid spatial focus to the stage and heavens above is illuminated by light which penetrates the western side to the stage of curved wall. The delight of a simple garden sanctuary graces worshippers behind the altar – an element to which nature, light and geometry are masterfully harnessed to create a beautifully sacred space.

Infinity Chapel is, in many ways, a treasure box – its interior is an unexpected surprise upon entry from the street. Its profile from MacDougal Street reads as floor-to-ceiling frameless glazing from which passersby can see into the chapel’s Christian Science Reading Room – an open, flexible space for relaxed study and conversation. A path from east to west is marked by five roof monitors that guide worshippers from the reading room through to the stage – a procession marked by light, enhanced by form and space.

The materiality of Infinity Chapel is of a refined, pure palette. The architects utilised the minimalist finesse of white concrete and glass for abstract surfaces, while tactile surfaces and furnishings were specified to the warmth of timber oak.

A basement level to the chapel carries numerous functions below ground in an environment that’s surprisingly comfortable and vibrant. A teaching space and boardroom below ground is illuminated by rectangular lightwells that allow daylight into the spaces from the floor above. The entire project was a reiterative process in which hMa conducted a series of study models that explored the relation of light across walls and to the basement below.

The architects have achieved a remarkably layered sequence of spaces. A curvilinear interpretation of a cube, which opens through the action of light, has been created.

For many, faith is a lifelong dialogue in conversation with others, oneself and beyond. When the architecture in which a congregation worships in is pure, rational and imaginative, faith can surely only be heightened. Infinity Chapel fosters such surreal experiences in form, light and space. Hanrahan Meyers Architects have done much more than create disembodied planes with defined geometries – they’ve created a hidden sanctuary which embodies one’s faith, and disembodies time. +

IMAGES Courtesty of Michael Moran

1. The chapel is a transfiguration of a once gloomy interior, illuminating harmonious geometries that curve over the congregation. 2. Materiality of a refined, pure palette utilising white concrete and warm timber oak. 3. Seating and lighting framed by spatial abstraction. 4. Pews facing the stage. A subtle garden sanctuary lies behind. 5. Light cannons allowing illumination of the basement below ground.