Over four years ago Dominic College lost its 1950s Chapel through arson. For Elvio Brianese, a former student of the coeducational Catholic school in Glenorchy, northern Hobart, rebuilding the Chapel was a project of passion. Brianese is a Director of DesignInc Tasmania, and he has a great deal of experience in local and international educational projects. He focussed squarely on imparting some modernity, some living symbolism, to the structure. “The original chapel was a very traditional design ... altar at the front, all enclosed,” he told The Sunday Tasmanian, “but values have changed enormously since then.” The finished Chapel has been enthusiastically received by the school community and was recently awarded two RAIA Awards for its “skilful modulation of space”.

After an extensive site selection process, the new Chapel was built where the old one had fallen, at the apex of the school’s grounds overlooking Mount Wellington. After losing a building that had functioned as a core social space and a repository for the school’s historical memory, the placement was a reassertion of the Chapel’s centrality. It was also an opportunity to shape a processional walk, with all its metaphoric overtones, from an uninspiring school carpark to the Chapel doors.

The plan form of the Chapel is generated from an intersection of the processional path and the view over Mount Wellington. The floor of the building follows the topography of the site, resembling a series of abstracted contours with zig-zagging ramps and stairs. The level changes facilitate direct connections to the surrounding landscape, while also forming little pockets and sunken enclaves that provide intimate spaces within the larger whole.

Indeed, the Chapel is in fact a compound of four Chapels, each with a different purpose: the first is tucked in one corner of the building, scaled for a small group to enjoy reflection and prayer; the second is the fully enclosed main space seating up to three hundred students; while the third and fourth reveal the full flexibility of the building as sliding doors fold into place for an intimate service in a landscape amphitheatre, or fold away to support a service for a thousand, using the adjacent seating space and the Chapel terrace as the altar.

To pull off this level of malleability, DesignInc used a distinctive cranked steel frame to maximise spanning potential and open up column-free views throughout the space. The structure also supports the Chapel’s central design idea: a dramatic glass wall behind the altar that mirrors the profile of Mount Wellington, and pours in daylight. The strongest material in the project, says Brianese, is the natural landscape for which the building is a hingepoint; the continually changing weather across the mountain beyond the glass wall is a constant reminder of the singular reason for the place of worship.

Simple, natural materials were used throughout, lining the internal and external facades. The undulating ceiling is defined by diagonal Tasmanian Oak panels, while stained timber panels offset Colorbond steel cladding on the exterior, materials that could be twisted into the irregular shape laid out in the design. The final touches will be added by the school itself, the architect leaving the ceremonial rose garden and the Stations of the Cross to parents, teachers and students, to encourage an immediate sense of community ownership over the structure.

The design has strength and integrity despite its relatively modest budget. Through close collaboration with the builder, stringent budget control and a briefing process geared to maximise flexibility, costs for the small school were suppressed. It’s marvellous how much has been achieved. “You don’t have to do much to engage attention in here,” says the College rector Father John Papworth, “there’s a sense of awe that just floods over people – an immediate sense that we’re in a sacred place.”+

Top. Detail of the amphitheatre-like spaces created by the level changes within the building. The ground level of the building rises three metres from the front entrance to the upper recreational court.

Second. "There's an immediate sense that we're in a sacred place": the new Chapel at Dominic College in the north of Hobart. Designed by DesignInc Tasmania, the Chapel's irregular zig-zags are made sense of when a spectacular vista over rocky Mount Wellington is revealed through its far window.

Third. The undulating ceiling is defined by Tasmanian Oak panels.

Bottom. Interior. The use of glass, high ceilings and sliding doors reduced the visual impact of all passive and active services. A cranked steel frame allows for huge, column-free spaces.

Photographer: Peter White