This intimate chapel for a religiously-oriented California high school operates as both liminal threshold and restorative retreat; perched on the corner, at the outer boundary of the physical campus, the rise of the sleekly articulated white concrete building is both icon and marker. 

© Henrik Kam

Architects: Mark Cavagnero Associates

Location: Albany, California, United States

Lead Architects: Andy Lau, John Fung, Ellen Leuenberger

Area: 4400.0 m2

Project Year: 2018

Photographs: Henrik Kam

Client: Saint Mary?s College High School

© Henrik Kam

Text description provided by the architects. This intimate chapel for a religiously-oriented California high school operates as both liminal threshold and restorative retreat; perched on the corner, at the outer boundary of the physical campus, the rise of the sleekly articulated white concrete building is both icon and marker. 
© Henrik Kam

Designed to serve the students, many of whom are low-income and attending St. Mary?s on scholarship, the chapel, while belonging to a Catholic school, was considered as a spiritual space, one that invites the challenges and difficulties of young adulthood to be considered and processed in a sacred, silent, and light-filled space. An honesty of materials? white concrete; glazing; Alabama limestone; and light American white oak? sets the tone for a space devoted to quiet for a community...