Sacred Spaces
Religious architecture in Phoenix and Las Vegas
BY NORA BURBA TRULSSON
Prayer Pavilion of Light
Phoenix First Assembly of God
Phoenix, Arizona
Jack DeBartolo, Jr., FAIA
DeBartolo Architects
Phoenix, Arizona
Photography by Bill Timmerman
 The prayer chapel glows like a lantern on its hillside setting.
The prayer chapel has the simplest of forms--a square glass “lid” that seems to float above concrete and glass walls. By day, the translucent glass has a pale blue-green hue, blending into its desert locale. By night, the chapel glows like a lantern on the hillside, inviting all to pray and meditate in the serene setting.
The elegant, minimalist chapel was designed by architect Jack DeBartolo, Jr. as part of a long-term masterplanning project for the 70-acre campus of the Phoenix First Assembly of God, a church with a congregation of more than 8,000.
“I’m a member of the congregation,” explains DeBartolo, principal emeritus of DeBartolo Architects in Phoenix. “The pastor approached me in the mid-1990s to help expand the campus. We started in 1997 with a masterplan, and the chapel is our fourth new building.”
Under DeBartolo’s guidance, the new campus buildings depart architecturally from the existing, Southwestern-style church structures, instead emphasizing modernism and use of the outdoors, drawing congregants into courtyards, plazas and the surrounding desert setting.
The chapel--called the Prayer Pavilion of Light--was designed to be a concrete manifestation of one of the church’s core beliefs, the power of prayer. “We wanted to create a space away from the main church where someone could pray alone or in groups,”explains DeBartolo. “We also wanted a place for events such as weddings or funerals.”
DeBartolo suggested a 3.5-acre site for the new chapel, located on a hillside where the church property abuts a Phoenix desert preserve. Working with a team from his firm that included Jack DeBartolo 3, Eric Huffman, Tim Smith and Aaron Taylor, DeBartolo came up with simple, open plan for the 50- by 50-foot-square pavilion that seats 250 and opens on to tree-shaded plazas on the north and south, and a square expanse of grass toward the east. A wide walkway connects the chapel to a low-slung support building that contains restrooms, office space and room for bridal parties.
Working with a simple palette of glass, stainless steel and concrete, DeBartolo designed the top of the chapel to be a double glass cube--a box within a box--with the outside layer of glass shading the inside layer of glass. A five-foot gap between the glass layers and louvers at the top help draw warm air up and out. The cube rests atop cast concrete and stainless steel-clad corner walls. A metal collar below the interior glass cube supplies heating and cooling. Window walls along the chapel’s north, south and east sides telescope open into the corner walls, allowing breezes and birds to waft in and out of the space when the weather is mild.
Other well-edited details add to the chapel’s aesthetic. Honed granite tiles are used as flooring indoors and out. Along the west side, cast-bronze entry doors, inscribed with the Lord’s Prayer, pivot open into the chapel. The doors’ interior handles are inscribed with the Latin words Soli Deo Gloria. Sleek laminated maple and metal chairs provide seating, while fabric panels on the ceiling soften the acoustics. By night, LED lighting gives the chapel its glowing, ever-changing hues.
 The chapel’s window walls telescope open, creating a connection to the outdoor spaces.
As the chapel was created to blur the line between indoors and out, DeBartolo made sure the courtyards and other exterior spaces also received the same thoughtful design process. Working with landscape designer Michael Boucher of Freeport, Maine and Scottsdale, Arizona landscape architect Tim Daugherty of Cardno WRG, DeBartolo angled the main approach to the chapel up the hillside, diminishing views of a nearby subdivision with landscaping and patinaed steel panels. The north and south plazas are shaded with grids of palo brea trees. The south plaza is the site of reflecting fountain and fire feature, as well as a simple metal cross, while the north plaza includes a long columbarium wall and a series of benches that offer a spot for remembrance and reflection.
Completed in 2007, the chapel has won AIA Arizona and Western Mountain Region design awards, as well as receiving the the international Faith & Form magazine and Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture 2008 Honor award. As such, it has become a pilgrimage spot for architects, architecture students and design aficionados.
Most important, though, the chapel is a quiet sanctuary for those who pray. “The chapel is open 24/7,” says DeBartolo, “and it’s open to everyone, even if you’re not a member of the church.”
Architecture: DeBartolo Architects, 4450 N. 12th St., Suite 268, Phoenix, AZ 85014; (602) 264-6617 or www.debartoloarchitects.com.
Builder: Artur Porter Construction, 11201 N. 23rd Ave., Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ 85029; (602) 943-2222.
Landscape architecture: Cardno WRG, 9977 N. 90th St., Suite 350, Scottsdale, AZ 85258; (602) 977-8000 or www.wrgdesign.com.
Landscape design: Michael Boucher Landscape Architecture, 457 U.S. Route 1, Suite 2, Freeport, ME 04032; (207) 865-1080 or www.boucherlandscape.com.
Lighting design: Roger Smith Lighting Design, 1135 E. Desert Cove Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85020; (602) 770-7868.
See Web-only extra images of this project.
Salvation Army Hope Chapel
Las Vegas, Nevada
Roy Burson, AIA
JVC Architects
Las Vegas, Nevada
Photography by Sagalow Photography
 Pale woods and simple furnishings mark the chapel’s interior.
The Salvation Army has operated in downtown Las Vegas for more than 60 years, ministering to the needs of local residents through housing and vocational training at its compact, seven-acre campus.
While the architecture of the campus buildings could be called modest, its existing chapel was beyond modest. “They called it the ‘chicken coop,’” explains architect Roy Burson, a principal of JVC Architects. “It was an old CMU building, covered with corrugated metal, that didn’t have much ventilation.”
With the help of a team from JVC Architects, the chicken coop has been replaced with a new facility, the Salvation Army Hope Chapel, featuring a simple, serene design meant to grant solace and inspire hope for those who gather within its bold, soaring walls.
“The best place for the new chapel was the site of the old chapel,” explains Burson, who led the design team. “But that tight site was challenging. We had to provide adequate fire access around the perimeter, ADA access, parking and landscaping, not to mention put in a 5,000-square-foot building.”
 Working within those parameters as well as a modest budget, Burson created a design that’s inwardly focused, creating a series of spaces in which the rest of the surrounding campus--as well as the distractions of urban life--disappear.
In plan, the chapel is two rectangular forms, set at a slight angle to one another, creating narrow entry slots. Those gated entrances lead to a central, shaded courtyard, meant to serve as a transition space between the outside world and the chapel. Restrooms and storage facilities are on one side of the courtyard, while a library, private prayer room and the chapel itself are on the opposite side of the courtyard.
In elevation, the chapel’s striking, monolithic walls angle and rise toward the chapel’s altar area, which is bisected by an angled spire, inset with a blue glass cross. A few strategically placed slot and side windows provide daylight, but keep the harsh desert sun at bay.
Exterior and interior materials were kept simple, in line with the budget. The walls are built with with 12-inch-thick insulated concrete forms, covered in a rust-hued concrete plaster. Rusted metal siding clads the spire. The courtyard is shaded with a perforated metal canopy and further cooled with a water feature and landscaping.
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| The cross on the spire has a blue glow when viewed from the interior. |
The courtyard’s main walkway continues into the chapel, forming the central aisle. Inside the chapel, the oak-clad ceiling rises toward the altar, which is flanked by two angled, freestanding walls. The simple pews, altar, podium and bench were custom designs, crafted of light-colored oak.
The chapel building was designed to be energy efficient. Thick walls and a highly insulated roof keep cooling costs down. An operable vent atop the spire--the building’s highest point--draws warm air out of the building. The courtyard serves as usable function space, without the costs of air conditioning. A conscious choice was used to install artificial turf there, saving water.
“This building offers a sense of escape,” says Burson of the completed project. “It’s meant to give people a respite, a place to reflect, a place where they can have some privacy.”
For JVC Architects, the chapel project also offered accolades from peers. Among the awards the chapel has won are the 2008 AIA Nevada Merit design award, and the international Faith & Form magazine and Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture 2008 Merit award.
Architecture and interiors: JVC Architects, 5385 S. Cameron, Suite 15, Las Vegas, NV 89118; (702) 871-3416 or www.jvcarchitects.biz.
Builder: Breslin Builders, 5525 Polaris Ave., Suite B, Las Vegas, NV 89118; (702) 798-3977 or www.breslinbuilders.com.
Landscape architect: Southwick Landscape Architecture, 12 Commerce Center Drive, Suite D-44, Henderson, NV 89014; (702) 597-3108 or www.southwickla.com.
Insulated concrete forms: ARXX, www.arxxbuild.com.
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