ABSTRACT
Eero Saarinen’s Kresge Chapel at MIT, dedicated in 1955, was a worship space intended to serve the religious needs of its entire campus community as a nondenominational chapel. This ideal, characteristic of mid-twentieth-century American architecture, was adopted by the chapel’s originating administrative clients, MIT President James R. Killian, Jr., and the Dean of Students, Rev. Everett M. Baker, before the latter’s death in 1950. Both were Unitarians, a liberal religious denomination historically committed to valuing and understanding world faiths. Saarinen’s building echoed the traditions of churches with which he was familiar. Yet it responded to this nondenominational concept in its secluded siting, circular geometry, brick material, direct overhead and peripheral reflected daylight, optimal acoustics especially for organ music, fixtures, and furnishings, all intended to evoke elemental religious emotion. Its intimate scale was keyed to the spiritual experience of individual visitors, with the aim of creating a transcendent interior environment.
