Chapel of Christ the King
Chapel of Christ the King
Franciscan University of Steubenville - Steubenville, OhioMcCrery Architects was commissioned to design the new Christ the King Chapel at the Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, after a national, invited, design competition. This Chapel is designed to meet the needs of a growing and flourishing student body, by doubling in seating capacity to 600, with the potential to hold 1000, and by providing a beautiful chapel to foster the richness of the spiritual life on campus. The design is inspired by and participates in the tremendously rich Romanesque artistic and architectural tradition. It draws from architectural forms that Saint Francis knew in the Umbrian countryside, and is nonetheless entirely American and of the 21st century. Appended to the chapel's overall cross-shaped form are various necessary components: two sacristies, a bell tower, a stair tower, and two further entrance vestibules. Each of these, along with a lower level arcade that opens to the ground level on the North side, assist in marrying the chapel to its landscape. The chapel's significance is further indicated by a tower at the crossing, surmounted by a circular drum and capped by a conical roof. This three-dimensional composition arrays the faithful within a traditional form and orients them heavenward. In this sense, the chapel is a physical realization of the university's mission at the very heart of campus.
