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Thorncrown Chapel Selected to Receive AIA 2006 Twenty-five Year Award
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For Immediate Release |
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Washington, D.C., December 20,
2005 — The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the
Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Ark., has been selected to
receive the 2006 AIA Twenty-five Year Award for architectural
design that has stood the test of time for 25 years.
The small but soaring glass and cross-braced pine chapel, designed
by the late E. Fay Jones, FAIA, the 1990 AIA Gold Medalist, nestles
into an eight-acre woodland setting on a sloping hillside in the
Ozark Mountains. Dell Reed, the chapel’s owner, will accept
the honor on behalf of her architect and her husband at the Accent
on Architecture Gala in Washington, D.C. on February 11,
2006.
The chapel stands 48 feet with 24-foot-wide by 60-foot-long
dimensions for a total of 1,440 square feet. Its 425 windows, made
of 6,000 square feet of glass, filter woodland light across its
upward diamond-shaped pine trusses to form ever-changing patterns
of light and shadow throughout the day and night.
"Visiting there gives you a sacred connection between the chapel
and its environment, a very centering experience. This is a
magnificent object that has received wide acclaim and will continue
to be loved and cherished by all who visit,” said Jury Chair
Robert Hull, FAIA. “Architects strive to be timeless and with
this building, you take the procession to a timeless piece of
architecture. Visiting it is a spiritual, nearly holy experience.
The name doesn't diminish the symbolism of the crown of thorns.
It's iconic in a very special way. Connected to something truly
spiritual, communal and nondenominational. A truly inspiring work
of art and architecture!"
Five million people have visited Thorncrown Chapel since it opened
in 1980. The nondenominational Christian chapel serves as the site
for an average of 300 weddings each year. Thorncrown, which
received a national AIA Honor Award in 1981, is fourth on the
AIA’s Top 10 list of 20th-century structures. Robert Ivy,
FAIA, architecture scholar, critic, and Jones’ biographer,
described Thorncrown as “arguably among the 20th
century’s great works of art.”
The vertical and diagonal cross-tension trusses support a folded
roof and are made from local pine but are no larger than what could
be carried through the woods (larger trusses were assembled on the
floor and raised into place). All of the wood was hand-rubbed with
a grayish stain to blend with the bark of the surrounding trees and
stone. Hollow steel joints link the cross-braces to form
diamond-shaped lighting. The walls are just clear glass. The floor
is made of flagstone and surrounded with a rock wall to give the
feeling that the chapel is part of its Ozark mountainside. Looking
upward inside the chapel a visitor will see the complex of trusses
to perceive a crown of thorns. Openings at each end focus attention
on the altar and the Ozarks. Visitors enter through an angular
Gothic doorway. The only steel is in the diamond-shaped patterns in
the trusses.
“Let the outside in” was a principle of Jones’ chief
mentor, Frank Lloyd Wright, and the most important element of
Jones’ design at Thorncrown. Thus, Thorncrown never looks
quite the same. Its appearance changes during each hour of the day
and during the different seasons of the year. Jones stated he
“saw the potential for light play on the structure.” So
he enlarged the roof-ridge skylight to increase “the sense of
drama.” At night, the 12 wall lanterns, each attached to a
column and illuminating a cross, form infinite reflections in the
glass to give the perception of infinite crosses throughout the
forest. The chapel’s skylights also reflect the pine beams at
night through the glass to form crosses that appear to surround the
entire building.
During certain times of the year, the chapel draws more than 2,000
people per day, and Sunday services draw 300 people. AIA Executive
Vice President/CEO Norman L. Koonce, FAIA, writes in the AIA
publication Fay Jones that at Thorncrown there is a great sense of
peace. “You feel calm. It is the special genius of this place,
its ‘humility,’ if you will, that Thorncrown Chapel
captures and quietly celebrates.”
Thorncrown was the dream of retired teacher Jim Reed, a native of
Pine Bluff, Ark. In 1971 Reed purchased the land that is now the
site of the chapel to build his retirement cabin. However, other
people admired the location and would stop at his property to view
the beautiful Ozark hills. “It became evident to us that the
tourists liked our driveway,” Dell Reed, widow of Jim Reed,
said in a 2004 interview. “They would come into our driveway
and have picnics. One afternoon Jim said ‘wouldn’t it be
great if somehow, way back in the woods, we could build those folks
a glass chapel?’ They all seem to want to get off the highway
and into the woods.”
Reed and his wife wanted it to be a chapel in the woods to give
wayfarers a place to relax in an inspiring setting. Reed contacted
Jones, then chair of the University of Arkansas Department of
Architecture, who was well known for his intimate style of Arkansas
chapels and private homes that relied on Ozark and state materials.
As it turned out, both Reed and Jones were natives of Pine Bluff,
Ark., and both also had the same first-grade teacher. Jones
designed Thorncrown, but the estimated cost to complete it was
$200,000, more than double the Reeds’ original investment.
Reed went to banks in California to try to secure the rest of the
money, as construction of the chapel moved forward. But the banks
kept telling him, as Dell Reed once described, “People
don’t build glass chapels for tourists in their backyards in
Arkansas.”
As Thorncrown sat half-finished, the Reeds wrote letters and asked
for loans, finally receiving a letter from an Illinois woman who
wrote that she would lend the remaining money. The chapel was
built, opening in 1980. Jim Reed passed away in 1985. Dell Reed
still lives in their cabin and maintains the chapel. Their son Doug
Reed is currently one of Thorncrown’s three
interdenominational ministers. Since Thorncrown Chapel is not
supported by any denomination or foundation, it depends entirely on
donations.
Jones passed away on August 31, 2004, at his home in Fayetteville,
Ark., at the age of 83, survived by his wife and two daughters. He
will always be recognized as the man who built Thorncrown Chapel,
and remembered as one of the leading architects of the 20th
century.
About The American Institute of Architects
For almost 150 years, members of The American Institute of
Architects have worked with each other and their communities to
create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings
and cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people,
knowledge, and tools to create better design, and through such
resources and access, they help clients and communities make their
visions real. www.aia.org
Note to Editors: High-resolution images are available for download.
Please contact Cara Battaglini in the AIA media relations office
(202.626.7462 or email: carab@aia.org)
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