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“Because of the grand scale, when you walk into the room it is emotionally very powerful. We tried to take advantage of that. At the same time, by breaking it down into little pieces - in the rose itself and many panels in the screen - it’s accessible on a human scale as well. The reredos and the rose combine in a three-dimensional collage, intending to project the viewer into another dimension.”
- Jim Olson, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects.
St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, Washington, has been a work in progress for nearly 70 years. A recent renovation and expansion by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects in conjunction with Portland, Oregon-based glass artist Ed Carpenter, created a new west wall and provided the church with a defining presence through a contemporary yet symbolic rose window and
reredos. This church on a hill is now a beacon from inside and out.
St. Mark’s Cathedral
St. Mark’s was dedicated on April 25, 1931. Although a much more magnificent building was envisioned, it was not to be. The building was planned in 1926, pledges made through 1928, and the pouring of cement began that same year. However, the Great Depression of 1929 caused a considerable decrease in available funds. The result is, in large measure, what stands today. This “Holy Box”, as it is affectionately called, represents what could be done with the limited funds that were available. In fact, at the time of the dedication, $250,000 was still owed to the St. Louis bankers who financed the construction.
The most recent renovation work came under the umbrella of a project called Century II, which lasted for 10 years. St. Mark’s was entering its second century, and a committee was formed to oversee and organize renovation.
Following extensive infrastructure work and capping the cathedral with a new copper roof, next in line was addressing a much needed facelift for the west wall. Through a very generous donation of $1 million sent unannounced from Marion Oliver McCaw on Christmas Eve 1995, this portion of the project was launched; her only request being that some reference to a rose window be included in the plans.
Over the course of a decade, three separate parish surveys were conducted about the renovation of the cathedral and each time parishioners overwhelmingly asked that the light, spaciousness and acoustical properties of their space be preserved.
With these criteria in mind, St. Mark’s began a national search for an architect. Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen made the shortlist and was among five finalists. The design committee fashioned a series of specific questions to narrow the playing field. One question was: what is attractive about St. Mark’s Cathedral as it is?
“Only Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen stated they thought it was attractive in its unfinished state and could stand unadorned and succeed. That was pretty radical,” says Herb Williams, Century II committee member and design committee chair at St. Mark’s. Williams, one of the cathedral organists, often guides visitors on tours of the church and has been a parishioner there for 25 years.
“They were also the only architects who made reference to the magnificent Flentrop organ,” Williams continues. “Everyone else said there was no distinguishing feature in the building. Music has always drawn a lot of people to St. Mark’s, and the organ is very pivotal. We thought, aha, these people have taken a look around.”
According to Williams, Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen was ultimately selected based upon the firm’s imaginative use of light and spare sense of design as well as its focus on nature, place, and spirituality, and how those elements interrelate.
“We did not initially expect to go with Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen,” explains Williams, “because they were the least traditional of the five final candidates. But on one of Jim Olson’s first visits to the church, he said, ‘When walking into the center of the nave, I want parishioners to be confronted with a wall of spiritual light. When they leave the nave, I want them to be confronted with a wall of spiritual sound,’ which the organ aurally and visually provides. With that we knew we had selected the right architects for our space.”
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects and Ed Carpenter
Thirty-five years ago, Olson started a firm based on some simple ideas; that buildings can serve as a bridge between nature and culture and between people, and that inspiring surroundings have a positive effect on people’s lives. Today the firm has taken those ideas to creative levels only dreamt of not so long ago. The firm’s work, including museums, college and university buildings, places of worship, and residences, particularly for art collectors, is now nationwide.
Carpenter is an artist specializing in large-scale public installations ranging from architectural sculpture to infrastructure design. Since 1973 he has completed scores of projects for public, corporate, and ecclesiastical clients. Working internationally from his studio in Portland, Carpenter collaborates with a variety of expert consultants, sub-contractors, and studio assistants. He personally oversees every step of each commission, and installs them himself with a crew of long-time helpers, except in the case of the largest objects, such as bridges.
The commission that brought these two innovators together was the Hauberg residence in Seattle. John Hauberg was one of the founders of the Pilchuck Glass School, and in the early ‘90s he selected Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen to build his new home and Carpenter to create an interior sculpture and skylight in a stairwell there. The light reflecting off of Carpenter’s sculpture produced incredible patterns of color on the walls and a feeling described by both artists as that of “spirituality.”
Says Carpenter, “The Hauberg residence was a source of pride and enthusiasm to both of us. We wanted light and glass to create spiritual qualities in this space. There was an unspoken desire to create an other-worldliness in the skylight and sculpture there. St. Mark’s was a natural continuation of themes we had dealt with in this residential project.”
Adds Olson, “St. Mark’s required that we provide sun control as well as additional focus and do so without destroying the quality and acoustics of the space while providing a strong additional element of spirituality. I thought of Ed immediately as a collaborator for this project.”
St. Mark’s: Where There are Problems, There are Beautiful Solutions
St. Mark’s remains to this day a remarkable edifice in the sense that it is a large (100 feet square by 80 feet high), simple room. Its extraordinary wooden ceiling was meant to be temporary until a much more ornate Neo-Gothic ceiling could be completed. The renovation had two primary requirements: providing new focus on the altar end of the room; the other, controlling the light.
The room is oriented conversely to the normal configuration of a church or cathedral. Instead of having the altar on the east end, St. Mark’s has the altar on the west end. After midday there is a lot of bright sunshine that comes through big west windows - blinding parishioners.
Olson described to Carpenter a number of objectives he had, some practical and some atmospheric and spiritual. Olson had an idea for a
reredos, a liturgical screen that would go behind the altar and also function as a sunscreen. He discussed with the client a penetration in the west wall that would reference a rose window.
Carpenter combined those two ideas.
Because the outside wall had some structural limitations in how big the rose could be, Carpenter suggested that the artwork be moved to the interior and the reredos and rose be made into an enormous screen that would span floor to ceiling - a full 80 feet high.
What was emerging was a plan where light control could be achieved through layering, and a dramatic new addition to St. Mark’s would be embodied in an enormous freestanding screen and rose sculpture.
The rose window is most abstract, which befits St. Mark’s diverse and inclusive congregation. Yet it is divided into four equal segments, which symbolize the four gospels or four seasons, and again divided into 12 sections, symbolizing the 12 disciples or the months of the year. The circular inner screen opening and back wall clear glass center represent the Oculus Dei or the “Eye of God”, literally giving the viewer a look at the heavens.
“It’s fitting to the great simplicity of the room,” says Olson. “One can and is invited to see traditional symbols and representations within the rose, but they’re certainly not obvious.”
“The Great Window” was installed behind the rose window. This austere window measures 24 feet and depicts a Greek cross with the outer portion divided into four quadrants, representing the four gospels all in purple glass (purple being the color associated with Episcopal Cathedrals in the United States). From the back of the church, the two window designs align, forming a more elaborate third visual design referencing the Trinity and creating a three-dimensional, sculptural effect.
During the design process, Olson and Carpenter came to understand there was an opportunity to create a chapel between the new screen and the renovated west wall. This chapel could be exposed or enclosed by incorporating enormous doors in the screen. The center of the screen is hinged with two gargantuan doors on hydraulic openers. When the doors are closed, the screen functions as a complete reredos or screen behind the altar. In this instance the chapel becomes shrouded in mystery, revealing only the silhouettes of individuals behind it preparing for the celebration. During ceremonial and/or festive service occasions it’s possible to have a dramatic opening of the doors for processions to move out of the chapel and enter the main cathedral nave.
Carpenter began to work on the composition and geometry of this design. Meanwhile, he and Olson consulted with acoustical engineers who made suggestions about how they might be able to preserve the fine acoustics in the room essentially by designing “acoustical transparency” into the screen - in other words, openings.
“As I drew this and sent drawings back and forth to Jim, we developed a scheme that was good enough to submit to the client. There was a certain amount of head scratching and intense discussion on the part of St. Mark’s, because it was a relatively radical proposal,” says Carpenter.
Eventually the scheme was approved, and the questions then involved what materials to use, how to attach them and how to engineer their ideas. They studied many options for the glass, and eventually settled on three types: In the center of the rose is a laminated ½-inch translucent plate glass with exposed edges. Around that, in a border, is a laminated dichroic glass that gives color to the composition and emphasizes the expanding geometry of the rose. Pilkington Technical Mirrors made all of the dichroic glass. Northwest Industries did the edgework and laminating including that of the translucent plate glass.
In the screen there are over 300 (above and below the rose glass sculpture) 1-inch thick cast glass panels fabricated by Doug Hansen, an artist from Seattle who specializes in cast glass. Each was hand crafted and took approximately 48 hours to fully execute.
“The fronts of the milky-colored cast panels were acid-washed, providing a texture similar to natural slate,” says Williams. “We wanted to make a deliberate reference to the use of stone in ancient cathedrals. The glass draws people in with its tactile qualities, a dividend we hadn’t counted on.”
To allow for optimum interplay with the light, all of the glass is siliconed into small steel channels that leave as much of the edges exposed as possible. Olson, Carpenter and Bob Grummel of KPFF designed clips that hold the glass in place in the steel frame. Selen and Company carried out the six-month installation of the rose, the reredos and the “Great Window.”
St. Mark’s renovation is rich in religious symbolism as well as architectural significance. Through their creation of a new west wall, the team of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen and Carpenter provided the cathedral with a defining presence - a glass wall that creates kaleidoscopic colors and transports viewers to other dimensions.
“We now have art and architecture that represents this point in time for our day and age,” says Williams. “It captures and reflects the essence of St. Mark’s.”
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