AWARD FOR RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE: LITURGICAL / INTERIOR DESIGN
Immaculate Conception Chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
Voith & Mactavish Architects LLP || Ambler, PA
The Immaculate Conception Chapel is the spiritual center of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary’ s relocated campus. Seating 220, the new chapel maintains a 155-year tradition while supporting the seminary’ s future. It is a living place of formation where memory, devotion, and faith connect generations by giving salvaged sacred furnishings renewed life in a space alive with light, sound, and texture.
The chapel’ s character is shaped by architecture and furnishings that support both heritage and daily liturgical life. Tiered antiphonal seating allows seminarians to chant the daily Divine Office in facing choirs, while forward-facing pews in the back of the nave accommodate larger liturgies. Light filters through the dozen stained glass windows brought from the former campus. Carved pews, Stations of the Cross, statues, and stained-glass windows were carefully salvaged, restored, and relocated from two chapels at the old campus. The sacrificial altar, formed from two reconfigured side altars, anchors the chancel, while the tabernacle, sanctuary lamp, radiant Holy Spirit laylight, ambo, and faculty stalls, all brought from the former campus, surround the high altar. In the narthex, the relocated Mary shrine, Drexel crucifix, and holy water font once again welcome worshippers.
JURY COMMENTS: The way this new interior successfully incorporates consecrated objects from the previous campus is impressive. The chapel respects the heritage and traditional liturgy of the seminary while also seeming bright, fresh, and forward-looking. The chapel’ s nave and tabernacle are stunning.
AWARD FOR RELIGIOUS ARCHITECTURE: NEW FACILITIES
The Chapel of St. Ignatius and the Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center
Trahan Architects || New Orleans, LA
The Chapel of St. Ignatius and the Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center, located on Loyola University New Orleans’ historic quad, provides a place for spiritual contemplation and an inspiring space for campus gatherings. Designed by Trahan Architects, the building’ s simple cylindrical form, composed of textured, handmade brick, harmonizes with the surrounding Tudor- Gothic architecture while maintaining its own distinctive contemporary character. The chapel’ s solid exterior evokes a permanence and stability that reflects the surrounding campus.
Both inside and out, the building’ s curved spaces foster communal intimacy. The layout of the interior references the traditional axial plans of Gothic cathedrals while cross-weaving interfaith programs within the dedicated Catholic spaces— elevating the university’ s value of diversity.
JURY COMMENTS: The circular design makes a bold, contrasting statement in the context of the surrounding campus architecture. But it works. The fractal plan and the precise intersections of ceiling and wall planes was impressive. The interior is minimal in terms of decoration but it still feels intimate and communal.
Jeffrey Totaro
Tim Hursley
30 SACRED PLACES • SUMMER 2026