All Saints Chapel
A chapel for more than 500 in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, around a courtyard with a gallery, a coffee shop, and a bell tower.
- Location
- Chattanooga, Tennessee
- Type
- Sacred, chapel addition
- Size
- 9,000 square feet added, with a partial renovation
- Design-builder
- Tucker Build
- Completion
- 2025
The Abbot of the Mission came to us with a vision for a new chapel, named All Saints in memory of the late Ben Ferguson. Ben faithfully shepherded the congregation for more than ten years, and his kindness and authenticity live on in the people he chose to serve and the family he left behind. Under his care the church flourished, and it needed room to grow.
The grounds sit in Onion Bottom, in the heart of downtown Chattanooga, a refuge for the city's unhoused neighbors with a community kitchen and shelter close by. The dense urban site is crossed by the scars of abandoned rail lines, which left an irregular geometry to work with.
Looking for places that had met similar conditions, we kept returning to the Dutch Expressionists. Their irregular plans mirrored our site, their playfulness seemed to carry Ben's spirit, and their tactile materials belonged to the city. The movement also grew from a social mission, much like the church's own.
With this in mind, we shaped a new chapel for the Mission, with room for more than 500 people. A large courtyard, flanked by a gathering space, an art gallery, and a coffee shop, opens to the street so the life of the church can be seen from the sidewalk. At its corner a new bell tower rises, set to catch the sunrise on the winter solstice, a sign of light and hope in our darkest moments.
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