Portfolio: St. Theresa Chapel

This is a renovation of a daily mass chapel for a large parish church in the Archdiocese of Houston. The existing chapel was rather functional in style and the pastor desired to create a place of prayer and devotion that would support and honor the liturgy. The chapel, which is 1700 square feet in size, is dedicated to St. Therese of the Little Flower that has occasioned the commissioning of a new stained glass of the saint within the sanctuary. Smaller traditional chapels of the early Renaissance influenced the addition of architectural elements including Doric columns, pilasters, entablatures, door architraves and small shrines. The addition of a new marble slab floor and custom wood and marble altar are the focus of the project. With a limited budget and a grand vision, the design called for research in inexpensive materials and the creative use of color.

The walls of the chapel are umber and the architectural elements added are white. The frieze of the Doric entablature and the back walls of the small shrines are a burgundy color. Simple wood coffering with painted panels and ecclesiastical pendant fixtures add to the chapel’s aesthetic. Two new confessional rooms and a working sacristy were added in keeping with the design of the chapel. The marble slab floor of the sanctuary consists of cooler grays and blues with white marble tiles creating simple geometric patterns. The altar seeks to combine the iconography of both meal and sacrifice with corner balusters and a mensa made from onyx. The tabernacle located behind the altar is from Spain and sits on a shrine that compliments the design of the altar.