AC Martin Partners

Wallace All Faiths Chapel, City of Orange, California

Edie Cohen -- Interior Design, 12/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

A chapel at Chapman University is an uplifting union of ecclesiastical architecture and commissioned artwork. Four Southern California artists—sculptors Lita Albuquerque and Norie Sato, landscape artist Susan Narduli, and marquetry master William Tunberg—collaborated with principal David Martin to simulate a spiritual journey through the 10,500-square-foot building and an adjacent columbarium. To transition from the material to the spiritual, Martin progressively cut down on outside views by laminating the windows with increasingly opaque blue rice paper. Colored glass windows, set in the worship room's 10-foot-thick plaster walls, enhance its ethereal atmosphere.

Merit

Gardiner Museum, Toronto

DESIGN Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects.

STANDOUT Removing a staircase made the shop visible from the street; adding a third floor contributed columnless gallery space.

Irwin Union Bank, Columbus, Indiana

DESIGN Deborah Berke & Partners Architects.

STANDOUT A channel-glass clerestory shelters the drive-through and floods the interior with natural light.

Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta

DESIGN TVS Interiors.

STANDOUT More than 8 million gallons of water and 500 LED fixtures immerse visitors in the experience.