Chapel of St. Basil, Houston

The Chapel of Saint Basil is a chapel on the campus of the University of Saint Thomas in Houston. Designed by Philip Johnson in 1997, the Chapel is situated at the north end of the University's Academic Mall, which is a series of buildings that represent various academic disciplines and scholarly activities.

The Chapel's structure is composed of three basic geometric forms: the cube, the sphere, and the plane. The majority of the building comprises the cube, including the main seating area, while the dome (a semi-sphere) rises high above the cube. The granite plane bisects the cube and opens up the chapel to light, creating a sense of the dome not being a closing vault but rather an opening to the heavens.

The Chapel's exterior stands in contrast to all the other campus buildings as it is composed of white stucco and black granite, dominating the whole campus through its height. The gold dome at the top proclaims the University's Christian character and can be seen from miles away from large buildings throughout downtown, uptown, and the medical center.

During the daytime, there is no artificial light inside the main section of the building, and there is sufficient sunlight to fully light the worship space, while at night, the lights from outside combined with candles inside the Chapel are more than enough to illuminate the worship area.

The Chapel's interior is carefully designed to create a series of shifts during the mass. The entrances are not pointed towards the altar, but rather towards the tabernacle, focusing on the importance of the Eucharist. Likewise, the altar and crucifix are not located in the geometric center of the Chapel, but rather are slightly to the left of the center. When seated, the pews are directed towards the altar, drawing a focus on the altar as the location of the Eucharist during the mass.

Several unique features are worth mentioning within the Chapel, such as the altar, which is made of granite with ridges on either side, representing the "water of life" provided by Christ. The crucifix on the north wall is a centuries-old corpus donated by the Menil family, connected to a cross engraved into the Chapel's wall. The pipe organ is located just to the east of the altar, while the tabernacle is located to the west, inscribed with a design of two angels praising towards heaven.

On the west wall of the Chapel is a slanted glass cross, and below it are the Stations of the Cross, etched into the wall, providing a 3-dimensional feel. The east wall of the Chapel features the statue of "Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom," a statue of Mary with the child Christ on her lap. In the statue, the child is holding a book in one hand while instructing with the other.