Saint Mary’s College High School Albany, Mark Cavagnero Associates San Francisco, California Student Chapel Building
Saint Mary’s College High School Student Chapel, Albany
Nov 16, 2020
Saint Mary’s College High School Student Chapel, Albany, California
Design: Mark Cavagnero Associates
Location: Albany, east shore of San Francisco Bay, northwestern Alameda County, northern California, USA

The new 4,400 sqft chapel seats 200 people within a sacred space for communal worship and learning, as well as private prayer and reflection for the religiously diverse student body. The Chapel stands among mature trees on a gentle hillside and by the flowing water of Cordornices Creek. The exterior of the Student Chapel includes an entry courtyard, a meditative garden, a reflecting pool, and a Grotto, with a mural devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Chapel experience begins with the approach: A walk along the length of the building, flanked by an articulated white concrete block wall, provides a transition where noise from the adjacent streets fades as you approach a small courtyard at the rear of the building. Here, a shallow pool beside the door marks the threshold with the soft reflection of light on the water’s surface. The courtyard offers a moment of pause before entering the explicitly liturgical space ‘? a representation of the client’s hope that the restoration felt within the Chapel could inform students’ everyday lives.
The design o...