[TIMI] The design for All Saints Chapel at TMI – The Episcopal School of Texas has won an award for Ford, Powell & Carson Architects & Planners, Inc. Lead architect for the chapel, dedicated September 7, 2008, was Chris Carson, a TMI alumnus who graduated in 1951.
The chapel design received an award in the category of Religious Architecture/New Facilities in the 2009 Religious Art and Architecture Design Awards program, cosponsored by Faith & Form magazine and the Interfaith Forum on Religion, Art and Architecture, a knowledge community of the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
“The addition of All Saints Chapel to the TMI campus is a most elegant symbol and summary of our mission and purpose,” says TMI Headmaster James A. Freeman, Ph.D. “The simple beauty of the architecture is nothing less than a bold theological statement directing our vision upward to the source of our being while drawing us together into a community of spiritual intimacy.”
The design has provided a uniquely inspiring space for daily chapel worship, says TMI Chaplain Chris Mitchell, who notes that “There is something deeply symbolic about the natural light streaming in through the high windows beneath the chapel’s ‘floating’ roof.”
Full-page photos of All Saints Chapel and other winning entries will be published in the Winter 2009 awards issue of Faith & Form, an interfaith journal devoted to religious art and architecture. An exhibition of the award-winning projects will be displayed at the AIA’s 2010 National Convention, and the awards will be presented at an awards banquet, June 9, 2010, in Miami.
“We are thrilled with this honor and recognition of our work on such a special sacred space,” says Carson. “It is an important achievement for our firm—and especially rewarding this year as we celebrate our 70th anniversary.”
Carson is a principal and co-chairman of the board of Ford, Powell & Carson. His other projects include the Tobin Library at the McNay Museum, the Cowboy Artists of America Museum in Kerrville and the Fort Worth Zoo Gallery. The firm has won more than 150 local, state and national design awards in architecture, interior design and landscape architecture and in 1999 the Texas Society of Architects recognized Ford, Powell & Carson with the Architecture Firm of the Year Award.
Faith & Form magazine has been published since 1967. The awards program was founded in 1978 to honor the best in architecture, liturgical design and art for religious spaces.
Founded in 1893, TMI is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory school for grades 6-12, with optional Junior ROTC and boarding programs. For information, visit www.tmi-sa.org or call 210.698.7171.