First Congregational Church, Boulder, CO

Main and Dove Windows

Architect:
CLayton Cole, AIA,
SlaterPaull Architects

CHAPEL WINDOWS

Main (Upper) Window, 11'-1" w by 12' h
Meditation (Lower) Window, 2' w by 10'-9" h
Dove (Trapezoidal) Window, 5'-7" w by 2'-5" h
Hidden Window, 4'-5" w by 2'-5" h

German and French mouthblown glass, domestic rolled glasses, dichroic glass, hand-pressed lenses, Austrian lead-crystal prisms, lead and solder.

The Chapel Windows are located in a uniquely circular Chapel in First Congregational Church’s new Faith Center. The Chapel appears to transcend its traditional, rectilinear context as it spirals up toward the heavens. The helical, uplifting movement of the outer wall is echoed on many levels by the Chapel’s furnishings and finishes. The idea of spiritual enlightenment symbolized by upward movement toward the light embodied by the architecture also forms the starting point for the stained glass design. This concept reflects First Congregational Church’s commitment and outreach to those in need within the community and throughout the world.

The Meditation Window is located at floor level in the curved wall with a meditation area and fountain at its base. It faces east and the hundred-plus-year-old main Sanctuary across a landscaped pedestrian and gathering area. Deeper more saturated color predominates in this window providing a dimmer, more contemplative light and a sense of separation from activity beyond. Within this sea of deep color wisps of brighter white glass, opal lenses and dichroic accents waft upward anticipating the dramatic counterpoint centered above in the Main Window. These white glasses sparkle and glisten in the quietly flowing water of the fountain. An opal grid within the circular area that hovers near the floor reiterates the pattern of its stained glass antecedents in the historic main Church a few feet away.

Meditation Window with Pool

Click images for a larger view.

Chapel Exterior

Exterior Detail

Main and Meditation Windows

Meditation Window in indirect light (L) and direct morning light (R)

The Main Window looms as an expansive visual contrast to its more intimate and inward companion below. Along its lower edge the darker colors from the Meditation Window reappear only to brighten and fade as light assumes the leading role. Rising into the Upper Window, dichroic glass accents have miraculously changed color. Their textureless lucidity allows incoming sunlight to project sharp pinpricks of color throughout the Chapel. Even the opal glass lenses from below have now transformed into pure sparkling clear glass.

Main Window detail

Where color in the Lower Window symbolizes our physical, corporal life, light and an achromatic range of glasses in the upper Main Window now predominate representing God and the higher spiritual awareness to which we aspire. On clear days the morning sun reveals a dazzling white Cross wafting on the breeze that seems to have been created by the spiraling architecture In the upper reaches of this window a rich background of clear, colorless, mouthblown glasses allow glimpses of sky and clouds beyond.

Main Window

Main Window with Cross highlighted in morning sun

Main Window detail

With the exception of the Meditation Window, the north facing Dove Window is the only window that is readily visible from outside. Its white glasses remain animated during the day to greet visitors and worshipers as they approach the Chapel’s main entrance in the Faith Center. It echoes the adjacent Main Window in both design and palette.

The Hidden Window is tucked around a high corner and is almost invisible from direct view (and, therefore, not pictured). As the Chapel’s only south-facing window, it casts fascinating, ever-changing highlights onto the Chapel’s curved outer wall below. It is composed primarily of dichroic glass causing the patterns it projects onto the wall to shift in color as the sun’s angle changes. The Hidden Window also contains three facetted Austrian lead-crystal prisms which shower the interior with tiny spectra on sunny days

Hidden Window

Dove Window

Dove Window detail

Rendering of Main and Meditation Windows