A Stanwood architectural firm has won an award for its work on the chapel and surrounding floor remodel at Trinity Lutheran College.
Designs Northwest Architects planned the Brammer Chapel and Center for Art &Visual Communication in 2013 for the college in downtown Everett.
“We were asked to design something unique and I was really pleased with that space and excited about it,” said Dan Nelson, the firm’s principal architect. “I think (the award) was an affirmation.”
Designs Northwest received an award of merit on Feb. 20 from the Northwest Washington Chapter of the American Institute for Architects.
The remodel is designed so that people walk off the elevator onto the fifth floor of the college into a small foyer with a curved wall. A baptismal font is to one side and small side chapel is to another.
Behind the wall, is the chapel with a glass wall at the back that looks out onto a visual communications lab, the student lounge and then to the outside where people can view the water and mountains.
“One of the things that we thought about is part of our college is service to our area,” said Trinity Lutheran president John Reed. “It’s kind of fun that we’re out looking out into the world that we’re a part of.”
Trinity Lutheran moved to Everett in fall 2008 into the former Bon Marche building at 2802 Wetmore Ave. At first the college wasn’t using the fifth floor of the building.
Then, George and Jackie Brammer, an Idaho couple, gave the college a gift for the chapel.
The Brammers didn’t have a direct connection to the college, but did know Trinity Lutheran’s campus pastor, Erik Samuelson. They were friends with his father, Mark Samuelson, who was a pastor in Idaho and went onto to be a pastor at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church before retiring about a year ago.
The college was able to use the gift to remodel the 12,000-square-foot fifth floor and add the chapel. The renovation also added an art studio, president’s office, staff offices and art gallery.
The total project cost more than $800,000, Reed said. Kirtley-Cole Associates in Everett did the construction.
Since it opened, the college has used the chapel for weekly services, classes, outside guest lectures and even Super Bowl parties. The design was to create a “21st-century chapel” that can tap into the next door visual communications lab for multi-media presentations.
Reed praised Designs Northwest for listening to what they wanted for the floor and incorporating those ideas into the design.
“It’s an essential part of our campus building and we’re grateful for it,” Reed said.
The college and its community brought great ideas for what they wanted for the space, Nelson said.
“I always say without a great client — and Trinity Lutheran was a great client — we can’t do great projects,” Nelson said. “A lot of the credit goes to them.”
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