The Luce Memorial Chapel ( traditional Chinese : 路思義敎堂 ; simplified Chinese : 路思义教堂 ; pinyin : Lùsī Yì Jiàotáng ) is a Christian chapel on the campus of Tunghai University in Xitun District , Taichung , Taiwan . It was designed by architects I. M. Pei and Chi-kuan Chen .
7-567: The chapel was named in honor of the Rev. Henry W. Luce , an American missionary in China in the late 19th century and father of publisher Henry R. Luce . The project was originally planned in April 1954 but put on hold until July 1960. Construction took place from September 1962 until November 1963. Construction costs totaled US$ 125,000. The chapel is located on a 3-acre zone in the center of campus, and
14-618: A professorship at the Kennedy School of Missions in Hartford, Connecticut . He held this position until his retirement in 1935. He died in Haverford, Pennsylvania . One of Luce's sons, Henry R. Luce, established a grant-making foundation as a tribute to his parents. Luce Memorial Chapel , designed by I.M. Pei and situated on the campus of Tunghai University , Taichung , Taiwan , is named after Henry W. Luce. Construction of
21-410: Is set on an irregular hexagonal base, providing 477 m of gross floor area, including the 245 m nave (with 500 seats), 81 m chancel, and 44 m robing rooms. The church itself is a tent-like conoid structure, with four warped leaves rising to 19.2 m high, establishing itself as a central landmark on campus. The chapel was first conceived as a multi-planar, wooden structure, but the architects soon abandoned
28-761: The diamond-shaped coffer beams on the building's interior. The chapel's elaborate reinforced concrete formwork was created by local craftsmen. Henry W. Luce Henry Winters Luce (June 24, 1868– December 7, 1941) was an American missionary and educator in China . He was the father of the publisher Henry R. Luce . Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania , Luce graduated from Yale University in 1892. After graduation, he stayed at Union Seminary in New York for 2 years, before his seminary training at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1896. In 1897, Luce married Elizabeth Root,
35-488: The era, Luce Chapel is not a thin-shell structure. The chapel's planes are composed of lattice beams that gradually grow thicker as they descend. The structural concept might be influenced by that of the Yale University Art Gallery , completed in 1953 and designed by Louis Kahn , another noted architect of the time. The exterior of the chapel is covered with yellow, glazed, diamond-shaped tiles echoing
42-599: The idea of using wood due both to the humid environment and to seismic concerns. The form of four curved surfaces built with reinforced concrete was likely influenced by the design of the Philips Pavilion , designed by renowned architect Le Corbusier for the Brussels World's Fair (known as Expo 58 ) in 1958. However, unlike the Philips Pavilion and other contemporary ruled-surface buildings of
49-643: Was ordained, and sent to China by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. In total, he spent 31 years in the country with Elizabeth, where their four children were born, Henry, Emmavail, Elisabeth, and Sheldon. Luce was a professor at Cheeloo University in Jinan , China, where he led fundraising efforts and served as vice president for a short time. He also helped to initiate the Yale-in-China Association . In 1928, he accepted
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