Philip Johnson's Peace Chapel in Dallas Opens


Peace Prize!
The new Philip Johnson-designed Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas pushes the boundaries of engineering, design, and faith.

Text by Rebecca Sherman
Photos Courtesy of the Cathedral of Hope

Eleven years ago when architect Philip Johnson conceived the design for Dallas' Interfaith Peace Chapel, the technology to build it didn't exist. The money wasn't there either. Years would pass before the computer programs needed to model Johnson's progressive design were developed, and in a leap of faith, fundraising continued for the sanctuary's $3.8 million price tag.

When the chapel finally opened earlier in this month on the Cathedral of Hope's grounds on Cedar Springs Road in Dallas, it was hailed as one of Johnson's most creative, if not confounding achievements.

"The geometry of the building has been very challenging," says Gary Cunningham, principal of Cunningham Architects, hired in 1999 to help bring the chapel to life. Johnson, a Pritzker Prize-winning architect best known for his Glass House in New Canaan, CT, and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, died in 2005 at 98. Cunningham has continued to work closely with Johnson's business partner, Alan Ritchie.

"When Philip dreamed up the chapel in 1995, the technology wasn't there yet to build it," says Cunningham. "Philip literally drew it with his hands at first, and John Manley, who worked with him from day one, sculpted a model from the drawings, giving birth to the shape."




A feat of engineering, the chapel's undulating walls and ceiling warp and bend back onto themselves, eliminating all right angles and parallel lines. "The generation of computer programs we had until a few years ago could not have handled the complexity of this design," says Cunningham, who hired international engineering firm Thornton Tomasetti to carry out the building's intricate structural steel frame. The walls are defined and cut with the aid of computers.

An inch of concrete stucco sheathes the frame, and six inches of concrete insulate the roof, helping to keep the sanctuary quiet despite its proximity to Love Field. Its inside walls are sheetrock covered in a thin layer of tinted clay from Arizona, similar in look to Italian plaster but greener. The special clay mix, developed by Cunningham Architects, "actually improves the air quality in the room. When dust hits the walls, ions attach to them and make them fall flat to the ground," explains Cunningham. Johnson specified simple, common materials that wouldn't detract from the serenity of the space, including ground, polished concrete on the floors, walnut doors, glass, and LED lights. A single skylight illuminates the area of worship, and its electricity comes from wind generated power which the church purchases.





"It's been a tough job. Tough to keep it in budget, tough to get it built," says Cunningham. "A lot of people have gone beyond expectations, like the glass guys trying to deal with funny shaped pieces of glass you can't even draw, and the (plasterers) trying their best to do perfectly shaped walls even though it seems impossible."

The Cathedral of Hope, a congregation of the Church of Christ, has a predominantly gay and lesbian membership led by Rev. Jo Hudson, its rector and senior pastor. The chapel is designed to be open to all faiths. "This is still Texas, and there are people out there who have issues with homosexuality," says Cunningham. "But across the board, it's never been an issue with the building of this church. A lot of people came together to make it happen."

Philip Johnson, who was open about his own homosexuality, would have been proud of the building he called his greatest achievement. In one of his last interviews before his death, Johnson said, "This is a building I've waited all my life to build. It will be my memorial."

My article about the Interfaith Peace Chapel also appears in the current issue of Modern Luxury, turn to page 64.



Watch one of Philip Johnson's final interviews, as he talks about the Peace Chapel:



David and Kim Hurt's Glass House in Dallas


All Aflutter

By Rebecca Sherman
Photography by Shoot2Sell.Net, Courtesy Ellen Terry Realtors

David Hurt starts his day just after sunrise with a cup of coffee, a pair of binoculars, and a copy of The Sibley Guide to Birds, before the clamor of kids and the hustle to school and work, in a room set up expressly for watching birds. Glassed-in on three sides and austerely furnished with a pair of vintage Eero Saarinen Womb chairs, the room cantilevers over the 1.16 acre lot, which ambles 20 feet down to one of two creeks on the property. Thirteen bird feeders are placed strategically within view of the room, and a bright row of native turk's cap makes a crimson slash under the windows, attracting ruby throated hummingbirds and butterflies.

“It’s bird watching paradise. I can’t wait to get up and look at what’s going on outside that room every morning,” says Hurt, 42, who started watching birds when he was in elementary school. He and his wife Kim, 41, own Wild Birds Unlimited, a store on Lovers Lane devoted to bird watching enthusiasts, which they opened in 1993. They’re also the founders of Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center, a 290-acre plant and wildlife habitat in Cedar Hill, which will open this spring. Their bird watching room, as it’s sometimes referred to, is the focal point of this two-story 5,000 square ft. modernist house on Alexander Way near White Rock Lake that Hurt’s aunt and uncle built in 1965. The Hurts bought the house in 2002, and renovated it five years ago. They added a fourth bedroom, opened up the kitchen, repainted with low VOC paint inside, laid sustainable bamboo flooring, and improved the house’s energy efficiency with additional insulation and Energy Star appliances, an EPA-approved designation for products that meet the government’s energy efficiency requirements.

Their annual total energy bill averages a mere $1,200.

With deep overhangs and exposed cedar beams, the house has a muscular, Arts and Crafts feel.


"The money’s in the structure of the house, not in granite countertops and wine cellars. This is a house that's easy to understand. There's not a lot of unused, unnecessary stuff going on,” says Hurt, who concedes to being less interested in the design details of the house as he is the view it provides of the wooded landscape outside. In all, there are 70 native trees on the grounds, such as 11 big tooth maples that the Hurts imported from the Texas hill country, a broad stand of 60 ft., old growth magnolias down by the creek that Hurt’s aunt planted decades earlier, and dogwoods, oaks, pecans and elms. The mix of old and young trees, rushing and still water (there’s also a small pond on the property) creates an ideal habitat for wildlife (bobcats, foxes, beaver, flying squirrels have been spotted) and of course, birds. The Hurts have identified 135 species of birds in their yard over the years, including raptors like red shouldered hawks and barred owls; river birds like great blue herons; and showy, colorful birds like rose breasted grosbeaks, summer tanagers, and indigo buntings. A few summers back, Hurt spotted a male, endangered golden-cheeked warbler at the feeder. “It’s the most sought-after bird in the country, and it was feeding right next to me almost as if I weren’t there. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is the life.’”

Listen to the golden-cheeked warbler here.

For the Hurt’s children, Ben 11, and Brynne 4 1/2, the yard is their own private nature preserve. They fish for perch in the creeks, and watch snapping turtles and wood ducks come up from the water to lay their eggs and raise their young. “This is the first generation of children in our country who don’t have a real connection to nature. They’ve spent all their time in front of computers and parents are afraid to let their children play outside,” says Hurt, who donated 40 acres of their own land in Cedar HIll to start Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center, in part to help other children experience nature like theirs have. The Hurts have spent the past eight years raising $7.4 million to buy another 210 acres. A 7,000 square ft. visitor’s center with classrooms, designed by Cunningham Architects, will be operated by the National Audubon Society.




Glowing like lantern at dusk, the house is perched atop a knoll that rolls 20 ft. down into creeks. A mini nature preserve in the heart of Lakewood, there are 70s kinds of native trees and more than 135 species of birds have been spotted in the Hurt's yard.


In September, spurred in part by an “ah-ha” moment while sitting in the carpool line, the Hurts put their house on the market. Says Hurt: “One of the cars in front of us had a bumper sticker that said, ‘You need to be the change that you envision.’ We realized we weren’t living like we think. We want to live a lot smaller, with a smaller carbon footprint, and this house is a lot to take care of. We don’t want all of our resources going to this house, as much as we love it. We’d like to give back to the community. Think of how many kids we could send to summer camp on the $18,000 a year in taxes it costs for this house?” The house at 7008 Alexander Way is listed for $1.29 million through Kim Gromatzky at Ellen Terry Realtors. Go here to see photos and details.

Meanwhile, the Hurts are searching for a 1/2 acre lot in the Forest Hills neighborhood near White Rock Lake and have hired Cunningham Architects to design a house for them, inspired by the house on Alexander Way. As for the glassed-in bird watching room? “We have the original plans and we’re taking those with us,” says Hurt. “Some day we’d love to build a house with a room like that in the mountains.”


My original story appears in the current issue of Modern Luxury magazine, here. Turn to page 60.