[4] The structure is a tubular steel frame of 100 identical tetrahedrons, each 75 feet (23 m) long, weighing five tons, and enclosed with aluminum panels.

The front façade, on the south, has a wide granite stairway with steel railings capped by aluminum handrails leading up one story to a landing.

The chapel closed in September 2019 for a $158 million renovation and restoration project needed to address water damage.

Netsch's original plans included a series of rain gutters underneath the aluminum exterior of the chapel's spires, but these were not built due to budget constraints.

Though the seams were repeatedly re-caulked over the years, decades of leaks left extensive water damage to the main floor and its fixtures.

During the renovation, an enormous temporary "hangar", or as cadets call it- "The Box" , was built over the existing structure to allow workers to remove the aluminum panels and stained glass blocks and install the originally-designed rain gutters.

[5] In November 2021, the academy's campus architect, Duane Boyle, said that the project will miss its original completion date, after construction crews discovered more asbestos inside the chapel's structure than expected, requiring additional time for remediation.

Inspired by chapels at Sainte-Chapelle in France and the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Italy, architect Walter Netsch stacked the spaces on two main levels.

[9] Stained glass windows provide ribbons of color between the tetrahedrons, and progress from darker to lighter as they reach the altar.

The chancel is set off by a crescent-shaped, varicolored reredos with semi-precious stones from Colorado and pietra santa marble from Italy covering its 1,260-square-foot (117 m2) area.

The pews are made of American walnut and African mahogany, the ends being sculpted to resemble World War I airplane propellers.

The focal point of the Catholic chapel is the reredos, an abstract glass mosaic mural designed by Lumen Martin Winter and composed of varying shades of blue, turquoise, rose and gray tessera to form a portrayal of the firmament.

Superimposed on the mural and depicting the Annunciation are two 10-foot (3.0 m) tall marble figures, the Virgin Mary on the left, and the Archangel Gabriel on the right.

Along the side walls of the chapel are the 14 Stations of the Cross, also designed by Lumen Martin Winter, and carved from four-inch (102 mm) thick slabs of marble.

The focal point of the Jewish chapel is the Aron Kodesh, which shelters the Scrolls of the Torah, to the right of which hangs the Ner Tamid.

In the foyer of the chapel is a display cabinet with a Torah Scroll that was saved from the Nazis during World War II.