MIT Chapel

Like a cascade of light, a full-height metal sculpture by Harry Bertoia glitters from the circular skylight down to a small, unadorned marble altar.

In May, 1970, the musician Ned Lagin performed an eight-channel, four-tape-recorder electronic music piece especially created for the chapel in the presence of Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart.

[5] Leland M. Roth included the building in his History of American Architecture, using it to illustrate the contrast between Saarinen's approach and that of Mies van der Rohe (who designed a chapel for IIT).

Roth said that "through the sheer manipulation of light and its focus on a blazingly white marble altar block, Saarinen created a place of mystic quiet".

The renovations preserved the Chapel as a sanctuary of tranquility, just steps from the bustling 77 Massachusetts Avenue entrance to the Infinite Corridor, from Kresge Auditorium, and from the Stratton Student Center.