Air Age Gothic
The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado features an unparalleled collection of modernist buildings. But the challenges of preserving them can seem daunting.
By David Hill | From Preservation | May/June 2008
Cadet Chapel, U.S. Air Force Academy
Credit: Douglas Merriam
On a blustery midwinter afternoon, I'm standing inside the Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy, near Colorado Springs, gazing up at the pinnacled ceiling that rises to a height of 100 feet. I am 7,000 feet above sea level, but it isn't the altitude that has me breathless. Rather, it is this soaring, cavernous structure, with its ribbons of stained glass and 17 aluminum-clad spires, which pierce the Colorado sky. In the chapel's choir loft, a technician is tuning the massive pipe organ, and between musical notes, I hear the building creaking from the powerful winds blowing outside. "This is nothing," says Duane Boyle, the Air Force Academy's resident architect and preservationist, who has joined me inside. "When it's really windy, it sounds like Rice Krispies."
Designed by architect Walter Netsch—of the midcentury modern powerhouse firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)—and completed in 1963, the chapel has an expressionist quality often described as "air age Gothic." Netsch took inspiration from several sources, including the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi in Italy, Sainte-Chapelle and Notre Dame in Paris, and the Cathedral of Chartres. "I made an enclosure that embodies the concept of light and space," he once said, "endowed with lofty grandeur." In 1996, the American Institute of Architects gave the chapel its prestigious Twenty-five Year Award, which recognizes American buildings of "enduring significance." The same organization recently conducted a public poll of the country's 150 favorite works of architecture, in which the chapel ranked 51 (top honors went to the Empire State Building).
The chapel has one significant problem, however. Netsch originally specified sheet-metal flashing to prevent rainwater from entering the interior, but the Air Force Academy Construction Agency deemed it too costly and opted instead for caulk. Thirty-four miles of caulk, to be exact. Trouble is, the caulk doesn't hold—the strong winds that rock the chapel and shift the aluminum panels cause it to fail—and the building has leaked for most of its 45-year existence.
Boyle's maintenance staff spends anywhere from $200,000 to $400,000 each year to recaulk the chapel. And still the building leaks during rainstorms, causing damage to pews, the organ, and Bibles and distracting worshippers. The chapel has been caulked and recaulked so many times that the anodized aluminum surface has become scratched and pitted. "It's just like painting the Golden Gate Bridge," Boyle says. "You start at one end, and by the time you finish, you have to start all over again."
A few years ago, Boyle hired Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to look into the problem. The firm recommended disassembling the aluminum panels and sealing the interior spaces with a silicone membrane. Doing so would stop the leakage and allow Boyle to remove what he calls the chapel's "shower-door glass," which was placed over portions of the stained glass many years ago, in an attempt to keep water out. Trouble is, the plan would cost more than $30 million, a hard sell even for the academy's most historically significant buildings.
Boyle, who has worked full-time at the academy since 1983 and knows the academy's sprawling 18,000-acre campus intimately, realizes that even if the funds were to magically appear, $30 million spent on the chapel means $30 million less for the maintenance and preservation of the academy's other buildings. And that's the challenge: Most of the core buildings of the Air Force Academy were designed by Netsch and, taken together, form one of the most striking collections of midcentury modern architecture and design in America. Boyle must oversee all of this and address the particular preservation challenges that these classics present—challenges that many modernist landmarks across the country increasingly face as they age. Boyle's job is rewarding but difficult, with obstacles arising all the time, and he has learned to pick his battles.
At the chapel, for now, caulk will have to suffice.
Check back on June 1 for the rest of this article.
David Hill is a freelance writer based in Denver.
Comments
Submitted by WilliamE at: May 1, 2008
The USAF Chape is magnificent. This is truly one of those spaced, like the St. Chappelle in Paris, that must be seen in person to be appreciated. The rest of the Academy is a wonder as well. One would think that placing these simple modernist boxes on the hilly front-range of the Rockies would look contrived, but somehow it works, and works well.