Included in the broader team are Bruce Kaskel and Bryan Rouse of Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. In 2015, the Air Force Civil Engineering Center selected an AECOM team led by Steve Robinson, AIA from AECOM’s Indianapolis office, and Sean Reish, PE, from their office in Colorado Springs, to restore the iconic building to its former glory. But congressional debates and subsequent cost value engineering led to the substitution of the gutter system with extensive caulking between the exterior panels. Walter Netsch originally designed a complex network of rain gutters and a flashing system beneath the exterior aluminum cladding. One of the biggest, of course, is water infiltration. The $158-million, four-year project remedies several original design and construction shortcomings that led to the building’s deterioration. Kennedy visiting the Air Force Academy campus in 1963 (Courtesy the Air Force Academy Archives) Modernist Renewal Over the decades, accelerating water and microclimatic effects threatened permanent damage to structural systems, stained glass, wood pews, and even the chapel’s two iconic historic organs. Like many modern icons, the chapel’s envelope has leaked for years. Its soaring presence served as a daily reminder for cadets of the American ethos, and their mission to protect its freedoms of religion, speech, and assembly. Unusual for most religious buildings, the chapel was designed as a non-denominational facility with worship spaces for multiple religious beliefs. Upon opening in 1963, the Cadet Chapel’s bold expression of lightness and form soon became a global symbol of America’s vision and technological promise. designed an aluminum skinned chapel pointing straight up to the sky and the heavens beyond it. At its heart, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill’s Walter Netsch Jr. Listed as a National Historic Landmark District, the Air Force Academy campus is still one of the most advanced fusions of technology, education, art, and architecture that the country has ever seen.

Built at the peak of the high-stakes Cold War era, the campus was arguably the most expensive federal project in American history. Dunn, and a complex team of design and preservation consultants.]ĭesigned in the 1950s and completed over a decade, the United States Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado, marked a watershed moment in American architecture. We will also learn how this one-of-a-kind project is now organized to coordinate expertise the technical expertise of Air Force Staff, Project Manager J.E. In a few months, AN will publish a follow-up article that tells a deeper part of the story about how the Air Force served as project champions to gain funding, select the best team for research and documentation, and designer selection. But it is just one small part of the story of the Air Force’s persistence and leadership in making it happen and the many facets of the project ranging from the exterior repair to interviews with the original design team. [Editor’s note: This March 2 article shared some of the design history of the Air Force Academy’s modernist campus and the repair and restoration of its landmark Chapel. A model of the Air Force Academy campus (Courtesy SOM).A site plan of the Air Force Academy (Courtesy Air Force Academy).Walter Netsch at the drafting table (Courtesy SOM).Gertrude Kerbis in the office (Courtesy SOM).Dalles de Verre glass assembly in 1961 (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).The peaks of the chapel’s spines prior to installation (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).A restoration team construction conference (Michael Bjornberg).The interior scaffolding (Michael Bjornberg).The chapel’s peaks during the restoration (Kimberly Sandbulte).Floor plans of the Air Force Academy Chapel (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).A section diagram of the chapel (Courtesy the Air Force Academy).The chapel under construction in May of 1961 (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).The chapel under construction (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).Panel installation construction photo (Courtesy Air Force Academy Archives).The historical review team in front of the chapel as it stands today (Kimberly Sandulte).The Dalle de Verre glass inside the Cadet Chapel (Michael Bjornberg).

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