# Your opinion re: USAF Academy Chapel **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2007, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954 "2007-06-29T18:34:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/41 "2007-07-01T04:07:16Z")
I see a mother ship that promises to take away the faithful. The f-15 outside – is that what Jesus flies? ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/42 "2007-07-01T04:59:41Z")
It looks like something from a video game. It’s a contrast from the surrounding area (that I saw in the pictures) and it’s a completely artificial-looking building. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/43 "2007-07-01T06:15:31Z")
I visited it about 20 years ago. A buddy of mine is retired AF and lives in Colo. Spngs. I was more impressed w/ the interior, although the building is quite dramatic from a distance. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/44 "2007-07-01T07:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=An Arky] For some reason, it reminds me a little of the [Thorncrown Chapel](http://www.thorncrown.com/) in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. They don’t look alike and the setting’s different, but something about the verticalness (?) of it seems similar. [/QUOTE] I saw that building and my first thought was ‘Frank Lloyd Wright student’. I googled it and was right. I love that building. It just got added to my ‘buildings to go see’ list. Slee ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/45 "2007-07-01T08:41:14Z")
I think it looks badass. But I think a chapel shouldn’t look badass, it should look beautiful. Even though I’m not religious, I still think a building intended for reflection and prayer shouldn’t look so…aggressive. If it were any other kind of building I’d think it’d be cool though. ---
**Author:** ![Adoptamom\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/46 "2007-07-01T13:09:46Z")
Our daughter used to be stationed in Colorado Springs and on one of our trips to see her we made it a point to see the chapel. I found it a little cold looking but at the same time it scored well on the “wow” meter. I just asked AdoptaTeens what they remembered about that particular leg of our sight seeing journey and it turns out they enjoyed seeing the wildlife (deer on side of the road!) on the drive up to the chapel more than the chapel itself. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/47 "2007-07-02T15:47:36Z")
I’m kind of in love wtih that Thorncrown Chapel. Talk about the majesty of God’s creation shown off to great effect with humanity’s framing… Any old how. I kind of like the Chapel of the Pointy Pointy, but I hated it at first glance. It grew on me slowly. I don’t tend to like modern architecture – I don’t have any good pictures of it, but reference the Art Gallery of Ontario’s recent renovations. They leave me cold – it looks like a cubist dalmation sexually assaulting a nice old building. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/48 "2007-07-02T21:20:25Z")
“You see, I mainly design slaughterhouses. Mind you, this is a real beaut.” ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/49 "2007-07-02T21:43:32Z")
[QUOTE=Little Plastic Ninja] it looks like a cubist dalmation sexually assaulting a nice old building [/QUOTE] Without even Googling, I gave myself three-to-one odds that the architect responsible was the same guy who inflicted my linked “monstrosity” above on my city, and wouldn’t you know, I was right. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/50 "2007-07-02T22:10:53Z")
\ Let’s see what the fine folks in _Cafe Society_ have to say about this. Moved. \ ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/51 "2007-07-02T23:57:54Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Without even Googling, I gave myself three-to-one odds that the architect responsible was the same guy who inflicted my linked “monstrosity” above on my city, and wouldn’t you know, I was right. [/QUOTE] I kind of admire Gehry for his consistency. Every time I see one of his buildings, I always think: "What the … Oh, Gehry. Damn, that’s ugly." Every single time. It’s hard to make every single building that awful and still get paid for it. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/52 "2007-07-03T00:13:22Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] To me it doesn’t say “come worship”, it says “look at me”. It looks more like a giant machine and a sacrifice to the gods of technology than a place of conventional worship. I was hoping for a significant number in the number of blades- say 12 for the apostles or 12 tribes of Israel. Instead, 17. Why 17? [/QUOTE] The explanation is that it’s for the 12 apostles and the 5 joint chiefs of staff. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/53 "2007-07-03T00:14:02Z")
Ah. Gehry. How did I know he was the one who designed the [Weisman Art Museum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weisman_Art_Museum) at the University of Minnesota (or as I took to calling it when I was taking the bus over the river every day, the Tinfoil Building)? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/54 "2007-07-03T00:15:03Z")
[QUOTE=RikWriter] The explanation is that it’s for the 12 apostles and the 5 joint chiefs of staff. [/QUOTE] Is that official? Because I’ve heard that the Brass have a tendency to exaggerate their positions, but that’s a bit excessive… ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/55 "2007-07-03T00:25:53Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Ah. Gehry. How did I know he was the one who designed the [Weisman Art Museum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weisman_Art_Museum) at the University of Minnesota (or as I took to calling it when I was taking the bus over the river every day, the Tinfoil Building)? [/QUOTE] I don’t hate his stuff, but it is certainly easy to identify: [The Pritzker Pavilion](http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/jay_pritzker_pavilion.html) in Chicago’s new millennium park. I saw LA’s [Disney Hall](http://www.musiccenter.org/wdch/index.html) in the background of a TV show, and the non-rocket scientist in me figured out the architect right away. (I like the AFA Chapel better than Gehry’s stuff - mostly because it’s different and all his stuff is very much the same.) ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/56 "2007-07-03T02:44:29Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] Is that official? Because I’ve heard that the Brass have a tendency to exaggerate their positions, but that’s a bit excessive… [/QUOTE] No, it’s not “official” in the sense that the military writes it down in handbooks, but it’s been the apocryphal explanation for around 40 some years. I read it in a booklet sent to me by the USAF Academy when I was 17, and when I was doing my interview with the recruiting officer, he asked me what the 17 points stood for and told me I was correct when I responded with the explanation from the booklet. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/57 "2007-07-03T03:03:19Z")
error - sorry ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/58 "2007-07-03T13:37:07Z")
I have visited it many times and have always been impressed. I very much enjoy it. It can say so many things as the OP showed. Why do buildings have to be dull blocks. My favorite sight of it is with the mountains in back of it covered in snow. To me that can take your breath away. I will say, however, after four decades, the thing still leaks. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/59 "2007-07-10T18:16:52Z")
Just found a pic of a similar church in Norway: [File:Arctic Cathedral in Tromsoe.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Arctic_Cathedral_in_Tromsoe.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954/60 "2007-07-10T18:59:29Z")
[This](http://www.usafa.af.mil/superintendent/pa/factsheets/chapel.htm) fact sheet from the Academy web site says it was designed and built by Skidmore Owings and Merrill out of Chicago. I just finished doing a “History of the Academy” DVD and one of the things I found out was that the last two designs were the “Steel and Glass” that you see now, and a more traditional Ivy League look like Annapolis or West Point. The Futuristic design won out. Too bad. I think a brick and ivy campus would have fit nicely into the mountains. One of the things now mentioned about the spires is that there is “no significance to this number. Original designs were judged to be too expensive, so changes were made, among them a reduction in the number of spires.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-opinion-re-usaf-academy-chapel/409954.md?page=4)