With the renovation and expansion of the Rothko Chapel campus in Houston nearing completion, project organizers have announced that the sacred art space will reopen to the public in September.

The renovation is being designed by New York City-based Architecture Research Office and includes a series of preservation- and climate-minded fixes for the space that will "more closely align the building with the original vision of Mark Rothko and John and Dominique de Menil, the Chapel’s founders," according to a press release. 

The $30 million Open Spaces master plan for the chapel campus aims to offer "a space for ecumenical and interfaith celebration and contemplation, as well as to foster community engagement on critical social issues." The project seeks to continue the space's decades-long function as a space for international peace and spirituality by modernizing and building in resilience to the chapel and its surrounding site.

For the project, ARO is joined by lighting designers George Sexton Associates and Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. The lighting designers have helped the architects replace a central skylight that marks the chapel space while also removing an obsolete overhead baffle. When the work is completed, the chapel, according to the architects, will function closer to how Rothko envisioned, with natural daylight flowing into the space.

The project has also relocated HVAC handling units from a basement level to a rooftop installation, while the landscape architects have increased the amount of landscaping on the site while also building in a greater degree of flood control strategies. The combined changes mean that the building's operators will be able to maintain ideal indoor temperature and humidity settings for the monumental paintings held within the chapel during Houston's hot, humid, and rainy summers.

Additionally, Houston-based structural engineering firm Cardno and construction firm Linbeck have worked together to supplement the chapel's existing structural walls with new steel elements that will bring greater resistance to hurricane winds and other weather events. 

Meanwhile, a new "Welcome House" being added to the campus will relocate visitor services from the inside of the chapel to a separate structure "envisioned as the gateway to the expanded campus." 

"The building," according to the architects, "serves as a central gathering point and formal welcoming space for groups and guided tours, and offers interactive educational opportunities as well as an expanded gift shop and bookstore.The Welcome House’s design reflects the values of hospitality and inclusiveness integral to the founding vision of the Chapel. The relocation of visitor services from the Chapel vestibule to the new Welcome House relieves pressure on the Chapel and allows it to function purely as a place of spiritual renewal and reflection."  

David Leslie, Executive Director of the Rothko Chapel, remarks on the project: “The expanded campus gives us the space we need to welcome the tens of thousands of people of all faiths and backgrounds who visit each year from all parts of the world, and allows us to convene community leaders and members of the public to wrestle with the questions of social justice and human rights. This is a moment that the world needs the Chapel more than ever, as our global community continues to face uncertainties amidst the ongoing crisis.”

Additionally, the project reestablishes the axial connection between the chapel and the monumental Broken Obelisk designed by artist Barnett Newman that also sits on the site. 

The Chapel is set for a "soft opening" in early July 2020, with a limited opening scheduled thereafter. An official reopening celebration is set for September.