Named for the canonized founder of the university, the st.katharine drexel chapel is an architecture that exceeds the specific programming required of a house of worship and expresses the essence of an institute as a whole. the pelli clark pelli design is located on the site of mother katharine drexel's original plan for the xavier university campus, founded as a coeducational school in 1915 to be the capstone of an educational system for black and american indian students. while the schools were open to people of all faiths, they were established despite strong opposition and long before the mid-century fight for racial equality. xavier university continues its goal in serving the african american catholic community, having the unique distinction of the only both historically black and catholic college in the nation. the geometric chapel stands at the former location of the student center, lost in the wake of hurricane katrina. the spiritual heart of the campus is now characterized by a 20 meter tall volume that seats 430 worshippers. the whole structure is raised 1.2 meters above grade and prioritizes approach, using a 300 meter sloping processional plane to a divided narthex.
The building expresses the austerity of the enterprising nun in its material palette. a portuguese limestone base is topped by a copper roof in keeping with the architectonics of the existing campus. the copper sheathing is expected to take on a rich green patina that changes over time and makes the weathered exterior continually dynamic. walls, built with the same masonry technique of the tomb of st.katharine, grow in height as they wrap around the altar, giving the space a sense of lift. in plan, the pared down octagonal form references ancient eight-sided churches and helps create a non-hierarchical sacred space.
The front and back walls  of the roof are parallelograms while three side planes crease and divide the quadrilaterals into triangles. in addition to referencing the holy trinity, the effect is that of a rising roof and serves the dual function of allowing skylight to bathe interiors with light. a chancel screen continues the conceptual trope of divine light to the chapel's interiors; a variously perforated metal screen creates a diaphanous inner skin while low ceiling ambulatories contrast with the buoyant-looking faceted dome.
Cuban artist jose bedia designed the stained-glass program of the stations of the cross, using single line drawings, abstracted bodies and an intense, complimentary palette of blue and yellow to illustrate the catholic narrative in 14 full-sized windows. a small octagonal side chapel is modeled after the pelli clark pelli design for the catholic center at yale university. located beneath the bell tower, a pattern of colorful square windows that delivers indirect light into the more intimate meditation space. the axially aligned sacred spaces have a distinct sculptural presence on campus, but pay tribute to the ascetic sensibility and restraint of st. katharine's philosophy to create a spiritual respite on the landscape.