The Art Chapel

Full-scale mockups are a common feature in the construction industry, especially for large, complex building assemblies such as custom facade systems, hospital surgeries, and other highly specialized building systems. However, these are typically built to validate design decisions made in conventional ways via computer models or drawings. The mockup verifies details and constructibility after significant investments in design detailing are complete.  FACT, Plain D*B and Actual Architecture Co. use mockups differently: the full-scale mock up is the site of design development, the method through which details are created, tested, and verified. We often build mockups after concepts are defined in the Schematic Design phase but before commencing final Construction Documents for a project.

FACT works with creative nonprofit clients in collaborations that span design and construction. Central to FACT’s mission are projects shaping places of intersection between the production and consumption of culture – where the creators and audiences meet. With The Art Chapel, Plain + FACT explore artistic methods in the making of space, and the production of space to serve the making of art.

The Art Chapel is one of two FACT projects featured in Out There: New Architecture Across America. In a review of the book published in Architect Magazine, Aaron Betsky writes, “By chance, as it is organized alphabetically by the name of the firms, the book starts particularly strong. Omaha, Nebraska is the home of a firm called Actual, which is the alphabetically-advantageous moniker for the firm Jeff Day, a local professor of some renown and great talent, runs.”

“His work is generally small and incisive, ranging from the opening of a small house in Lincoln into an “Art Chapel” to the conversion of a truck into a “Mobile Stage.” When you do work focused on art and catch the image at the magic hour, it is hard to go wrong, and these opening pages took my breath away.”