Indiana
Wesleyan University will dedicate its new chapel-auditorium at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, January 13. The dedication will be the first service held in
the recently completed 3,800-seat facility on IWU’s main campus in
Marion.
The building will be the second-largest university auditorium in
Indiana. Elliott Hall of Music at Purdue University seats about 6,000
people.
The dedication ceremony is open to the public.
The $22 million building, which is the tallest and most significant
in IWU history, represents a commitment to the spiritual foundation of
the campus.
There are two levels of seating in the building, with the balcony
seats extending all the way to the first floor. Students sitting
anywhere in the building will be able to walk to the altar without
using a stairway or an elevator.
The exterior of the building features brick and glass, and the highest point just above the platform is 70 feet.
The new building will be used both as the campus chapel and will
provide assembly space for large campus and community events such as
graduations, conferences, lecture series and concerts.
Previously, Luckey Arena was the largest gathering space on the IWU
campus. The arena, where graduations have been held since 1981, seats
about 2,500 people when folding chairs are placed on the gymnasium
floor.
IWU chapel services have been held in the 1,200-seat Phillippe
Performing Arts Center, which opened in 1996. Residential students on
IWU’s Marion campus are required to attend chapel services, which are
held three days a week.
Design Collaborative, a Fort Wayne architectural and engineering
firm, designed both the new chapel-auditorium and Phillippe Center. The
company, which specializes in college buildings, has designed 20 IWU
buildings in the last 15 years.
Weigand Construction Co., Fort Wayne, was the general contractor for the latest building.
Indiana Wesleyan University is an evangelical Christian
comprehensive university that was founded in 1920 and is committed to
liberal arts and professional education. The University is sponsored by
The Wesleyan Church, which has its world headquarters in Indianapolis.
In addition to the main campus in Marion, IWU has eight other
regional campuses in Indiana – two in Indianapolis and one each in Fort
Wayne, Columbus, Kokomo, Shelbyville, Merrillville and Greenwood.
IWU also has two education centers in Kentucky: in Louisville and
Lexington; and four education centers in Ohio: two in Cleveland and one
each in Cincinnati and Dayton.