News

“The Trahan Architects-designed Chapel of St. Ignatius and Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center broke ground today on the Loyola University New Orleans campus in an event presided over by university and Jesuit leadership and the design team. The chapel is entirely donor-funded and, once complete, will house a 120-seat sanctuary and a 50-seat community center.”

— The Architect’s Newspaper

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The project was originally proposed over a decade ago when New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, a long-time donor to his alma mater, pledged to build the center on the site of the now-demolished library at the heart of the campus. Over time, the plans for the center were scaled back and its location changed in order to preserve walkways, green spaces and to accommodate other development plans at the university.

“[At the Benson Jesuit Center, the] driving principle was to make the center a place where people from the surrounding neighborhood would feel they could drop in, including people from different faiths.”

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