The Children’s Defense Fund dedicated the Maya Lin-designed Riggio-Lynch Chapel this week at CDF-Haley Farm in Clinton, Tenn. Once the retreat of author Alex Haley, Haley Farm is the CDF’s center for leadership training and the development of new ideas to help protect the nation’s children.

The Riggio-Lynch Chapel comprises three structures situated adjacent to an apple orchard and a pond on the 157-acre property. The heart of the design is the main building—an abstracted ark made of cypress siding, a fir roof deck and beams, and a Medite interior. Reminiscent of a wide-berthed ship sailing on a grassy pasture, it is a graceful architectural composition of gently curving and straight lines that is in keeping with the vernacular architectural landscape of Haley Farm. An open courtyard links the Chapel’s main structure to two smaller, concrete buildings: an office wing and a meeting room/chapel/bell tower.

Marking the chapel dedication, Lin commented, “The Chapel’s ark-inspired design supports the mission of CDF and its Freedom School to carry the nation’s family of children to safe harbor. Architecturally, my goal was to quietly raise people’s hope and elevate their spirits through beautiful surroundings and, in turn, to demonstrate that they are valued. To be able to design a meeting place where people of all denominations and beliefs can come together was wonderful for me. I could not be prouder.” Lin worked with Architect of Record Bialosky + Partners, Architects and Planners.

Haley Farm is also the location of Lin’s Langston Hughes Library. CDF purchased Haley Farm in 1994 from the estate of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alex Haley as a center for spiritual renewal and intergenerational leadership development. More than 6,000 college and high school students have been trained at Haley Farm and have gone on to operate summer reading-based literacy programs for more than 36,000 children. The Riggio-Lynch Chapel is named in honor of its main benefactor, Leonard Riggio, chair of Barnes & Noble, and political activist and former New York City Deputy Mayor William Lynch.

—Tracy Ostroff

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