Circle Bar Ranch is a 2,800-acre farm site located in Foxworth, Mississippi that aspires to become a regional economic engine, a center for youth and adult education as well as a place to experience and enjoy nature. The farm is a family-owned property, established in 1979 by Patrick F. and Phyllis M. Taylor. In support of its mission and long legacy of stewardship and innovation, they have undertaken several initiatives including a youth camp, a plan for a sustainable ranch, training, and conference facilities, and at its center a new chapel.
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, through their philanthropic leadership of the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation and the Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking, have sought to create opportunities for youth and college-age students to gain access to education and networks of cross-disciplinary collaboration that will enable them to impact their communities and beyond. Mr. Taylor passed away in 2004 and is buried at a small family cemetery south of the family house near a pond and next to the site for the chapel.
Like the “Anecdote of the Jar,” the chapel is sited to invite the landscape in and extend in all directions to meaningful sites on the ranch. The observation tower offers prospects and marks the center. The chapel is designed as an in-between, a vessel for inner inquiry and contemplation. The chapel is securely founded in the earth on a concrete and masonry plinth. The roof hovers on minimal mullions/columns and opens outward extending to the landscape, horizon, and sky. An oculus interrupts the center and connects heaven and earth in moments of absent focus (faith).
Duvall Decker Architects is assisted by Allen Engineering, Engineering Resource Group, Inc., W.P Moore., Jon D Rice & Associates, LLC., and Tillotson Design Associates.