The Duke Chapel sits immediately in front of the Duke Divinity School and models a gothic cathedral, according to Project Architect Lee Becker of Hartman-Cox Architects. Additionally, the west campus features a series of gothic buildings designed by draftsman architect Julian Abele in the 1920s. “We wanted to complete the other end of the campus in character with the existing campus buildings that were built between the 1920s and the 1950s,” said Becker. “Our goal was to complete the cloister started by Duke, and to do it in the style and language of the existing campus. We also wanted to add more classroom administration and special program space, and to design a building that provides more interactive student gathering spaces outside of the classrooms.”

The campus' traditional Duke Stone was selected for exterior portions of the building, as well as Rustic Buff Indiana limestone - from Bybee Stone Inc. of Bloomington, IN - which was used for trim, tracery and window surrounds. “The Rustic Buff is a really nice stone because it has some characteristics with fossils and inclusions, and existing buildings on campus used a fair amount of it,” said the architect. The entire west campus features Duke Stone, which Becker describes as fairly dark with a lot of iron and rust stains in it. “It is pretty interesting stuff,” he said, adding that the material is often compared to rough-cut Bluestone.