With renovations underway, the Rothko Chapel is already being seen in a new light Photo of Molly Glentzer Molly Glentzer April 4, 2019 Comments 2 1of2Rothko Chapel executive director David Leslie, left, and Linbeck project engineer Marshall McBurnett stand on a construction platform near the ceiling and skylight of the building during the early stages of renovation on April 2, 2019.Photo: Molly Glentzer / Houston Chronicle 2of2A view of the Rothko Chapel's original skylight from a construction platform on scaffolding that is being used during this year's renovation project. The famous art temple, which is closed through December, is getting a new skylight, ceiling and mechanical system and a redesigned entry.Photo: Molly Glentzer / Houston Chronicle

The black baffle that has hung like a dark weight below the Rothko Chapel’s troublesome skylight for many years is gone — removed last Monday by a Linbeck crew.

On Tuesday, Rothko director David Leslie and Linbeck project engineer Marshall McBurnett stood close to the ceiling on a scaffolded construction platform that will consume the entire chapel floor all year, during a major renovation that will bring a new skylight, better night lighting, a redesigned entry, and mechanical and acoustical upgrades. Mark Rothko’s 14 monumental paintings — the masterpieces around which the chapel was designed — are stored for the duration.

Although the glass in the skylight’s mosaic-like grid looked slightly mottled — maybe treated, or maybe just that dirty — the platform was awash in an even, gray light.

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“You can see how much brighter it is,” Leslie said. Texas Light: The Art and Architecture of the Rothko Chapel

When: 6 p.m. Monday

Where: Univ. of Houston Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design, 4200 Elgin

Details: Free; rothkochapel.org Read More

Yes, but still calm, with what I’d call a sacred glow.

The artist, who was fanatical about how his work was hung and lit, made the paintings in a huge New York studio he had fashioned for the task, building a life-size mock-up with temporary walls and hanging a parachute to create diffused illumination from his 19th century building’s skylight.

Rothko did not live to see the chapel finished, and recreating the effect in Houston without damaging his light-sensitive canvases or making the space too dark proved elusive from the start. The skylight has been adjusted with baffles and such multiple times, dogging several generations of architects and lighting designers.

The latest solution, the result of a three-year design process, looks to be the most promising yet and is part of a $30 million plan to improve the organization’s four-acre campus. New buildings across the street will absorb the concerts, seminars and such that have interrupted the chapel’s quietude for decades. A new grove of trees and darker courtyard pavers will modulate the perception of light as people enter a redesigned vestibule designed to help busy visitors focus.

But all eyes will likely be on the effects of a new skylight with thin louvers and a semi-transparent fabric film. Related

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Lighting designer George Sexton and architect Stephen Cassell of the New York firm Architecture Research Office will explain the project during a free, public talk on Monday with Christopher Rothko, the artist’s son, and UH art history professor Sandra Zalman.

Last week, the progress looked swift. Linbeck’s crews tore out much of the popcorn-like ceiling, exposing ductwork near the roof; and they took a laser scan of the existing skylight’s steel frame, so that the company fabricating the new one will have exact measurements.

“It’s hard to remember what used to be, even though the baffle was here yesterday,” Leslie said.