The chapel was originally designed for wood construction, but Chen wanted to dispense with pillars and beams by shifting to thin-shell concrete, then a cutting-edge structural technique just gaining traction in the United States.
此外，陳其寬採用當時南美建築師引進美國的薄殼建築結構，優點是，讓建築物如蛋殼把自己撐起，且若用鋼構水泥來做，可完全不用上樑柱。這個 180 度大轉彎的構想，最後能得到貝聿銘的認可，關鍵在於結構工程的計算。