The chapel emerged from a public design competition launched in November 1969, which attracted 137 entries. The winning scheme, submitted under the name 'Via gränd' by Nyberg, Schulze and Manner, was chosen by the parish council for construction. One source notes Nyberg's design actually received second prize in the competition, which sits alongside the parish's account that his scheme was the one selected and built.
The building was constructed from dark, hand-struck manganese brick from a Helsingborg brickworks, laid in a running bond with half-brick offsets and a distinctive technique of smearing pale mortar over the brick joints, known as stenskurning. Other accounts also mention raw concrete, corten steel and glass among the materials used. The result is a stark, austere aesthetic typical of the so-called new brutalism, a style in which Nyberg, alongside his friend and fellow architect Sigurd Lewerentz, was a leading figure. The chapel's kinship with Lewerentz's later work is often remarked upon.
Inside, the interplay of light across the walls of the ceremonial room, combined with an asymmetrical layout, creates a charged and contemplative atmosphere. Window placement and rooflights have been read as introducing the passage of time symbolically into the space, almost like a sundial. Simple geometric relationships, particularly the square, recur throughout the composition of the building's various parts and rooms. The dark brick and bare concrete might at first seem sombre, but the handling of light, harmony and restraint has been described as offering a sense of hope and consolation in the face of death. The chapel was completed and consecrated in 1972 by Bishop Martin Lindström, though sources differ slightly on the exact date given.
An eight-stop pipe organ built by Johannes Kunkel of Lund was installed in 1984. A demountable bell tower was erected to the north of the chapel in 1981, and a textile wall hanging by Lilian Erlström was added in 1987. Bernt Nyberg himself is buried in the adjoining cemetery, close to the chapel he designed.