LOST PINES CHAPEL
Design Team: LZT Architects Inc.; Murray Legge, Herman Thun, Lucas Brown
Engineering: PE Structural Consultants
Photography: Murray Legge
Size: 8,000 sf
Year Completed: 2007
Awards:
2010 American Architecture Awards
2009 AIA Austin Design Excellence Award
2008 Texas Society of Architects Design Excellence Award
2008 International Wood Design Award
Read about the Chapel in Dwell Magazine
Built on the banks of Lake Bastrop for the Boy Scouts of America, this interfaith chapel forms a contemplative moment within the pine forest near Austin. The simplicity of the frame geometry plays off the rustic quality of the cedar members. Each of the 22 frames is composed of members interconnected with steel plates. The identical frames, bundled together horizontally by two cables in tension, rotate incrementally to create an arcing in plan. Since the lower members are wider and become narrower toward the top, the upper members do not touch and are free to sway in the wind. The fluid quality of the frame rotation, like the movement of water in the lake beyond, also implies mutability, a character that strengthens the building's form to its purpose as an interfaith chapel.
