7 woodmizercom e xample I al wa ys t hought t ha t t he r e shouldn t be a ce iling abo v e t he alte r It should be open and go wa y up so t ha t light came both lit e rally and fgura t iv e ly do wn fr om abo v e Whe n a ne ighbor discusse d b uilding a c hape l Lo w e ll g aine d int e r e st and be g an de signing a st ruct ur e e v e n t hough he didn t int e nd on b uilding an yt hing Ho w e v e r b y t he t ime t he de sign came t o fruit ion Lo w e ll was con vince d t ha t he should b uild t he c hape l T he r e was a fusion of mot iv e s and some of t he m de e pe ne d during t he const ruct ion pr oce ss said Lo w e ll P erhaps t he main int e nt is t o pr o vide a me dit a t iv e space to e nhance appr e cia t ion f or t he land family frie nds and life W ith help fr om family and frien ds se v eral cedar doug las fr and g ar r y oak tr ees w er e r emo v ed fr om the pr operty and milled into boar ds and beams onsite with Lo w ell s W ood Miz er L T40 h y draulic portab le sa wmill T he ability to tur n wind falls and dead tr ees into useful lumber and to do so with considerab le accuracy in thickness and r ela tiv ely smooth surfaces is v er y v aluab le said Lo w ell P art of the pr oject was intended to be a people thing so a lot of people helped sa wing lumber because it s fair ly easy It s a sa tisfying thing to tur n dead tr ees into boar ds Most of the c hapel is constructed with half lap joints tha t w er e cr ea ted b y making se v eral parallel cuts with a tab le sa w knocking out the pieces with a hammer and sanding it do wn Structurally it is post and beam b ut the structur e is a little un usual because the beams ar e under almost no bending f or ces said Lo w ell Almost all of the beams ar e under either tension or compr ession A major part of the structur e is the stee ple w hic h is constructed of identical shaped modules of decr easing siz e T hr oughout t he cour se of fv e y e ar s t he 9 wide 17 long and 26 high c hape l was comple t e d No det ail was spar e d including int rica t e w ood carvings st ained g lass windo ws and man y symbolic e le me nt s T he carving on t he c hape l door combine s se v e ral t he me s including t he b ur ning b ush t he fruit of t he t r e e of kno wle dge and life and t he r e cognit ion of r e spe ct f or t he land T he positiv e r esponse has been v er y n umer ous and g ra tifying said Lo w ell F riends fr equentl y dr op b y with out of to wn visitor s to sho w them the pr oject In addition m y g rand niece was mar ried a t the c hapel and it was a v er y special and r ewar ding e v ent T he b uilding has r einf or ced m y a war eness of the important things in life lo v e r espect f or other s and an appr ecia tion f or the fragile g i f t of e xist e nce