The children are scampering in from all directions on this warm Wednesday afternoon in July as the call goes out to assemble for Mass at Camp Tekawitha. This summer camp on the shores of Loon Lake in northeast Wisconsin has been sponsored by the Diocese of Green Bay and has become part of the cherished memories of thousands of children for more than 75 years.
Recently, the diocese and several generous donors came together to undertake a comprehensive remodeling of the camp structures from the ground up. Cabins have been updated and winterized, a new lodge building erected, and most recently, the new St. Francis of Assisi chapel completed. The once summer camp has been transformed into a year-round conference and retreat center.
The chapel was designed to do more than provide a setting for the liturgy and personal prayer for about 120 people. The diocese explicitly sought a building that might become the centerpiece of an educational program for the summer campers as well as all other facility users exploring the issue of sustainability.
“Sustainability” in the design or remodeling of buildings is the principle that the natural resources we find all around us – air, water, earth, and plant and animal life – are given to us by our Creator, not for our own use to consume and exhaust, but as a “trust” that we need to manage responsibly as stewards for our children and their descendents.
Some of the sustainability strategies recommended by Martin Kleiber and Matthew Tendler, liturgical design and sustainability consultants with Kahler Slater Architects respectively, during the design and construction of this chapel included carefully managing soil and storm water runoff to protect the lake, reducing and recycling construction waste, specifying construction materials that incorporate recycled materials, using lumber from sustainably managed forests, reducing energy costs for heating and cooling, using big sliding doors open to nature and overhead fans to provide “mixed mode” ventilation, and selecting insulation and finishes that protect indoor air quality. Most of the liturgical furnishings were also made from recycled materials.
These are examples of the measures that can be incorporated into the construction of every new church building. Remarkably, the cost of this building, even with these sustainability strategies, came in below $250,000.
As the campers gather for Mass and others congregate there while on retreat, perhaps they have begun to realize that this chapel was built for them and their children – as a place for worship, certainly, but also as a model for a way of building that respects and preserves all the precious gifts of God’s creation.
Submitted by Kevin Brunner, Director of Facilities & Properties, Diocese of Green Bay and Martin Kleiber, Certified Liturgical Design Consultant, KS Consulting, A Division of Kahler Slater Architects
December, 2003
