Join the Story, our collective story, by helping us a build an underground chapel from granite that will exist for 3000 years - at least. Ebenezer Chapel will use leading-edge innovations in architecture & design, engineering, acoustics and sustainability practices to hew a chapel underneath the earth that will become a place of prayer, meditation and hope for people from around the world.
Visitors will enjoy the lovely 6 acre park and then can then enter the chapel and begin the descent to the sanctuary. As you slowly walk the concourse, you'll be surrounded by natural light, raw granite and corten steel (see the perks about having your name engraved) until you are finally in the quiet of the chapel. Natural light will enter from a skylight and the walls will hold artwork representing Christianity and faith.
The sanctuary itself will hold up to 250 people and be a perfect place for weddings, large church groups, special events or just a place of rest for solitary travelers hoping to sit quietly in contemplation and peace.
TAKE THE ANIMATED VIDEO TOUR.
Learn more about the why, the concept & design, the team and watch a short video from the architect behind the chapel design, TEDTalk fellow, Xavier Vilalta. See other plans + maps of the site.
Developer Mark Boone has assembled a team to bring this chapel to fruition.
Mark Boone - our fearless leader - founded Markus Group Ltd., a Raleigh, NC based company that serves as a contract manufacturer for medical and consumer goods. He is no stranger to high technology manufacturing having spent nearly two decades working in the nuclear power and defense sectors.
Xavier Vilalta is the founder and director of Vilalta Arquitectura, and despite his youth, he is already a distinguished international architect specializing in sustainability and innovation. His work combines leading edge technology with local resources and culture to create contemporary designs that suit their environment. Before his firm gained eminence, he was an associate professor at ETSAB, Barcelona's School of Architecture, where he taught design and mentored graduate projects.
Ted Bartelt is a civil & structural engineer in Raleigh, NC and the President and Principle in Charge of Alpha & Omega Engineering. Ted's three decades of experience range from investigations of buildings, bridges, dams, and other types of structures to designing bridges, buildings, industrial facilities, equipment supports, concrete tilt-up design, flood studies, storm water impoundment design, erosion control design, water and sanitary system design, retaining wall design, concrete repair, parking lot design, general site development, project specifications, cost estimates, and construction administration.
Higini Arau is a master of acoustics in architectural structures and beyond. He is the Founder and Director of Arau Acustica - a professional acoustic engineering studio in Barcelona. For more than 40 years, the Arau team has worked in every aspect of architectural acoustics, civil and industrial engineering, and urban, industrial and traffic noise mitigation and design.
Jordi Pascual is the coordinator of the technical team at AIGUASOL. Since 1999, AIGUASOL has provided innovative solutions in engineering and research to reduce the impact associated with energy consumption. Jordi’s focus as a building physics specialist is to optimize the energy consumption conditions for Ebenezer Chapel, which includes both lighting and thermal aspects of the space.
Andy Osterlund - is President and Lead Architect at Osterlund Architects. He has lived and working in architecture in Raleigh, NC since 1998, building and drawing from a broad base of project experience, including city-scale mixed-use development, retail, religious and institutional projects.
How YOU Join the Story
We're entering the 2nd phase of our project. Phase One included having the project endorsed by the city and engineering tests conducted to make sure that a chapel could be built underneath the park and 100 ft of granite. DONE & APPROVED.
The next step is to conduct core sampling of the area designated for the chapel. Think of it as a granite biopsy. Our engineering team will use a 1.5 inch bit to drill down 100 feet -- in 20 foot sections -- so that we can review the layers of rock from top to bottom. These sections will give us the story of the rock itself and where the strongest points for excavation are and where to place the roof ceiling of the chapel based on our designs and the rock's strength.
It's a big step and we can't do it without you.
We're going for $40K which will allow for core sampling and site analysis.
$100K allows us to employ design services, as well.
$180 gets us into the design phase, after site analysis and design services.
$280K gets us started with construction documentation.
Finally, we need approximately $4M for construction.
The Impact
... is as multi-layered as the granite itself. For starters, public places dedicated to faith are more important than ever. We want to celebrate the permanence of Christ in a world of planned obsolescence and at the same time practice inclusivity by creating a place where anyone, at any time, can come to rest, pray or meditate, commune with the gardens in the park or descend to the chapel for solitude.
Second, the Ebenezer Chapel team is using innovative design and engineering practices to create a chapel that will, upon completion, BE FREE FROM TECHNOLOGY. Imagine that.
Finally, we hope contributors and visitors will think of the chapel the way Americans think of their protected State and National Parks: as sacred natural places of beauty, purpose and sanctuary. Or the way that citizens worldwide think of cathedrals, natural wonders and sacred spaces... these are places to be visited and loved for millennia.
Risks & Challenges
This is a massive project, but we're off to a great start and with your help, we will get there much faster. Michelangelo looked at a piece of stone and said he knew to remove everything that wasn't David. We're removing all of the granite that is not the Ebenezer Chapel so that you and future generations of others can visit a public place of peace.
The excavation, engineering
