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A NEW LEASE ON LIFE – ST PETERS CHAPEL RESTORATION
The restoration of the St Peters Chapel, completed this year, marks a significant milestone in preserving the heart of our College community. The 2021 floods caused substantial damage to the Meditation Chapel and worsened the condition of the Chapel roof, necessitating urgent repairs and asset replacement. As the scope of these repairs unfolded, the College recognised the need for heritage approvals and decided to close the Chapel temporarily. This closure period provided an opportunity to repair and rejuvenate this important building, ensuring its alignment with the College’s mission and the spirit of Plus Ultra.
A strategic, phased approach was adopted: Stage 1 focused on asset replacement and repairs, while Stage 2 introduced thoughtfully considered upgrades to enhance the Chapel’s functionality and appeal. With these improvements, the restored Chapel was ready in time for significant events like the National Lutheran Principals Conference and College Open Day. The College community is thrilled to have the use of this beloved space again.
History of the Chapel
St Peters Lutheran College was established in 1945, and soon after, a Chapel Fund was established through community donations.
In 1948, a temporary Chapel was dedicated in a former officers' mess building of the Australian Women's Army Service camp. By 1966, enough funds had been raised to begin construction of the permanent Chapel and Brisbane-based architect and town planner
Dr Karl Langer was engaged as architect. The foundation stone was laid on 17 September 1967, and the Chapel was opened and dedicated on 14 June 1968. In line with Dr Langer’s vision, the Chapel became the centrepiece of the College grounds, complete with a tree-lined plaza, forecourt, bell tower and reflecting pool.
On 7 December 2012, the Chapel was added to the Queensland State Heritage Register, recognising its historical and architectural significance.
Dr Karl Langer
Dr Langer had a pronounced impact on the built environment of Australia, especially in Queensland, and his body of work is a distinguishable exploration of sub-tropical modernism. Dr Langer’s other notable works include the Langer residence at St Lucia (1950), Mackay Sugar Research Station (1953), St John's Lutheran Church, Bundaberg (1960), Kingaroy Town Hall and Civic Square (1963), Ipswich Girls Grammar’s Assembly Hall (1964), Main Roads Department Building, Spring Hill (1966), Lennon's Hotel Broadbeach (1957) and Lennon's Hotel in Toowoomba. His final project, the Chapel at St Peters exemplifies his architectural philosophy of creating buildings in harmony with their surroundings. Dr Langer died in 1969, and his funeral service was conducted at the Chapel.
Architectural Features
Dr Langer’s design for the Chapel featured a fan-shaped layout with a tall bell tower set behind a paved forecourt at the end of a tree-lined plaza. At the front, the Chapel’s facade had a crisp, curved colonnade clad in marble—a stylised temple front. The other walls were yellow face brick, with the east wall exterior featuring a raised pattern of crosses.
Dr Langer’s architectural vision was influenced by both classical Greek architecture and modernist European design. He grounded his modernist approach in the local context, studying Queensland’s climate, fauna and flora. At St Peters, he proposed hedges of lemon-scented tea trees along the plaza. His designs typically embraced passive lighting and ventilation; the Chapel’s interior benefits from natural light and simple passive ventilation. The relationship between the
Chapel and the surrounding landscape is interpreted as ‘a building within a field’—where the landscape is designed to feel secondary, enhancing the Chapel’s sense of presence as a central object in a broader bushland setting.
By 1966, as the Chapel’s design neared completion, Dr Langer had forged a strong connection with Queensland’s Lutheran community and with St Peters itself. At St Peters, he also designed a Pastor’s residence (1954), a dormitory block (1954–55), a dining hall block (1966), and a concrete footbridge (1966–67). The dormitory block included a 12-ft sandstone monolith as a memorial to Queensland Lutheran servicemen who lost their lives in WWII, which was gifted by Langer to the College and thought to be Brisbane’s largest stone at the time. One side featured a cross; the other, the names of fallen servicemen. Langer later completed a science block (1967–68) and the entrance fence and gates (1968). The campus layout embodies Lutheran values, with an east-west axis visually linking the Chapel (spirituality) to the library (learning), symbolising the integration of faith and education.
A large timber crucifix was commissioned for the wall of the Meditation Chapel. It was carved by Alfred Schubert, a Czech-born woodcarver from Melbourne who trained in Bavaria. Schubert had previously carved a crucifix for Langer’s St John's Lutheran Church in Bundaberg. The crucifix was dramatically lit and loomed large within the Meditation Chapel’s small round room. The Chapel bell was donated by Pastor Franz Finger, a key figure in establishing St Peters, who also served on the College Council.
Over time, few alterations have been made to the Chapel. Aluminium sunshades were added to some windows, and the original reflecting pond in the forecourt was removed and is now represented by a circular pattern within the Chapel forecourt. The sandstone WWII memorial monolith was moved from its original position on the northern side of the Boys Boarding dormitory to the southern edge of the Chapel forecourt.
The Chapel has been the only local Lutheran church in Indooroopilly since 1968 and hosts weekly services for the Lutheran parish. True to Dr Langer’s original intent, the Chapel, forecourt and plaza remain the physical and spiritual centre of the campus.
The rejuvenation of the Chapel at St Peters Lutheran College
A Day in the Life
The ‘Day in the Life’ process is a discovery phase in developing the project brief, facilitating open dialogue with participants. Through this process, common themes emerge across all stakeholder groups, along with ideas and insights specific to each group.
To inform the project brief and gain a deeper understanding of the Chapel's daily life, seven key stakeholder groups were identified and consulted extensively. These groups included the congregation, the Pastoral Team, College Leadership, Music Directors and Senior School Faith Captains. Pastor Reinhard Mayer, who collaborated with Dr Karl Langer on the Chapel’s original design, enthusiastically supported the project. He offered incredible insights into the Chapel’s initial design intent and how the College and key events have influenced it since 1968.
Understanding the Chapel’s Construction
A 'point cloud' scan and dimensional survey of the Chapel provided the design team with a detailed three-dimensional model, offering invaluable, high-quality information to work with. This survey revealed unique features, such as the bowl shape of the suspended timber floor and slight variations in the size and shape of each pew.
The Chapel’s ceiling is a seamless feature made from coconut fibre and plaster of Paris, suspended from a timber frame. It’s held in place by thin nails and large dabs of plaster of Paris, which are fixed to a truss frame supporting the roof structure. The original roof was constructed from both copper and steel, which led to corrosion due to galvanic reactions from rainwater flowing over dissimilar metals. This corrosion allowed water into the roof structure, damaging the feature ceiling. After extensive consultation with the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, it was decided to replace the roof with a single material. Steel was chosen, and the new roof replicates the copper flashing, eliminating the risk of galvanic reactions and ultimately providing a better outcome than the original specification.
The Meditation Chapel was unfortunately flooded during storms in 2021, as its floor level is one metre below the external ground level. The flood damage left it unused since the event, and restoring it required substantial work to safeguard against future flooding. Notably, the flood revealed a unique herringbonepatterned brick paver floor. The bricks were removed to facilitate repairs, with each one labelled and its location recorded. After completing the storm repairs, the brick pavers were cleaned and returned to their original positions, completing the rejuvenation of the Meditation Chapel.
Enhancing the Chapel’s Acoustics
The Chapel is well known for its outstanding acoustics for worship and musical performances. However, technical limitations of the previous audio system sometimes led to unclear sound, especially for speech, in certain areas. Before construction, acoustic measurements were taken to assess the reverberance and clarity of the Chapel’s acoustic conditions. The measured mid-frequency reverberation time was found to be well-suited to congregational worship, which often includes organ, instrumental or choral music. Meanwhile, the Meditation Chapel has a higher reverberance, ideal for meditation and quiet reflection in the smaller space. The project has successfully preserved the acoustic qualities of the Chapel and Meditation Chapel and significantly improved the audio solution.
The Chapel Organ
The G. Dohler Memorial Pipe Organ, originally completed in 1983 and upgraded in 2018, features a three-manual console with Great, Swell, Choir, Pedal and Couplers. Pierce Pipe Organs has maintained the organ for many years, and the recent Chapel rejuvenation raised concerns about protecting it from potential damage during the project. While the idea of dismantling, relocating, storing and reinstalling the organ was considered, this approach introduced new risks and significantly increased project costs. Therefore, the organ remained in situ throughout the rejuvenation.
In consultation with Pierce, measures were implemented to protect the organ from damage. Once the Chapel rejuvenation was complete, Pierce conducted thorough maintenance and tuning to restore the organ to service.
The Scope of the Chapel Rejuvenation
The Chapel rejuvenation focused on repairing, renewing and replacing assets to deliver various internal and external improvements. The scope was prioritised to maximise impact, remain affordable, and prepare for the 2024 National Lutheran Principals Conference and the annual College Open Day. Renovations are prone to budget overruns and delays, especially for culturally significant sites. However, the Chapel’s simplicity, largely original condition, and ample historical records gave the team confidence in the baseline survey accuracy, enabling them to manage risks and develop a detailed project scope with reliable cost and timeline estimates.
The work was divided into two stages. Stage 1 prioritised essential asset repair and replacement to facilitate broader improvements in the second stage. Both stages required a Heritage Exemption Certificate from the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation, with planning for Stage 2 running alongside the execution of Stage 1 to ensure a smooth transition.
Stage 1 focused on structural repairs and included a new roof and guttering for the Chapel, vestry roof repairs, extensive repairs of the Meditation Chapel roof, below-ground drainage upgrades, concrete stump repairs, concrete spire inspection and waterproofing of the Meditation Chapel.
Stage 2 provided visible improvements to the Chapel’s interior and exterior, including new audio-visual equipment, repairs to the heritage plaster ceiling, new LED lighting, new floor finishes in Langer’s original design and additional vestry storage. Externally, the gardens were redesigned to showcase the eastern elevation and align with Dr Langer’s original vision. This approach ensured the rejuvenation was respectful to the Chapel’s heritage while modernising it for future events.
Open for Worship
After 16 months of work, the Chapel Rejuvenation project was completed in readiness for the 2024 National Lutheran Principals Conference on 28 July and St Peters Open Day on 3 August. Chapel returned to the College timetable, and the St Peters Lutheran Church congregation gathered for the first official service on Sunday, 4 August.
Acknowledgements
The College would like to acknowledge everyone involved in the Chapel Rejuvenation project: Alan Peet, Director, Property and Facilities (Project Lead); m3architecture; Ruth Woods, Heritage Architect; LAT Studio; Palladium Infrastructure; JHA Consulting Engineers; Steele Wrobel Quantity Surveying; ACOR Engineers; Integral Construction; McHardy Electrical; Design Stage; Videopro; Pierce Pipe Organs; McMillan Heritage Plastering; KNISCO; WSP; The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation and Brisbane City Council.
Article by: Alan Peet, Director Property & Facilities
