The Girdwood United Methodist Church was designed to be built — literally — by the congregation, with a structural system simple enough for skilled volunteers to erect safely while producing a sanctuary of genuine architectural quality.
The heavy timber frame is composed of locally-milled Sitka spruce posts and beams, connected with exposed steel plate connections that celebrate the structural logic rather than concealing it.
A single continuous clerestory runs the length of the sanctuary's ridge, flooding the interior with natural light that tracks the sun's low winter arc and the long summer days equally.
