The school of architecture that I studied at some 30 years ago happened to be across the street from the wonderful art gallery designed by the great architect Louis Kahn. I love the building, and I used to visit it quite often. One day, I saw the security guard run his hand across the concrete wall. And it was the way he did it, the expression on his face — something touched me. I could see that the security guard was moved by the building and that architecture has that capacity to move you. I could see it, and I remember thinking, "Wow. How does architecture do that?"
At school, I was learning to design, but here — here was a reaction of the heart. And it touched me to the core.
You know, you aspire for beauty, forsensuousness, for atmosphere, the emotional response. That's therealmof theineffable（too great to be described in words.)and theimmeasurable(used to emphasize that something is too big or too extreme to be measured.). And that's what you live for: a chance to try.
So in 2003, there was an open call for designs for the Bahá'í Temple for South America. This was the first temple in all of South America. It's a continental temple, a hugely important milestone for the Bahá'í community, because this would be the last of the continental temples and would open the door for national and local temples to be built around the world.
And the brief wasdeceptively(something that is deceptive seems to be one thing but is in fact very different.)simple and unique in theannals(an official record of events or activities year by year; historical records.)of religion: a circular room, nine sides, nine entrances, nine paths, allowing you to come to the temple from all directions, nine symbolizing completeness, perfection. Nopulpit(a raised structure inside a church that a priest or minister stands on when they speak to the people.), no sermons, as there are noclergy(the official leaders of religious activities in organized religions.)in the Bahá'í faith. And in a world which is putting up walls, the design needed to express in form the very opposite. It had to be open, welcoming to people of all faiths, walks of life, backgrounds, or no faith at all; a new form of sacred space with no pattern or models to draw from. It was like designing one of the first churches forChristianity(the religion based on the life and beliefs of Jesus Christ.)or one of the firstmosques(a building that is used for Muslim religious services.)for Islam.
So we live in asecular(not connected with spiritual or religious matters.)world. How do you design sacred space today? And how do you even define what's sacred today?
I stumbled across this beautiful quote from the Bahá'í writings, and it speaks to prayer. It says that if you reach out in prayer, and if your prayer is answered — which is already very interesting — that the pillars of your heart will become ashine.
And I loved this idea of the inner and the outer, like when you see someone and you say, "That person isradiant(full of happiness and love, in a way that shows in your face and makes you look attractive.)." And I was thinking, "My gosh, how could we make something architectural out of that, where you create a building and it becomes alive with light? Likealabaster(a type of white stone that is often used to make status and decorative objects.), if you kiss it with light, it becomes alive. And I drew thissketch(a simple, quickly made drawing that does not show much detail.), something with twolayers(a quantity or thickness of sth that lies over a surface or between surface.),translucent(not transparent, but clear enough to allow light to pass through.)with structure in between capturing light. Maybe a pure form, a single form ofemanation(emanate-to produce a smell,light etc, or to show a particular qualitu.)that you could imagine would be all dome and everything we kept making was looking too much like an egg.
Ablob(a very small round mass of a liquid or sticky substance.).
So you search. You all know this crazy search, letting the process take you, and you live for the surprises.And I remember quite by accident I saw this little video of a plant moving in light, and it made me think of movement, reach, this idea that the temple could have reach, like this reach for thedivine(coming from or relation to God or a god.). You can imagine also that movement within a circle could mean movement and stillness, like thecosmos(the whole universe, especially when you think of it as a system.),something you see in many places.
Butrotation(when sth turns with a circular movement around a central point.)was not enough, because we needed a form. In the Bahá'í writings, it talks about the temples being as perfect as is humanly possible, and we kept thinking, well, what is perfection? And I remember I stumbled into this image of this Japanese basket and thinking our Western notions of perfection need to be challenged, that this wonderfulsilhouette(a dark image, shadow, or shape that you see against a light background.)of this basket, this wonkiness, and that it has the kind ofdimple(a small hollow place on your skin, especially one on your cheek or chin when you smile.)of what you might imagine a shoulder or the cheekbone, and that kind oforganic(change or development which is organic happens in a natural way, without anyone planning it or forcing it to happen.)form. And so we drew and made models, these lines that merge at the top, soft lines, which became likedrapery(cloth arranged in folds.)and translucent veils and folding, and the idea of not only folding buttorquing(the force or power that makes something turn around a central point, espacially in an engine.)— you remember the plant and the way it was reaching. And this started to become an interesting form, carving the base, making the entrances.
And then we ended up with this. This is this temple with two layers, nine luminous veils, embodied light,soft-flowing lines like luminescent drapery. 180 submissions were received from 80 countries, and this was selected.
So we went to the next stage of how to build it. We had submitted alabaster. But alabaster was too soft,and we wereexperimenting(a scientific test done to find out how something react under certain conditions, or to find out if a particular idea is true.), many experiments with materials, trying to think how we could have this kind ofshimmer(to shine with a soft light that looks like as if it shakes slightly.), and we ended up with borosilicate. Andborosilicate glass（一种耐高温的玻璃，至少含百分之五的氧化硼）, as you know, is very strong,and if you break borosilicaterods（a long thin pole or bar.)just so andmelt(if something solid melts or if heat melts it, it becomes liquid.)them at just the right temperature, we ended up with this new material, this new cast glass which took us about two years to make. And it had this quality that we loved, this idea of the embodied light, but on the inside, we wanted something with a soft light, like the inner lining of a jacket. On the outside you have protection, but on the inside you touch it. So we found this tinyvein(a thin layer of a valuable metal or mineral which is contained in rock.)in a hugequarry(a place where large amounts of stone or sand are dug out of the ground.)inPortugal(葡萄牙）with this beautiful stone, which the owner had kept for seven generations in his family, waiting for the right project, if you can believe it. Look at this material, it's beautiful. And the way it lights up; it has that translucent quality.
So here you see the structure. It lets the light through. And looking down, the nine wings are bound,structurally but symbolically strong, a great symbol of unity: pure geometry, a perfect circle, 30 meters in section and in plan, perfectly symmetrical, like the idea of sacredness and geometry. And here you see the building going up, 2,000 steelnodes（a place where lines in a network cross or join.), 9,000 pieces of steel, 7,800 stone pieces, 10,000 cast glass pieces, all individual shapes, the entire superstructure all described, engineered,fabricated(to make or produce goods, equipment, etc. from various different materials.)withaerospace(the industry that designs and builds aircraft and space vehicles.)technology, prefabricated machine to machine, robotically, a huge team effort, you can imagine, of literally hundreds, and within three percent of our $30 million budget set in 2006.
Nine wings bound together forming a nine-pointed star, and the star shape moving in space,tracking (the act of following or looking for a person, animal ,or thing.)the sun.
Hopefully, abefitting(to be proper or suitable for someone or something.)response to that beautiful quote, "a prayer answered," open in all directions,capturing(to catch a person and keep them as a prisoner.)the blue light of dawn, tent-like white light of day, the gold light of the afternoon, and of course, at night, thereversal(a change to an opposite arrangement, process, or way of doing something.): sensuous, catching the light in all kinds of mysterious ways.
And the site: it's interesting; 14 years ago when we made the submission, we showed the temple set against theAndes(安第斯山脉）.We didn't have the Andes as our site, but after nine years, that's exactly where we ended up, the lines of the temple set against nothing but pure nature, and you turn around and you get nothing but the city below you, and inside, a view in all directions, radiating gardens from each of thealcoves(an area in a room that is formed by part of a wall being built father back that the rest of the wall.), radiating paths.
Last October, the opening ceremonies — a beautiful, sacred event, 5,000 people from 80 countries, a continuous river of visitors,indigenous(indigenous people or thing have always been in the palce where they are, rather than being brought there from somewhere else.)people from all over South America, some who had never left their villages. And of course, that this temple belongs to people, the collective, of many cultures and walks of life, many beliefs, and for me, what's most important is what it feels like on the inside; that it feel intimate,sacred, and that everyone is welcome. And if even a few who come have the same reaction as that security guard, then it truly would be their temple. And I would love that.
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