Bahá'í Temple of South America
Santiago,
CL
Award Category:
Governor General’s Medals in Architecture
Hariri Pontarini Architects
Lead design architect(s):
Siamak Hariri, FRAIC, Partner-In-Charge
Occupancy: October 1, 2016
Construction Budget: $36 million
At the heart of the Temple there is a belief that even now, in the fractured 21st century, we can respond to a human yearning to come together and connect to one another, and to something that moves the spirit. The Temple sits on the edge of Santiago and nestles against the Andes. A human place, universally appealing in form and at one with its landscape. Inside, the building soars along with the spirit of those who enter. The interior is alive with soft light filtering through the cast-glass exterior and translucent marble interior, bathing visitors in warmth.
“This building is brave, unexpected, and playful, a spectacular beacon on a hillside outside Santiago, Chile. The jury admired the translucency and magical complexity of its form, whose idiosyncrasies and deviations grow organically from a controlled radial geometry. This level of technical virtuosity is unusual coming out of Canada’s architectural production, which makes the Temple a good envoy for promoting Canada’s design expertise on the world’s stage.”
Jury members