The Bahá’í Temple of South America, located in Chile, was designed by Canadian firm Hariri Pontarini.
Winner of an international competition with over 180 entries from 80 countries, the Bahá’í Temple of South America is a symbolic building where visitors from all directions of the world can pray and meditate in a very inviting environment surrounded by mountains.
The nine sided structure has nine entrances that invites people to get in from all directions of the earth. The Temple is an arrangement of cast glass and translucent marble wings, rising directly from the ground, and it gives the surprising impression of floating over a large reflecting water pool, while projecting a sublime, ethereal luminescence.
The wings are designed to allow sunlight to filter through them during the day, while at night the Temple will show a soft glow from its interior lighting.
Inside, the Temple comports around 600 people that can be divided in a central area straight under the dome with seating on stone flooring, and nine alcoves nestled on a wooden mezzanine that surrounds the interior of the wings in the inner surface of the building.
Despite the light visual there is a strong structure designed to absorb ground movements while bending under lateral loads ,what is really important once the building was placed in a seismic zone.
Definitely it is quite impossible to not feel invited to get inside this Temple to meditate, in addition get connected to this amazing natural environment and luminescence experience!
