STONE
Bahá'í Temple of South America
A light inspired place of worship
Bahá'í Temple of South America
Santiago, Chile
©Tiago Masrour; Benjamin Gremler;
Jorge Fernandez; Osvaldo Castillo
Architect: Hariri Pontarini Architects
Owner: The National Spiritual Assembly of The Bahá'ís of Chile
Completion: 2016
Category: Cultural
Project Type: Stone Engineering
Stone Types:
+ Alabaster
+ Portuguese Translucent Marble
The Bahá’í Temple of South America sits at the foothills of the Andes bordering the metropolis of Santiago, Chile. The exterior structure of glass veils frame an open and accessible worship space where up to 600 visitors can be accommodated, attracting up to 36,000 visitors each weekend. Working with the Architect, PICCO Engineering provided stone engineering consultation and our scope included design-assist and material testing. Exhaustive testing of the first material of choice, Alabaster, was conducted that included material and anchor testing and full panel testing. The final material of choice was cast glass for the exterior and Portuguese translucent marble for the interior. The final project consisted of flat pieces that were water-jet cut from slabs to the exact shape defined by the computer model. Each wing of the nine-sided Temple contains over 870 unique pieces of marble.