I attended a fireside tonight where the speaker was a missionary who is site manager for the Phoenix Temple construction site. He shared some fun details about the temple.
DesignAs many people know, when the Phoenix Temple was announced and the design was published, many of the neighbors launched fight against its construction. They didn't like the color (white) nor how bright the lighting would be. They complained about the limited parking and the excess traffic. Most of all, they complained about the height of the temple. The City of Phoenix has restrictions on the height of structures and the Church requested a variance that would allow the temple to be built 10 feet taller than the city ordinance allowed. Although the City Council approved the variance request, the neighbors collected a petition to rescind the Council's approval.
Instead of taking the matter to voters, the Church withdrew the variance request and spent the next several months redesigning the temple plans. The new design was within the City's height restriction limits so no variance is needed. Construction began last fall, using the new design.
I knew all of this, but there were details that I didn't know.
- Without the variance request, the Church was not required to meet any of the demands of the neighbors. However, they still sought cooperation with the neighbors before beginning construction. They agreed to a beige color instead of white and reduced the planned lighting. They purchased adjoining property to provide additional parking. The missionary didn't mention it, but I heard that the Church is paying to have some traffic signal changes made at the nearby intersection. And the new design was 10 feet shorter. He said the neighbors have withdrawn their objections to the construction.
- Although many members feel the neighborhood complaints were frustrating, they actually benefited the members more than we could have expected. The original temple design was 27,000 sq. ft. but the new design is 59,000 sq. ft.
We got twice as much temple! That will allow more patrons to visit the temple. And the neighbors didn't object (too strongly) to the larger temple as long as their other demands were met. A blessing in disguise!
Celestial Room
The Celestial Room in the Phoenix Temple will be an oval room. The walls will have decorative columns along the sides. We were told it looks really amazing, according to the artist's rendering.
If you drop a weight from Moroni's heels, it would fall through the middle of the Celestial Room. (If it keeps going, it falls through the middle of the baptismal font in the lower floor.)
The Celestial Room will have high windows and a skylight. The tower above will have windows that catch the sunlight and reflect it down to the skylight, which in turn will light up the Celestial Room.
Baptismal Font
The baptismal font will be in the basement. He said the design of the font will be unusual and very different than most other fonts we have seen in temples.
The constructions workers were quite fascinated by the "big hole in the floor" where the font will go. They could not figure out what it its purpose is.
Construction
The walls of the temple are about 2 feet thick on the exterior and about 1 foot on the interior, with reinforced girders inside the concrete walls. The construction crew are mostly not members, so they are amazed by the construction design. The foreman was talking with the missionary one day while the concrete was being poured. He shook his head and said, "There are really heavy walls." The missionary explained that this temple has to stand forever. The foreman shook his head again and said, "These are really, REALLY heavy walls!" He was completely amazed that the Church would insist on such strength in a structure that isn't in an earthquake zone.
Later he told the missionary, "If there is ever an earthquake in this area, I am going to stand right there!" and he pointed at the hole for the baptismal font in the basement. The missionary smiled and thought to himself, "Well, you'll have to get a bit wet before we can let you stand there, but we can arrange that!"
Visitor's Center
One of the concerns of the neighbors was that the Church would hold a pagent, like the Easter Pagent at the Mesa Temple, which draws thousands of visitors over a two week period. They also objected to other activities that would draw excessive visitors to the area, such as a Christmas light display and a visitor's center. The Church has agreed not to have any of these activities.
However, during constrution they have erected a platform that allows visitors to observe the construction site. It is open Monday-Friday from 12noon to 5pm. Other visiting times are available with special arrangements. I think we need to go visit!
Comparison
Between the missionary speaking at the fireside and the gentleman conducting (who works at the Mesa Temple), we were given the following comparisons:
- Mesa Temple: approx. 200,000 sq. ft., utilizing approx 1,100-1,200 temple workers each week.
- Phoenix Temple: approx. 59,000 sq. ft, will require approx. 400-600 temple workers each week.
Completion Date
We were not given a completion date, but the site manager missionary said he expects to be home again by Christmas 2013.....meaning the temple will be done and the so will the open house. That gives us just over a year! How exciting!
Photos from http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/phoenix/construction/
