Brookline Chapel

Current proposed plan for the site - a large footprint with underground parking to accommodate overlapping wards.

*NOTE: This post has been edited from its original content.

The Brookline Chapel in Massachusetts has had years of controversy surrounding it. Tonight, it will yet again go before the town's planning board looking for approval to build. The controversy is that the building is too large for the site. Neighbors opposed the scale of the building, especially in context of the neighborhood and small size of the site, the large overbearing roof, and the amount of underground parking.


Aerial image showing just how small the site is.

I wonder why we engage in such battles with neighborhood groups? Especially when the neighbors desire for a smaller building perfectly meet the needs of the area. Being a good neighbor is as important as any missionary work we engage in. If I lived in this neighborhood, I would join them in protesting for a nicer, more appropriate building as well.

Some of the many links covering this story:
Local News Video

Opponents of Mormon church project gather signatures before Brookline ZBA meeting

Brookline Residents Resist Mormon Meetinghouse

Opposition growing against design for Mormon church in Brookline

Concerns linger over planned Mormon chapel

More than 60 residents petition Brookline to reject Mormon church design

Mormon Church to Build Oversize Structure on Boylston Street Across from Reservoir

Mormon church gets initial approval to build controversial meetinghouse in Brookline Read more on "Brookline Chapel"

Liepaja Latvia Chapel

Liepaja is a beautiful coastal city off the Baltic Sea in Latvia. Starting in 2003, the LDS Church looked at the possibility of building a new meetinghouse downtown for the large branch created after proselyting began here in 1992. The site purchased was along an existing transit line across the road from city administration and in the vicinity of three historical churches. Newly completed this month, the Liepaja Chapel is now the largest LDS chapel in Latvia at just over 600 square meters (6500 square feet.)

The traditional standard plan design presented to the city was not approved. The Church News reported that "propaganda turned much public sentiment against the Church" (Church News, Faith Renewed, 12 Jan 2008) as a reason for failure. This may have been the case, however the local media reported, "[T]he Liepāja Local Building Board objections were not against the house of worship as such, but against the originally planned construction as inconsistent with the nature of the urban heritage values." (Latvijas Avize, 'Top lielākais mormoņu dievnams', 04 Feb 2009) As proof that this was the main concern, rather than religious bigotry, when the Church resubmitted a new modern design proposal with appropriate features fitting in with the city guidelines and requests, it was approved. [Since I don't know anyone who speaks Latvian, I had to rely on a computer translation for the above quote.]


Site Plan


Exterior Elevation

Similar processes of rejected building plans and delays in building permits happen regularly, including in the US. When this happens in LDS circles, it is often attributed to anti-Mormon sentiment, but is often simply a community that cares about what is built there and the desire for something appropriate and integral to the site context in which it is placed. This is also frequently the case in downtown and historic districts, of which the Liepaja Chapel belongs to both. Fortunately in this case, there is now a beautiful chapel that fits into the context of the site, the historic character of the neighborhood, and the culture of the city and country into which it is located. Finally the branch has a building to "replace their second-story rented room." (Church News, Faith Renewed, 12 Jan 2008)


Rendering of building placed in existing street context


Photo of building under construction

The diagram of the plan is formed by two rectangular pieces coming together to form the ‘L shape’ of the building. The intersection of these pieces forms the lobby. The act of coming together crushes one leg of the rectangle, angling the wall and forming the lobby as an extension of the corridor. This angled wall becomes the most important gesture in the plan.

The building is placed on the site with an urban context in mind, maintaining the street wall by placing the building along the street edge with parking hidden behind. Suburban settings typically do the opposite; no street wall because of large building setbacks and parking located in front of the building.


Preliminary Floor Plan


Final Floor Plan

The preliminary floor plan shown is an older version of the plan with the font and restrooms located at the rear of the building. In the final floor plan, the font and restrooms have been wisely moved to the front, adjacent to the street entry. This arrangement better supports a symbolic narrative of progress through the building. First, as a wanderer off the street, you are drawn to the building as a means of ascension to God by entering under the steeple. The first step is one of cleansing through the ritual of baptism where you change from street clothes to white clothing and are washed pure. You are welcomed into the Church in the chapel where you meet those in the congregation, sing hymns to God, and partake of weekly sacraments. Continuing through the building are the classrooms where weekly instruction is given. Finally at the back of the building is the large activity room where you can socialize with others and form close friendships.

Additionally, these uses are also in order of priority as you move through the building, with baptism being the most important function in the meetinghouse, followed by the sacrament, instructional teaching, and finally social activities. In a way, this is the opposite of the temple, which increases in priority as you move through the building.


Building Foyer


Chapel interior

The Chapel is heavily influenced by a traditional US design that doesn't speak the language of the rest of the building. Unfortunately this is the weakest part of the building. However, it is still a stronger design than current US chapels. For example, the entire length of the chapel on both sides is lined with a series of tall vertical windows. Not only do the windows provide natural light, but also a more open, inviting, and welcoming space, linking the Chapel with the exterior. The one set of windows open up directly to the public street, linking the Chapel with the community. Further, the windows are glazed with clear glass, not the translucent frosted glass commonly used in the US. Also, the blinds are open, which really should be the rule in all our buildings, not the exception. There is nothing for this building to hide; it wants to be open, visible, and a part of this community.


Font adjacent to street entry

The font is located right off of the street entry. The door to the room is actually a large opening with a floor to ceiling transparent glass slider to close off the space if needed. This beautiful detail sends the message that even when the slider is closed, the font is always there; visually open and accessible to all; a constant reminder of the importance of baptism in the Church. Similar sliders in front of the font with a metal trim piece across the ceiling line provide a beautiful threshold into the space of ritual cleansing. Finally the distinctive circular window highlights the room with a connection to the front elevation. A room such as this would demand reverence and respect at all times because of the visual presence of the font. A place that would be appropriate for ponder or study. Overall this solution, along with the Leura Chapel font, provides successful solutions to how the importance of baptism can be conveyed through our buildings and the font placement and prominence. Both are more successful in this than current US and International standard plan designs.


Side of building and driveway with rock landscaping


Back of building showing parking

Other Items of Note:
- The steeple tower marks the street entry, as though the building were saying, “Enter here to ascend to God.” The ‘building as a steeple’ helps convey the image in which the building will help assist in that ascension.
- There is no material transition to the steeple. The building itself angles up to become the steeple.
-There are clean transitions from roof to wall, i.e. no roof overhang, which helps to emphasize the form and shape of the building. Unnecessary details such as an overhang are removed since there is no purpose for them.
-The exterior is detailed with clean lines and openings as a result of not using any unnecessary brick coursing or corner details
-The brown, older-looking brick fits in with the character of the old town
-Tall, vertical repeating windows occur in well-proportioned groupings
-There are benches around the building
-Rocks, not grass, are used in the landscaping
-Interior spot lights are used on the lobby artwork
-Modern furniture is used in the lobby which speaks the same language as the building
-No sisal wall coverings, carpet on floors, crown moldings, or chair rails are used (except in the chapel), which also speaks to the language of the building
-Lots of interior natural light present
-At all entries, the exterior massing is recessed which provides a shadow line and gives prominence. No unnecessary false gables are added to indicate entry, as is common in the US.
-Parking is done with pavers, not asphalt



Design Architect: AKA Birojs (led by Andris Kokins)
Address: 31 K. Valdemara st. Liepaja, Latvia
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Calgary Temple - update

Aerial image of Calgary (temple location indicated with red dot)

This original post, done far too late last night, mistakenly included an image of what I thought was the Calgary temple, but turns out to be the Vancouver Temple (although, it's not Vancouver either - it looks more like Rexburg). The new Calgary Temple design has not yet been released. The Canadian architect working on the project, ABBARCH Architecture, also designed the Vancouver Temple in Langley, BC, and this Temple is still listed under the 'Current Work' portion of their site. The link to the image can be found here.

These two temples, Calgary and Vancouver, share the similarity of being located at the furthest edge of development in their respective communities as shown in the aerial image above. As discussed in a previous post, the problems with this are increased travel time, limited access for people without a vehicle, encouraging of sprawl, and very little visibility or interaction with the community at large, especially compared to what it could be in the city center.

But wait, there's good news! Fortunately in the case of the Calgary Temple, in several years there will be an adjacent new light rail station to help remove the problem of limited access for this Edge Temple. The C-Train has been in operation in Calgary since 1981. The northern terminus, or ‘end-of-the-line’ station along the Northwest Line is called Crowfoot and was just completed two months ago.

The proposed new station will extend from Crowfoot further north through the median of Crowchild Trail (Highway 1A). Called Tuscany/Rocky Ridge, this station will become the new terminus, or ‘end-of-the-line’ in 2011 when completion is expected.


Calgary Light Rail System Map


Aerial image of Temple site adjacent to existing chapel. Also shown is transit site.

In addition to the new station, the transit hub will also include:
-Park and Ride and bus loops on both the north and south sides of Crowchild Trail with capacity for approximately 550 vehicles
-A pedestrian bridge linking the Park and Ride facilities with the LRT station
(From City of Calgary)


Tuscany/Rocky Ridge Station Site


Tuscany/Rocky Ridge Station Rendering

This light rail station will greatly facilitate the ability for all of Calgary’s citizens to visit or attend the temple. When the station is completed, it looks to be about a half mile walk from the temple. This is quite good, but may prove problematic for the elderly or those with special physical needs. Also, this distance may be uncomfortable or difficult in the wintertime. Fortunately a proposed sidewalk is shown linking the station to the temple. Hopefully by having transit options such as these available adjacent to the temple, more people will be able to serve and worship in the building as it was intended.
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2/3 Utah Park & Rides are LDS parking lots

Until we sell our house and permanently settle here in Utah, I am temporarily staying with family in Lehi and taking an Express Bus in to downtown Salt Lake for work. In searching for transit options on UTA’s website, I have discovered a large number of LDS parking lots that are being used for Park and Ride stops since they lie on transit lines. In fact, two out of every three park & ride lots are at LDS Meetinghouses according to the list on Utah Transit Authority's (UTA) website.


Park & Ride off State Street in Lehi from Google Map Street View

Number of LDS parking lots used as Park & Ride lots:
Davis County – 10
Weber County – 4
Tooele County – 3
Utah County – 12
Salt Lake County – 64

From these five counties, 90 total LDS parking lots are being used out of 136 total Park & Ride sites listed. These are all adjacent to bus lines. I can’t speak about all of them, but the lots in and around Lehi are completely full by 7:00am. From the website, the only lot with any strings attached is in Orem where a special permit is required by the Sunset Heights Stake in order to park there. The others are open to anyone and first come-first serve. In addition to the bus lines, there are also three LDS parking lots in Sandy that are allowed for public use which are adjacent to the light rail (TRAX).

The following rules apply for LDS Church parking lots: “Only those lots listed on UTA’s website have been approved for use as a park & ride facility...Park and ride use of this lot is permitted by the property owner as a courtesy to UTA patrons. Your cooperation is sincerely appreciated and will make the continued use of this lot possible.” Additionally, users cannot park for more than 24 hours or on Sundays.

This is a fabulous shared use of resources since most LDS parking lots sit empty during the week. I am glad to see so many LDS meetinghouses built along these transit lines and I am also glad that the Church allows commuters to use them during the work week. This not only helps free up traffic and congestion on the roads, but also lessens pollution by encouraging transit use.
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The Answer is Blowin' in the Wind

Spanish Fork Windmills by Dan McLean

The State of Utah has its first commercial wind farm and it is located at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon, one of the windiest areas in Utah. While an undergraduate student, I framed homes for a summer and one of those homes was in Spanish Fork. We started at 7am each day and, as I recall, it took all my strength to maneuver a single 4’x8’ sheet of plywood through the wind and into place on the framing. Apparently the strongest wind usually blows through the canyon from about 11pm to 10am. I drove through the canyon this past July and was blown away by the size of the nine windmills which will be up and running by September. Each windmill contains a 2.1-megawatt turbine that is expected to produce enough electricity to power 600 homes. There are nine windmills in the canyon for a total of 18.9 megawatts. (source)

The children at nearby Spanish Oaks Elementary School report that each windmill blade is 147 feet long, with the total diameter at 350 feet. Additionally, the tips will travel at 170 mph. The children conclude, “We should all be thankful for these windmills, they produce more energy and less pollution, we need more and more electricity each day, these windmills are a great thing, and they are also beautiful.” (source)


Windmills at night by Robert's Random Adventure Tours

According to Suzlon Energy, the manufacturer of the windmills, “The world of wind power is growing at a phenomenal pace. Projections put the average growth of the industry at 24% for the next five years.” The National Renewable Energy Laboratory states, “Wind is a clean, inexhaustible, indigenous energy resource that can generate enough electricity to power millions of homes and businesses. Wind energy is one of the fastest-growing forms of electricity generation in the world. The United States can currently generate more than 10,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity from the wind, which is enough to power 2.5 million average American homes. Industry experts predict that, with proper development, wind energy could provide 20% of this nation's energy needs.”


A diverse energy portfolio includes wind and sun power to create electricity - Image by swilsonmc

Rocky Mountain Power is purchasing the energy output from these windmills. According to their website, Rocky Mountain Power is committed to diversifying its renewable resources, which is especially important in Utah. Sarah Wright, executive director of Utah Clean Energy, compares diversification of energy to diversifying an investment portfolio. She said that Utah's energy isn't currently diverse because 95 percent comes from coal.

Unrelated to the wind power, another good point about the windmills is the specific site location chosen. The site was previously mined as a gravel pit. This reuse of the site helps lessen the development of new untouched land.


Image by Josh at 'What's Hip Hapnin?'

To kick off the start of the windmills, Spanish Fork is hosting a wind power celebration this weekend entitled Sky Spectacular. Included is a ribbon-cutting of the new wind farm turbines, the first Spanish Fork Kite Festival, and a “Go Green” Expo highlighting green businesses and products. It begins this Friday and continues Saturday.


Windmill panorama at dusk by swilsonmc
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Nature and the City in Synagogue Design

Exterior Elevations

Alfred Jacoby, one of the most famous Jewish architects in Germany, has designed his first synagogue in the United States and it was dedicated in Park City, Utah last week. Temple Har Shalom, meaning Mountain of Peace in Hebrew, was designed to coexist with nature in the midst of this high mountain desert. With the Jewish community in Utah being different from the congregations in Germany, "Instead of a discourse with history, in Park City Jacoby's discourse was with nature." The synagogue has clean, simple lines and sanctuaries full of natural light. The ceiling undulates, suggestive of the mountains on the other side of the stained glass windows. (source) "The floor-to-ceiling windows reveal beautiful vistas on two floors, which include a conference room and classrooms that will be available to the community." (source)

While Temple Har Shalom has a site ‘in nature’ on the periphery of Park City, the synagogues in Germany are more integrated with city life. German synagogues, in cities such as Aachen and Heidelberg, are noticeable and inviting, with large entrances "to invite you in, as a gesture," Jacoby said. (source)

It hasn't always been this way though. "In the years following the Holocaust, Jewish communities in Germany — made up of displaced Jews from other countries, since the German Jewish population had been decimated — began building synagogues to replace the ones destroyed by the Nazis. These new synagogues often were hidden away and were generally so nondescript they looked like cafeterias, says Jacoby…The idea, even three or four decades after the end of World War II, was to try not to be noticed. But in 1986, when Jacoby won an architectural competition to design a new synagogue in Darmstadt, he tried a different approach: ‘to show that Jews can be part of a city.’" (source)

In 2000, there was a wave of neofascist vandalism sweeping through Germany. "But the possibility of vandalism hasn't stopped him from designing synagogues that make their presence known. ‘I want them to be part of the urban fabric,’ he said, ‘to heal with architecture.’" (source) Being open and inviting to the community in a synagogue in Kassel included placing the sacred Torah scrolls inside of a glass box that could be seen by anyone walking or driving past the building.

"Ultimately, what this institution is about is relationships. Whether it's your relationship with God or a spiritual relationship or relationship with another human being, it's about relationships, enhancing relationships, and making the lives of Utahns better." (source)


Exterior Rendering
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Temples on the Edge

Las Vegas Nevada Temple

Many LDS Temples have, and are currently, being built at the outer perimeter of cities, literally at the edge where urban and rural meet. In fact over half of the current Temples in the US exist at this edge of development (35 out of 66). One third of Temples in the US are squarely in the suburbs (22 out of 66), while just nine in the US exist at or near the city center. Almost all of these edge Temples have been built since 1998 with new Temple sites continuing to be chosen at the edges of development. While the idea to bring the Temples to the people is a good one, the placement of Temples at the edge is not the best solution for providing Temple opportunities to all people in a given Temple district. The following are reasons in support of placing a Temple at the center of a city, town, or metro area.


Las Vegas Nevada Aerial (red dot is Temple)

1. Decreases travel. Where the Temple is at an extreme edge of the city, people on the other side of a given city have to travel across the entire metro area. If the Temple were at the center, travel would be evenly distributed for all wishing to attend, including patrons and workers.

2. People without a car can’t attend most LDS Temples in the US. With locations of Temples at the edge, there are limited transit options other than the automobile. At the city centers, the transit options are maximized for rich and poor alike, providing the best and the most frequent transit alternatives for any given city. I am reminded of one of my favorite movies, New York Doll, which showed Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, a volunteer in the Family History Library at the Los Angeles Temple, heading there on a city bus. Most of our Temples are not along frequent bus lines that would make such a trip feasible. A Temple at the center would allow equal opportunity for all to attend; especially lower income families and students. For instance, here in Portland it is impossible to travel to the Temple, which is located in a residential suburb, using public transit.

3. Discourages sprawl. There are many problems and issues with developing land on the edge. Adding infrastructure, adding new utility lines, clearing the land, adding roads, impact fees, zoning problems, height restrictions, neighbors who don’t want lots of traffic, bright lights, or a large building next to their home. This would not be a problem in city centers. The infrastructure is already in place and there are plenty of infill sites in every city rather than developing virgin land. These Brownfield sites are everywhere and can be used to help maximize the use of underdeveloped land. Often there are even incentives and significant city support for developing such sites, meaning they will do everything to help the project move forward and be a success.


Sacramento California Temple


Sacramento California Aerial (red dot is Temple)

4. Supports the pattern established in the Plat for the City of Zion where Temples are located at the center. In the Old Testament we read that the Lord "…will set [His] sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore…And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore." (Ezekiel 37:26,28) The word midst means "the interior or central part or point: MIDDLE." Even in Jerusalem, the Temple was able to exist in the profane city, being in, but not of the world, through a series of thresholds separating the two spheres of existence.

5. Less land needed. A smaller lot size can be purchased in the center helping to offset the higher land costs of building in the city. Building at the edge offers the allurement of cheap land, but there are other costs. Out on the edge you need an enormous landscape of parking for vehicles since there will be very few other options to travel to the Temple. At the center of the city, you may not need parking at all, ideally being able to rely on an adjacent parking garage.

6. More people in the community will see and visit the Temple. This will allow the Temple to have a greater influence on the community as well as fostering a more open relationship with people in the community. The act of putting a Temple at the center of the community shows them our desire to integrate, contribute, and be involved, rather than remain isolated at the perimeter. The closer to the city center, the more likely it will be used and recognized as an asset to the community. People would respond more favorably if we were seen as one of them. Our role would move from a fringe group on the outside of society and culture to one of acceptance, understanding, and tolerance right at the heart of the action. Just as no one will respond to the message of the Gospel until they know you care and are a friend, people need to see our Temples as a friend to them in the community. When more people can see and touch and feel our Temples, even if only from the outside, the presence of it in the city will help them open up more to us.


Redlands California Temple Aerial (red area is Temple)

These concepts will help fulfill President Hinckley’s goal of bringing the Temples to the people. After the bulk of his Temple-building had been completed, Hinckley stated, "…we are not satisfied. We will keep on working to bring the temples to the people, making it more convenient for Latter-day Saints everywhere to receive the blessings which can only be had in these holy houses." (The Work Goes On Apr 2001 Gen Conf) Placing the Temples at the center rather than the edge will help make the Temples of the Church more accessible for all and readily available to the people, as well as being better for the environment and increasing our presence in the communities in which we live.


Albuquerque New Mexico Temple


Albuquerque New Mexico Aerial (red area is Temple)


Albuquerque New Mexico Aerial (red dot is Temple)

Amazing Sites used to gather data for this post:
LDS Church Temples
Live Search Maps
Google Transit



"Well, I'd say the Church has gone as far as it can in putting temples closer to the Saints."
Kent Christensen in Sunstone Issue 97 Dec 1994
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A Field Guide to Sprawl: LULU

Utah State Prison at Draper by jimjohnson13

This post features another of the fifty-one common building patterns defined in the book "A Field Guide to Sprawl" by Dolores Hayden. The Utah State Prison in Draper, Utah is a LULU, or ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’. A LULU "creates a problem for people because of the way it looks, smells, sounds, or pollutes the environment…Protests against LULUs in newly developing areas with affluent residents may force them to remote locations, thus causing leapfrog development, which advances sprawl. LULUs often wind up located in communities without the political clout to resist them, including poor communities and ones inhabited by people of color." (page 64)


(Deseret Morning News graphic)

This past February, the Salt Lake County and the Draper City Council both passed a resolution asking the state to reconsider moving the prison. When built in 1951, the 700-acre prison was out in the rural landscape of the county, nowhere near the city. Now fifty years later, people actually live in Draper, and they don’t want to live next to prisoners. "If you're going to move the prison, you only want to do it once," said Draper City Manager Eric Keck. (source) Interestingly, I’m sure this was also said back in 1951 when the prison was moved to Draper from Sugarhouse. What he really meant is he only wants the prison to move out of Draper once.


Utah State Prison in the 1950's (Deseret Morning News Archive)

"Campaigns against LULUs are also called NIMBY (not in my backyard), BANANA (build absolutely nothing anywhere near), and NOPE (not on planet earth)." (Hayden, page 64) In spite of this, Draper Council member Jeff Stenquist is quoted as saying, "This is not a case of Draper City not wanting the prison in our backyard. Moving the prison, and claiming that land for a higher-level economic use, would benefit the entire community - Utah County, Salt Lake County and the entire state." (source) So it’s a benefit to the entire state simply by not being in Draper? How does that even make sense?


2005 aerial image by Photographic Solutions

If the city and county have their way, it will only be a matter of time before the prison is moved, which brings up the concern of where they want to move it. According to Steve Gehrke of the Salt Lake Tribune, County Councilman Jeff Allen is looking at Grantsville or the Salt Lake Valley’s West Bench. Additionally, "past rumors have focused on Tooele and Sanpete counties." (source)


Mapquest aerial image showing Grantsville, Tooele, and the West Bench

Moving the prison further into the rural countryside will greatly impact more than the 1200 employees and 1500 volunteers who work at the prison day and night. "Moving the prison farther out from downtown amenities like courts and hospitals may also add heavy travel costs to provide for the needs and rights of the prisoners", said Department of Corrections spokesman Jack Ford. Additionally, about 20 to 30 inmates are taken to Salt Lake hospitals each day. And most importantly this will further distance the prisoners from family and friends, resulting in fewer visits. "Positive relationships can help inmates change and are one of the key factors in deciding if an inmate gets parole," said Board of Pardons and Parole member Don Blanchard. (source)

All these support people will have to follow the prison into the next rural setting, building up the rural location into more sprawl. What is not realized is that the prison will be a LULU no matter where it is put, and the further you put it from where people live, the worse you make it for the thousands who work at, volunteer at, provide food for, visit, or otherwise support the prison. So the LULU cycle just keeps repeating itself, and nothing is ever learned…where sprawl is called progress and poorly planned growth is always good.
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Salt Lake saves eight tons of CO2 with the warmth of sewage

Photo by Graham Murdoch

Case Study: Heating Homes from Waste

"When Salt Lake City attorneys Jon and Phillip Lear decided to set up offices in the Major George Downey mansion downtown in 2005, gas prices had spiked after Hurricane Katrina, and they started brainstorming alternative heating and cooling systems.

'Alternative' is the word for what the brothers came up with. The system they designed, with help from engineers at Utah’s Sound Geothermal Corporation, pulls heat from warm sewage water. A secondary network of pipes surrounding a sewage pipe carries a water-based glycol that enables a heat exchange—since it is cool relative to the sewage water, it rapidly absorbs heat. The pipes carry the warmed glycol back into the house, where the accumulated heat energy radiates from vents. On hot summer days, the glycol absorbs heat from inside the house and releases it underground. The entire setup uses about 40 percent less energy than a conventional heating and cooling system would, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by eight tons a year. The Lears moved their offices there permanently in January.

Public-utilities director Jeff Niermeyer hopes to install similar systems in other public buildings within the next few years. 'With any wastewater system, there’s a lot of heat that you’ve already put in for other purposes,' he says." (Popular Science Case Study)

For more information, see also the Deseret News article on this home which speaks of the potential to use this technology on the City Creek Center in Salt Lake.

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Small Temples promote sustainable living

The small temple concept is a powerful one that may be leading us towards smaller, more sustainable communities.

-Less travel. Traveling great distances is not sustainable, cost-effective, or desirable. In the global context of the church, if the small temple concept continues to move forward, hundreds of thousands of families will be blessed every year with more time and money from reduced hours of travel and prices of fuel. Additionally, this helps decrease the carbon footprint of the collective church. I don't have any hard data, but since more than half the church resides outside of the United States, lets assume that prior to the small temple concept, most members lived a good distance from a temple. Even growing up in California, we were 3 hours from the nearest temple, or about 150 miles. If we assume 1 million members visit the temple twice a year, and have to travel an average of 300 miles round trip, this alone is a carbon footprint of 211,190.48, totalling $1,267,142.88 to offset the travel and become carbon neutral each year. On a churchwide global scale, these numbers can get staggering rather quickly.

-Can be built on any site. The last few years we have seen Temples spring up in suburban neighborhoods, the middle of downtowns of large cities, as adaptive reuse of existing buildings, as tenant improvements (one or two floors) in a larger development, etc. There is a lot of potential here, especially since this is simply a continuation of the first temple endowments which were given on the second floor of a red brick store in Nauvoo, Illinois.

-Limited hours open. Using the small temple concept allows for efficient and flexible use of resources depending on the area served. Most are open only by appointment which means it shuts down when not in use; lights go out, heaters and A/C are turned off. The savings from the utility bills alone makes this concept worth it. Having appointments also consolidates people into fewer sessions, and ensures that each session is full of people. When I lived in the Bay Area, it didn't feel right to go into a session in the Oakland Temple as one of only a few people in an enormous room.

With the church spreading all over the earth, it is possible that the days of the large, imposing temples such as Salt Lake, Washington DC, or Oakland are gone. The situation in Oakland is that it appears to be far too large for normal everyday use. With temples now in Sacramento and Fresno, Oakland primarily serves only the Bay area now. Granted, there is nothing as impressive as the Oakland temple and its site overlooking the Bay Area. It is one of my favorite temples. But the small temple concept would work nicely even in the heavily populated Bay area with potentially one in San Jose, one in San Francisco, and one in Walnut Creek.

Whether or not the above reasons were intended, the small temple concept provides lasting positive consequences that will bless the church and the environment for years to come. Let's hope that this form of bringing the temples to the people will continue and that it will be successful.

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