"Striking and original"

The project to construct a Baha'i House of Worship in Chile was announced in 2001. A call for submission of designs was made the following year by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Chile, eliciting 185 entries from more than 80 countries.

The design brief called for a domed structure with nine entrances which, symbolically, would welcome people from all directions of the earth for the praise and glorification of God. From a shortlist of four entries, Hariri Pontarini Architects was given the go-ahead to develop its scheme, described by the Universal House of Justice in its recent message as a "striking and original design."

The building consists of an arrangement of nine translucent "wings," rising directly from the ground, and giving the impression of floating over a large reflecting lily pool. The wings will allow sunlight to filter through during the day, while at night the House of Worship will emit a warm glow from its interior lighting.

The innovative design required that an entirely new form of cast glass be invented for the building's exterior. "That was an exploratory journey that took some 18 months," says Mr. Hariri, whose team needed to develop technologies that would ensure the building's survival in the environmental conditions of the location, a highly active seismic zone.

Award-winning design

Since it was first unveiled, the design for the House of Worship has been praised in more than 40 international journals, and received numerous accolades. Canadian Architect featured the building as one of its 2004 Awards of

Excellence. A judge described it as representing "a rare convergence of forces that seem destined to produce a monument so unique as to become a global landmark..."

Most recently, in August, a global panel of almost 100 judges named the House of Worship joint winner in the World Architecture News "Civic Building - Unbuilt" award category.