Built at the foot of the Andes near Santiago, Chile, the Baha’i Temple of South America by Hariri Pontarini Architects has attracted over 1.4 million visitors since opening in 2016. Tonight during an awards ceremony in Toronto, the RAIC announced the temple as the winner of their 2019 International Prize.

Established in 2013 by notable Canadian architect Richard Moriyama, the biennial CAD$100,000 prize — formerly called the Moriyama RAIC International Prize — honors socially transformative architecture and is open to architects worldwide. The temple was one of three competitive shortlisted projects.

The domed temple plays a significant role for the local community by providing a welcoming space to gather and sit in quiet contemplation. Perhaps the building's most distinctive feature is the nine gracefully torqued wings that form an oculus at the top. The wings are made of an outer layer of cast-glass panels and an interior layer of translucent marble from Portugal that took Hariri Pontarini Architects and a Canadian glass artisan collaborator four years of experimentation.

“At the heart of this building there is a belief and an aspiration: that even now, in the fractured 21st century, we can respond to a human yearning to come together, to connect to one another, and to something that moves the spirit,” the architecture firm wrote in their competition submission. “The arced lines of the supple wooden benches invite people to come together, not as part of a congregation, but to congregate; to sit next to one another in quiet contemplation, sharing in the communal act of being.” 

The Bahá‘í House of Justice commissioned the project as the eighth and final continental temple for the Bahá‘í Faith. “...Central to its brief and its design is that it be a place of welcome, community, and meaning for everyone,” the architects continued.

“The architects resolve a challenging and prescriptive program for a new Baha’i Temple near Santiago with a powerful form that creates a new landmark — a jewel — in a dramatic natural setting,” the jury commented. “During the day, the striking form is animated by the variations of light and shade on the building’s softly turning surfaces. At night, it stands like a lantern, softly lit from within.”

In recent years, the Baha'i Temple has garnered a handful of accolades like a 2019 AIA Institute Honors Award, an Award for Structural Artistry in the 2017 Structural Awards, and the 2017 RAIC Innovation in Architecture Award — just to name a few. 

During tonight's RAIC ceremony, three CAD$5,000 scholarships were also awarded to students of Canadian architecture schools for essays they wrote in response to the topic, “the moment when they decided to become an architect.” The student recipients are: Laure Nolte of Dalhousie University; Lucie Palombi of the University of Montreal; and Odudu Umoessien of the University of Manitoba.

Check out a video, project photos, and drawings in the gallery below.