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Hot on the heels of the recent reveal of the project, planning documents submitted to the City of Markham have unveiled further details of Hariri Pontarini Architects' flashy new proposal for the Bahá'í National Centre and Temple in Markham. Building off their previous success with the Bahá'í Temple of South America — an internationally-acclaimed and award-winning project in Santiago, Chile — Hariri Pontarini have been commissioned by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'í's of Canada to design the next great architectural gem right here in the GTA.
The site is located at 7200 Leslie Street, just north of Steeles Avenue and the Toronto-Markham border. The property is home to the current Bahá'í National Centre, built in 1975, along with an existing log house, while the remainder of the lot is naturally forested. The site is surrounded by greenery and a ravine, with the Bayview Golf and Country Club immediately to the west, German Mills Settlers Park to the north, and the German Mills Creek and Bercy (Wycliffe) Park to the east. Being next to a ravine, the property has a significant east-west slope.
There are several components of the Bahá'í National Centre and Temple development, the largest of which is the main building that will house the National Spiritual Assembly, located along the southern edge of the property.
This new headquarters will contain a range of facilities and amenities that will transform it into a community hub, and will include meeting spaces, archives, educational facilities, a conference centre, and prayer rooms, among other uses. The building will also contain dormitories with the capacity for more than 100 occupants, and includes communal kitchen and living areas for the guests. The new building will be built on the site of the existing Bahá'í National Centre structure, which will be demolished.
The design of the Bahá'í National Centre follows a simple, Modernist aesthetic, featuring clean lines and large expanses of glass that frame the natural woods surrounding the site. The building is four storeys, but follows the rather steep slope of the site in a series of cascading volumes such that each floor has a grade-level entrance.
It is arranged in an L-shaped configuration, with the business functions grouped in the north-south volume and the dormitory and living areas stretching east-west along the south boundary of the property. The two complementary volumes frame a sloping event lawn and courtyard, which is landscaped in a way that respects the privacy of the interior functions while accentuating the sculpted form of the building.
The second major component, and the centrepiece of the entire development, is the Bahá'í National Temple, situated near the western edge of the property just to the north of the main building. Its location is intentionally chosen not just because of its position at the top of the ridge surrounded by vegetation, but also because it would occupy the site of a former plantation or orchard that is populated primarily by invasive species, thereby removing a threat to the adjacent ravine. The Temple is accompanied by a small Welcome Centre in a separate pavilion connected to the main building, and is surrounded by landscaped trails and naturally wooded land, allowing it to nestle in among the trees.
The design of the Bahá'í National Temple is a unique take on the temple typology. All Bahá'í temples are circular, have a dome, and are built with nine sides and nine entrances, which represents the "essential unity underpinning the great religions of the world," according to the planning documents. The design for the Canadian temple bears resemblance to the South American temple completed by Hariri Pontarini in 2016, but differs in its architectural expression.
Taking inspiration from the surrounding forest, the Canadian temple is influenced by the textures and forms of trees, abstracting the materiality of the wood and the shapes of the branches and roots to create a woven pattern wrapping around the circular building. The result is a dynamic, stand-alone structure that both blends with its surroundings and stands out as a captivating sculptural piece. It is not known yet what material the facades will be composed of.
The final piece of the complex is an existing log house, located on the eastern side of the property and set back away from the south property line. The house will be retained and renovated, and will be transformed into a Visitors' Centre that will contain ancillary uses for the Temple. The Temple is solely a place of worship, meaning that any complementary or service spaces — such as welcome areas, washrooms, storage, housekeeping rooms, etc — will all be housed in the adjacent Welcome Centre and Visitors' Centre. An addition to the rear of the log house is proposed to expand its available floor space.
The remainder of the property will be left untouched in its natural wooded state, though the master plan indicates the intent to install future trails through the woods, winding between the trees and connecting the Temple at the top of the site to the Visitors' Centre at the lowest point.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow progress on this development, but in the meantime, you can learn more about it from our Database file, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum thread or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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| Related Companies: | Hariri Pontarini Architects, Schollen & Company |
