Salt Lake Temple, August '24 - August '25

Excavation continues to wrap around the temple. Here we see formwork for the walls for the stormwater tank.

Soil to the west of the new foundations has been excavated.

Here we see a good representation of the scale and configuration of the new foundations. New footings are at the bottom. Upon those, barely visible in the gap, are the new base isolators. Above them, the transfer girder with post-tension cables. These cables run through the steel pipe beams (not visible here), upon which the historic temple rests.

The underground structure south of the temple takes shape.

A large chunk of steel, most likely no longer needed to support some part of the historic temple, sits ready to be taken away.

Filling in the gap west of the temple with more underground space. This area will be home to security offices, utility rooms, and space for temple workers. Soon our view of the new foundations will be permanently obscured.

The structure for the north sealing annex starts to take shape. The annex will be structurally part of the historic temple and included in the base isolated portion.

Light gauge steel framing in the north temple wing. An arched door opening can be seen.

Completed temple spires soak up the sunshine.

Northwest patron entry pavilion. Intricate steel framework on which stone veneer will be affixed.

Work is seemingly endless on the historic temple foundation. Small concrete pads have been poured adjacent to the historic stone.
In the foreground, the structure is reaching ground level.

Scaffolding on the temple's north wall comes down in preparation for building the north sealing annex.

Heavy rebar is placed on the face of the west transfer girder. This rebar will reinforce the surface layer of concrete placed over the tension cable caps.

These windows with HVAC units will be part of the north sealing annex. New concrete slabs extend from the base of several of these openings. The floor inside the new temple will seamlessly transition to the new floor of the sealing addition. (Obviously, the temporary air units will be removed as well.)

North sealing wing formwork, including foam shapes to form the ground-level arched window openings.

Moat lids installed! It's difficult to see, but below and to the right of the white arched foam blocks are the white steel moat lids. These cover the "crush zone" space between the isolated temple and the surrounding stationary structure. These large steel pans are attached with a hinge on the historic temple side, and free to slide horizontally on the other side. They are filled with snowmelt tubing, concrete, and will be topped with paver stones. In a video published by the church, a worker said the only evidence of a seismic joint will be a thin stainless steel seam between pavers.

The dark gap shows the base isolated historic temple (left) and the new north addition (right).

Though obscured by wood railings, the white steel lid is seen here. The left edge of the lid rests on a small concrete lip cast into the wall below. The right edge, which may need to move 5 feet in any direction in an earthquake as the temple moves, may slide up the small angled steel ramp visible to the right.

Another angle of the moat lid and steel ramp. This moat will surround the temple on all sides.

A better view of the angled edge of the moat lid. As the temple moves to the left, the lid can follow and continue to rest on the concrete beneath. It looks like there are white friction-reducing strips installed beneath the lid along this strip of concrete. As the temple moves to the right, the lid will slide up the small ramp and rest on the concrete and pavers beyond.

The temple's monument sign has been installed on the south side of the temple.

At work, I helped design some of the steel stairs for the temple. This was one I got to help with. This stair services some mechanical areas of the temple.

Ground-level deck slab west of the temple. To the right you can see the outer moat wall running along the south side of the temple.

Sealing annex rebar.

The moat lids near the north sealing annex have been filled with concrete.

To the left of the long outer southern moat wall, a long hallway runs along the temple right beneath ground level. I believe this is the way church leaders will access the temple.

Lightweight foam is used to reduce soil pressure on the structure. This foam is much more expensive than soil, but can be worth the cost when considering the savings from a more lean structure.

New wall, iron fencing, and small booth take shape near the southwest visitor pavilion.

In the southeast visitor pavilion I spied a new scale model of the temple including cutaways of the areas north of the temple.

North sealing annex arched window. Notice the vertical steel strips embedded in the concrete. Each piece of the stone veneer has clips attached, which are welded to these strips.

Northwest patron entrance pavilion stone is progressing nicely.

This is the top of the south wall. A concrete beam and piers are added at the top of the historic stone. There are also cables within the central pier which run down into the new foundations, making the wall work as one solid structure, rather than individually stacked stones.

Stones which were absent for years are returned and carefully reattached by workers.

Another worker at the west end of the north temple wall. Those things next to his right arm are rebar couplers. The ends of two reinforcing bars are placed in the coupler and several screws are clamped down, making them essentially one continuous bar.

Here's a decent look at the concrete bond beam running along the top of the north wall (behind the orange mesh). I'm guessing the vertical white strips are embeds or channels used to attach the stone.

These moat lids on the west side of the temple have orange snow melt tubing run throughout. These tubes run to a central heating unit, where some kind of fluid is heated and pumped through the tubes to melt snow.

The church has announced that an open house for the Salt Lake Temple will be held from April to October 2027! There's still so much work to do, and I can't wait to see it completed.

Salt Lake Temple, November '23 - July '24

Forming the transfer girders.

More foam negative blocks affixed to plywood formwork.

The church posted photos of hundreds of temple stones waiting to be reinstalled in the temple. I was able to track down the location and go take some pictures for myself. They sat in a parking lot next to a warehouse. I'm not sure if these stones were receiving any kind of treatment or if they're just here being stored.

I believe these stones belong atop the temple spires. The spheres, which look small from the ground, are enormous up-close - perhaps 4 feet in diameter.

Each stone is tagged with a description and QR code. This tag says "Tower Stones > East Center Tower > Upper Spire > ECT-3. 

Finished spires appear near the end of November, 2023.

Deep foundation work happening on the east side of the temple. The braces at the top of the photo form the east temple wall exterior transfer girder. I'd guess the excavation at the bottom of the photo reaches about 60 feet below ground level where I'm standing.

East temple wall transfer girder formwork. At the center of the photo, we see rebar connecting the interior and exterior transfer girders.

Iron fencing has replaced portions of the solid wall surrounding Temple Square.

The west patron entrance pavilion taking shape. The concrete structure is full of arches and steel embed plates.

Extensive reinforcing in the transfer girder running north of the temple's east wall. The rebar lengths vary with the irregular foundation stones.

The foundation of the Assembly Hall has been exposed and rebar placed. Shotcrete will be applied to fortify the foundation stones.

Footings move southward between the west temple wall and the tabernacle.

After months of constructing formwork, it is almost ready for concrete. Rolled up concrete blankets indicate concrete placement is imminent. Each of the 4 giant transfer girders will be poured monolithically, meaning they'll be one solid block with no joints.

Steel is going up on the west patron entrance pavilion.

Concrete walls rise to the east of the temple. These areas will contain space for temple workers.

First view of the west transfer girder with formwork removed. Through the holes visible here, thousands of steel tension cables will be threaded. These cables run through conduits which are placed laterally and longitudinally through the girder. Tension cables have already been run through several conduits - some are visible at the right end of the girder. These cables will be put under high tension, then grout will be pumped into the conduit to encase and protect the cables.

The blue-green machinery is a hydraulic ram for tensioning the cables. The cables are locked into the interior face of the girder, and the exterior ends are pulled in tension. This hydraulic ram grabs on to each of the dozens of cables running through each conduit and tensions them simultaneously. Steel wedges grip each cable to hold the tension.

More cables have been run through the long direction of the girder. Notice the reinforcing steel protruding from the girder near the conduit holes - after tensioning is complete, more rebar and concrete will be added to the face of the girder to conceal and protect the tension cables. This extra rebar was placed when the girder was poured to assure proper placement and alignment, then removed to allow space to work with the tension cables.

Framing mockup for the glass ceiling in the entry hallway. See the rendering produced by the church below.

Formwork for the east transfer girder is removed. Here you can see some of the negative foam blocks before they are removed.

Looking northwest at the north end of the east transfer girder.

You can see the large coils of tension cables at the center of the photos. A machine shoots cables one at a time through the conduits in the girder. The man on the blue lift cuts each cable when it's fully threaded through. A few dozen cables run through each hole.

Sensors have been placed at the center of each girder at the base isolator level. I assume care is taken to monitor all movement of the temple and the new foundation while installation progresses.

Cable placement and tensioning is nearly complete in the west transfer girder. At left, the concrete structure for the North temple wing has reached ground level. 

At the Structural Engineering Association of Utah's annual conference, I learned about the soil-structure interaction of the new temple. As the weight of the temple is transferred to the new foundations, close attention is paid to how much the temple is settling. All soil settles (compresses) under load, and it was impossible to know if the soil under the temple would settle evenly as the weight was placed on the new foundations.
In this photo, wrapped in protective plastic, is an array of hydraulic controls and gauges. You can see a bundle of hoses and cables leading down to each base isolator under the west transfer girder. Each isolator rests on a flat hydraulic jack which can be inflated or deflated individually. As the soil under the new foundations settles with added load, the isolators can be jacked up or down to keep the temple right where they want it to be.

The orange hoses and equipment seem to be some sort of vacuum system. Not sure exactly what it's for, but I imagine it may be used to create negative pressure in the tension cable conduit as they're filled with grout. Preventing trapped air as they pump grout in these conduits is critical for the cables to function correctly.

The gap in this wall will be the main entry into the historic temple from the North addition.

Cable placement progressing on the east transfer girder.

A new hole in the historic temple wall is shown at center.

Work on the grounds between the assembly hall and tabernacle is moving along.

After cables are tensioned, the excess is cut off and a cap is placed over the ends.

This worker creates a shower of sparks as he cuts off cable ends.

Rebar is being placed for the North transfer girder.

Walls and columns go up for the underground area south of the temple. This will be mainly mechanical space, with a large stormwater detention chamber.

More work on the grounds Southwest of the temple. This small seating area will be finished with crushed rock and sand, so the slab beneath has small pipes to allow drainage through the concrete.

Small tubes and valves extend from the top of each cable cap. Perhaps this is where grout will be pumped into the conduits.