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.