Cultural/Worship: Award of Merit: Meridian Idaho LDS Temple

Meridian Idaho LDS Temple
Meridian, Idaho
Award of Merit

Owner: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Lead Design Firm: The Richardson Design Partnership
General Contractor: Jacobsen Construction Co.
Mechanical/Electrical Engineer: Heath Engineering
MEP Engineer: Spectrum Engineers
Key Subcontractors: Beacon Metals; DeBest Plumbing & Mechanical; Global Stone Inc.; Hanson Structural Precast; Steel Encounters; Tri-State Electric Inc.

The Meridian Idaho Temple will serve more than 60,000 LDS church members in the greater Boise area as well as members from eastern Oregon. The project was comprised of four different components: the temple, a meetinghouse, a half-mile of new and upgraded road and a quarter mile of sewer line that extends beyond the project’s footprint. Each component required a separate bid package.

The temple is topped with an octagonal dome-like structure to support a gold-leafed statue of the angel Moroni. The dome cover has titanium shingles that provide color changes with variations of sunlight—reflective hues that shift from brown to gold to tan. The interior features marble quarried from Egypt, Italy and Spain.

Because this house of worship is intended to serve the community for hundreds of years, the temple’s design incorporates seismic standards above the code requirements, including an exterior cladding made of precast concrete. The cladding is connected to the steel frame so that it discharges energy through a rocking motion and acts like a buffer in the event of an earthquake.

Additionally, the site and landscaping included a gravity irrigation system, since the land had been farmland and came with pre-existing irrigation water rights. Two large ponds were incorporated into the landscape design, along with a well, allowing for lush landscaping of 16 acres—all irrigated without the need to use city water.