The construction of this three-story, 68,000-sq-ft temple serves as a prototype for new temples built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it included an owner challenge to the project team to reduce costs and schedule by 20%. The temple design is classical architecture patterned after surrounding buildings in Pocatello and includes a stone exterior cladding.

The owner supported an integrated design approach that brought all trades involved on board during the design phase. These specialty firms provided insight and reviewed the design for constructibility, creating their own BIM models to help coordinate work across disciplines prior to construction. This integration helped ensure installed elements met design intent, including the installation of historic art glass that was repurposed with a new backlit design that required coordination between the owner, builder, architect, electrical engineer and the stained-glass restorer.

The exterior stone procurement and envelope was a key concern for the owner, so the team set up weekly meetings to review stone shop drawings and speed up the review process. Once the stone was delivered on site, the project team implemented a plan to ensure the high-performance building envelope would not be subject to any penetration by weather elements. This included a checklist for each component of the system assembly including exterior framing, sheathing, air barrier, insulation, the window install and stone installation. Each was checked and verified by a dedicated exterior envelope superintendent.

Photo courtesy Okland Construction

The high-performance envelope includes a continuous fluid-applied air and water barrier that transitions and seals to the roof assembly, along with continuous exterior insulation made up of 4-in. mineral wool and a new stone attachment system to support the stone cladding. The air/water barrier and continuous insulation were installed up and over parapets and tied into the roof system to provide a continuous high-performance envelopment on all exterior walls and roof. All penetrations were water tested, and any failures were repaired and retested prior to application of the stone cladding.