The Temple of Light was recently featured in Architectural Record in an article about acoustics:
If acoustic tranquility is welcome even in the new, more dynamic breed of library, it is a necessity in the Temple of Light, a sanctuary and meeting place for the Yasodhara Ashram, a yoga retreat and study center in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia. The new temple, designed by Vancouver-based Patkau Architects and completed this summer, replaces an earlier one destroyed by fire.
The temple responds to the collective memory of the original space (which comprised eight rotationally symmetric bays, like its replacement). But it also takes cues from the spectacular clifftop site, with its views of Kootenay Lake and the surrounding forest, and from the lotus flower, an important symbol in the yogic tradition, says Luke Stern, manager of design research at Patkau.
Constructed of prefabricated wood panels’ acting in concert with glulam arches and shear wall elements, creating an integral shell, the temple is the focal point of the spiritual life of the ashram. The form of the primary volume, pinwheel in plan, is made up of eight interlocking petals, curvilinear yet built of straight members, and radiating from a central oculus.