Talk:BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Toronto

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I have taken out the section that read "The new temple has already drawn some criticism for its large pricetag of $40,000,000." The line cited this blogger's site as a reference: http://www.bloggernews.net/18822

The blogger's views appear to be one person's opinion and not reflective of even a minority opinion. There are critics for everything. This person feels that the $40 million should have been spent on the homeless but that is his opinion. There have been no reports in the Canadian media from reputable sources that suggest the blogger's views are reflective of a significant number of people. In addition I am unsure of the blogger's credibility as he seems to confuse Hindu practices with those of Muslims and Jews by claiming they don't eat pork; --From the blog-- "The vast majority of the price tag was footed by the Hindu population, so I really can not blame the government for sponsoring some ‘Pork’ endeavor. But ‘Pork’ this is! The Hindu’s do not eat pork, but they certainly are supporting it." 70.55.229.169 11:41, 26 July 2007 (UTC)



I agree with the above, the bloggers views appear to be very much one person's opinion. Is there a more known source that can cite the criticism?74.108.23.211 10:27, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks but we must be careful not to discount criticism or opinion altogether. Is there a fair compromise or suggestion? I mean if the CBC or CTV or Toronto Star reported that many members of the community (Hindu or otherwise) objected to the cost, that would be one thing. This one blogger just thinks that $40 million should have been spent on the homeless, not a bad suggestion but then I ask why build anything until people are fed? See that is a debate and differing opinions, not encyclopedic reporting. 70.55.229.169 11:40, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Plus, visitors to the temple do make donations that will be used for various charitable causes. The group behind this temple is well-known for their successfull charitable organizations.

Perhaps, you would like forego going to your hockey and baseball and NBA games for a year, and instead donate the money thus saved to the homeless. It would be a nice start. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.227.171.33 (talk) 01:09, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

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News Archive

 * Thousands drawn to temple's dazzle, July 23, 2007, Accessed on 20 Aug 2017, Toronto Star


 * [A Hindu Temple in Toronto http://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/features/a-hindu-temple-in-toronto/], Canadian consulting engineer.

" The stone temple was constructed for a cost of $40 million, with no public funding. The upper floor is a prayer hall, an ornate circular space of columns and domes, surrounded by niches that hold Hindu deities and BAPS dignitaries. The lower level holds the Indo-Canadian Museum of Cultural Heritage.

The Toronto mandir is similar to other BAPS temples built recently in London, U.K., Nairobi, Kenya and Chicago. BAPS stands for Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Puroshottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, a “socio-spiritual” Hindu organization established 100 years ago.

The architects and structural engineer describe their work on this unique project.– BP

SHRI SWAMINARAYAN MANDIR, TORONTO

We were instructed by His Holiness, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, leader of the BAPS organization, that the mandir must be designed as a typical Hindu temple based on the traditional design and construction of a “Sompura” carried out 500 years ago in India.

This method of construction means no structural or reinforcing steel can be used. The idea is to avoid having a magnetic field. When you enter this prayer hall, since there is no magnetic field, it is easy to concentrate for meditation.

After studying the existing temples in India and their construction methods, we found out that the stone slabs could only span 8 feet. All the column spacing had to be designed to 8-feet centre-to-centre. The slabs quarried were 3″ to 4″ thick and uneven.

The stone not only had to withstand the Toronto freeze-thaw cycle, but also had to meet the aesthetic needs and be cost effective. George Papadopoulos and a BAPS engineer visited various countries including Turkey, Italy and Greece to find the right stone. They visited strip quarries, climbing mountains in sweltering temperatures of 40C some days, and finally selected stone from Turkey.

In November 2005, the stone was shipped from Turkey to several workshops in India for precision cutting, dressing and carving. Over 2,000 stone carvers were engaged in the state of Rajasthan for the project.

From India, the carved stone — all 24,000 pieces — was shipped back to Toronto in 300 containers for assembly. Each stone piece was fully bar coded to ensure that the pieces could be assembled on site without the construction team having to solve a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Over 100 craftsmen were brought to Toronto from India to construct the temple. They had to be trained to think in the Canadian way. Several local trades were also used.

The temple was completed in 18 working months. As the stonework could not be carried on in sub-zero temperatures, the construction site was completely closed during the winter months of 2005 and 2006.

Meeting old traditions and new codes

At every turn, we had to invent a way of constructing something that respected the traditional construction but was compatible with Canadian building codes and technology today. We also had the formidable task of ensuring that the treasured delicate carvings inside remain safe and dry. And since this stone building is supposed to last more than 1000 years, we had to ensure that all the systems could be replaced when necessary in the future.

The outside walls, for example, had to meet the Ontario Building Code R-value. The stone was dressed only in the front, while the rear part was very rough and posed many problems regarding keeping the air space and providing insulation and waterproofing.

A service floor was provided under the entire building, and all the consultants had to find a way to bring their services such as heating and ventilating ducts into the main upper levels. To do this, small shafts were threaded through the exterior walls. Inside the prayer hall, the lighting conduits had to be hidden out of sight behind the carvings, and a hydronic heating system was provided under the marble floor.

Stone slab on beam

The temple structure is an ancient conventional system of stone slabs supported on stone beams. The stone beams are supported on corbels mounted on stone columns.

The exterior walls consist of stone cladding on the outside of load bearing concrete block wall. These two elements are thermally separated with insulation and a vapour barrier. The two wythes are tied together with stainless steel ties.

The exterior limestone from Turkey had an ultimate compressive strength of 71 MPa. The sandstone used for the slabs, beams, corbels and columns in the lower level was from India and had an ultimate compressive strength of 109 MPa.

The upper floor structure, including the interior and roof domes was finished with Carrera marble from Italy. It has an ultimate compressive strength of 130 MPa.

A very high structural safety design factor of four was used — more that twice the standard requirement. All drawings were prepared on CAD. Shop drawings for every stone piece were also prepared on CAD at 1:1 scale to ensure precision carving and assembly.

Designing and constructing the roof was a special challenge. The use of false work to support the centre dome, which is 24 feet in diameter, 15 feet high and weighs 205 tons, was phenomenal. Carrera marble pieces on the dome’s interior face were assembled over the false work, connected to each other with copper clamps and grouted. Then 4″-6″ of concrete was poured over the dome and then another layer of standard brick was laid over the dome to obtain the required shape. The brick layer was waterproofed and insulated with membrane and rigid insulation. Last, finely carved limestone pieces were placed together as the outer shell.

The building foundation is a 1-metre thick flyash concrete raft that was laid in a single pour without any steel rebars.

A gantry girder spanning 130 feet across, 400 feet long and 75 feet high, large enough to encompass the entire temple building, was used to lift and place the carved stones in position.

Owner: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

Structural engineer: Dave Arora, P.Eng., Delta Engineering Services, Markham, Ont.

Architect: Papadopoulos and Pradhan Architects, Toronto (Arun Pradhan, George Papadopoulos)

Project manager: Naren Sachdev, BAPS Development

General contractor: BAPS

Mechanical: Nitsch & Associates

Electrical: Neil Patel Engineering

Other key players: Davroc Testing Laboratories (stone testing), Dr. Mehta, University of Californa at Berkeley (concrete consultation)

"

Source: [A Hindu Temple in Toronto http://www.canadianconsultingengineer.com/features/a-hindu-temple-in-toronto/], Canadian consulting engineer.


 * Use facts about the construction of the Temple from here to add to main article.

mrigthrishna (talk) 03:33, 21 August 2017 (UTC)