A “sense of the sacred” is definitely beginning to emerge as renovation or “renewal” work on the Salt Lake Temple and the grounds at Temple Square continues drawing closer to the end of its construction phase, Georges Bonnet — the temple’s renovation project manager — told the Deseret News following a lecture he recently gave.
The Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first closed at the end of 2019 for an extensive, multiyear renovation project announced by then-church President Russell M. Nelson. In the more than six years since the project began, a series of additions and seismic reinforcements have strengthened and renewed the historic temple, preparing it to last into the millennium, as declared by the late prophet.
Speaking to a crowd of students, faculty and other attendees at a recent lecture on the BYU campus, Bonnet outlined the scope of the temple’s renovation and seismic upgrades as well as other additions to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.
“By the end of this year,” he said, “we shall be finished with the construction phase of the project, and we do want to present unto the Lord an offering worthy of his acceptation.”
Seismic upgrades strengthen the temple to ‘last into the millennium’
The Salt Lake Temple renovation project is the “most complex project the church has ever undertaken,” Bonnet told the lecture’s attendees. Its grandness and scale are “without precedent,” he said as he began describing the lengths to which workers have gone to seismically reinforce the temple.
At the start of the project, workers exposed the temple’s original stone foundation to strengthen it, Bonnet said. This process included drilling small holes into the foundation, filling them and any gaps with high-strength grout, and then adding tensioned steel rods to bind the temple’s old stone foundation together.
A platform of concrete cylinders and transfer beams reinforced by steel cables was then created to support the entire weight of the temple. Ninety-eight base isolators were later installed between this platform (called the upper foundation) and a lower foundation.
The base isolators — measuring about 7 square feet each — are mechanical devices engineered to carry more than 8 million pounds each, isolate the temple above from the earth’s movement during a seismic event and give the grounds space to move 5 feet in any horizontal direction during an earthquake.
Workers’ seismic reinforcements didn’t stop at the foundation, however. They traveled through the temple’s structure, too.
“We took absolutely no risk whatsoever,” Bonnet said, describing how workers reinforced the temple structurally so that if it moves during an earthquake, it will move as one consolidated piece.
The process to consolidate the temple’s structure included installing steel trusses to strengthen the temple’s roof and towers, running more than 262 miles of posttensioning steel cables through drilled holes in the temple’s walls and anchoring those cables to the temple’s new layered foundation.
Of the project, Bonnet said it is a “labor of love” and a “beautiful blend of art, science and technology” that will enable the renewal of the Salt Lake Temple and strengthen the structure to “last into the millennium, as taught by President Nelson.”
This project, Bonnet added, “will point us to the Savior like all temples do.”
Temple additions honor early pioneers, represent an offering unto God
With great sensitivity toward the temple’s legacy, Bonnet acknowledged the work of early pioneers who originally constructed the temple for generations to come.
He and the workers are “very much aware of the fact that (the temple) took 40 years to build” and that its construction came at the cost of much sacrifice. This awareness has caused every part of the temple’s renovation project, spanning from the temple’s seismic reinforcements to its remodeling and additions, to revolve around a clear mission.
The mission statement for the project has been: “Inspired by a sense of the sacred, and in the strength of the Lord, we will renew the Salt Lake Temple as an offering unto the Lord worthy of his acceptation,” Bonnet said.
What will the renovated Salt Lake Temple look like?
Bonnet then outlined parts of the temple’s north extension, reviewed the state of some of the renovation work inside the historic temple and listed some of the additions to be seen on the grounds at Temple Square.
The temple’s extension, located underground in the area directly north of the temple, consists of three lower levels — each about the size of a football field. “If you wish to serve in the temple, get in shape,” Bonnet jokingly added.
The north extension, accessed through the temple’s two main entrance buildings, will help increase the temple’s capacity by adding 300,000 square feet of additional temple space. The extension’s three floors will include the following features, according to Bonnet’s presentation:
- On lower level one (the highest from the top), temple patrons will be able to find the recommend desk, the temple’s administration offices, the clothing issue area, the brothers’ and sisters’ dressing rooms, the patron chapel, the sealing and marriage waiting areas, and the bridal suite. Skylights will also be seen near the recommend desk, allowing temple patrons to see the temple from the north extension’s first lower level.
- The second lower level will host the east and west baptistries, areas for the initiatory ordinance and a combination of small, medium and large sealing rooms — the large sealing rooms having a capacity to seat 90 people.
- The third lower level will largely serve as a “support floor” for the temple, hosting temple workers’ dressing and training rooms, the temple’s laundry room, and a break room.
Of the temple’s north extension, Bonnet said workers have done everything they can to retain the original aesthetic of the pioneer era, including using the Salt Lake Temple’s original oxen statues in the east baptistry. The north extension will be a “holy place and a sacred space,” he said.
Inside the historic structure of the temple, some rooms, such as the assembly room, are finished, while others, such as the celestial room, are nearing completion. Combined with the five sealing rooms in the sealing wing and the 12 others found inside the temple’s north extension, the Salt Lake Temple will have 22 sealing rooms, Bonnet explained.
A new Visitors’ Center will operate just south of the temple. Made of two aboveground buildings that will be connected underground, it will feature statues of Christ and temple display rooms that will serve as a type of permanent open house.
The display rooms, which will include a baptistry, instruction and celestial rooms, will help others understand what goes on inside Latter-day Saint temples and why.
Also displayed throughout Temple Square will be 14 statues focused on Christ and his mission and key events in the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Six statues will be located near the Tabernacle west of the temple, two will stand north of the temple, five will stand south of it and a final one will stand north of the reflection pool at Temple Square.
Speaking with the Deseret News, Bonnet said that even when the temple has yet to be rededicated, the spirit and legacy of the temple as a house of the Lord are undeniable.
It is God’s house and “you cannot ignore it,” he said. “You feel it, you remember it. As you look at the stone carvings, the finish work, the details, it touches your heart.”
Spiritual lessons from the temple’s foundation
The Salt Lake Temple’s physical foundation and structural reinforcements teach several lessons about how individuals may strengthen their spiritual lives and foundations, Bonnet told the Deseret News.
One example lies in the initial work renovation crews did to expose the temple’s original foundation and examine its condition. “Do I like what I see?” Bonnet said he regularly asks himself when examining his own spiritual foundation. If the answer is no, he considers the spiritual grout he could inject to strengthen his existing foundation.
Other examples include the temple’s transfer girders and base isolators. Transfer girders shift the load of the temple to its new seismically designed foundation. These could prompt individuals to consider how and to whom they can transfer their “heavy burdens and loads.”
Base isolators decouple the temple structure from the ground, allowing it to move flexibly in the event of an earthquake while still absorbing much of the earthquake’s impact. The work of base isolators could prompt individuals to consider how they spiritually isolate themselves from the cares of the world and find stability in the Savior.
It’s hard not to think of a base isolator’s “core as the atonement of Jesus Christ,” Bonnet said. “We all face tribulations and trials. (But) who brings us back to an at-rest position? (Christ) does. He certainly can.”
Plenty more spiritual parallels exist, according to Bonnet. To follow the temple’s progress and learn what’s currently open at Temple Square, individuals can visit TempleSquare.org or the square’s Facebook and Instagram pages.