© James Dow

(C)詹姆斯·陶氏

Text description provided by the architects. The Wong Dai Sin Temple is a modern sacred space that houses a dynamic Taoist community committed to their inner spiritual development through the ancient physical practice of tai chi. The Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism needed a new spiritual home in suburban Toronto that had to reflect not only the heart and soul of their religious beliefs but also the modern contemporary world of their congregants. This place of worship is located on a major suburban arterial road surrounded by a shopping mall and cul de sac’s lined with oversized single family residential mansions.

© James Dow

(C)詹姆斯·陶氏

This new temple building demonstrates asymmetry and counterbalance while maintaining its equilibrium much like a measured tai chi pose. The building’s south elevation is visible from the busy roadway to the south, reveals a major and minor cantilever supported on slender concrete piers. Stringent on-site parking requirements necessitated elevating the spiritual space above ground and providing surface parking below. This sacred space is supported on a two-way concrete slab integrated with seven rectangular poured in place structural concrete piers tied to a robust raft foundation.

© James Dow

(C)詹姆斯·陶氏

The two-way bonded post tensioned concrete slab system with its 10.2m cantilever on the west hovers over the parking area which acts as the structural support for the sacred space above. A smaller 5.2 m cantilever on the east side of the post tensioned structure accommodates an exterior terrace over the parking below and serves as a counter balance for the longer cantilever to the west. Exposed concrete is also used for the two cantilevered staircases, on the north east and south east, which along with an elevator, provides access to the second floor worship space.

© James Dow

(C)詹姆斯·陶氏