Siamak Hariri and Mark Tobey
Two lovers of light

The Canadian architect Siamak Hariri, who designed the new Baha'i House of Worship in Santiago, Chile, studied in Geneva, and in August 2008 he visited his old friends Luigi and Vida Stendardo. I was invited over as it also happened to be my birthday. During the evening, Siamak spent some time showing us on his computer how he had conceived of a translucent "temple of light" and the engineering challenges of turning his design into reality.


Luigi and Vida Stendardo, Siamak Hariri, Arthur Dahl . Arthur Dahl, Siamak Hariri . learning about the temple design
Luigi, Siamak, Vida, me; me with Siamak; learning about the design of the temple in Chile

discussing the design of the temple . discussing the design of the temple . discussing the design of the temple

The big surprise for me was when Siamak said that his source of inspiration for the concept of a temple of light was a painting by Mark Tobey, and when he showed it on his computer, I saw it was "Lovers of Light" (1960) which is in my own collection. Vida was filming as this happened, and captured it all on video.


the Tobey painting that inspired the design . the Tobey painting that inspired the design . the Tobey painting that inspired the design
Discovering the painting by Mark Tobey that inspired the design of the temple

Lovers of Light - Mark Tobey 1960
Mark Tobey "Lovers of Light" (1960)
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Last updated 11 August 2016

Photographs copyright © Arthur Lyon Dahl 2016