Buddhist Temple – NAIOP Award Winner

NAIOP Award Winner

Suntorn Watohong Thai Temple is a community Thai Buddhist Temple that serves local practitioners of this faith. For over 20 years, the head of the temple saved donations to be able to construct their dream of having a new temple to practice their faith in at their property. Nestled off of Central avenue, it was important that this new temple be functional, not overbearing to the neighborhood surrounding it and respectful of their religion.

An existing abandoned building behind their main building was razed and all new utilities were brought in prior to the construction of the new temple. Careful coordination with city facilities were maintained so that traffic to the neighborhood was maintained and no residence were affected. New electrical, gas and water service were installed to ensure that current codes and regulations adhered to.

Since there was an obvious budget to maintain due to the fundraising done by the temple, several rounds of value engineering were gone through with the architect, general contractor and client so that their needs and vision could be met while making sure that finishes did exceed their limit. This was done successfully with close and careful collaboration over several months prior to construction even taking place.

A more prominent feature of the building is the large statue of Buddha sitting above the entry way, greeting all who enter the temple. Coordination of this special-order piece with construction crews and the timely installation was key. Due to the very small constraints of the property, proximity to the existing building and neighborhood, weekly and sometimes daily coordination meetings were held with the team to ensure that different trades had sufficient areas to perform their work.