Alain de Botton discusses of how architecture influences happiness. Take a look at the recent remodeled Ogden temple. It looks like an overgrown Ivory track house pretending to be something it's not.

Too bad Mormons build temples and churches that look
phony....kind of like the religion itself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLM5NnU8VHY

The Ogden Temple looks like a Klan Hood on a Nazi Mausoleum

then there is the over grown fair barn MORmON meeting house sitting in the middle of Provo that has been turned into a MORmON secret handshake palace. The other temple in provo, LDS Inc's warehouse bulk discount temple, is an identical copy of the ogden lunar landing module style of temple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WA1c7vYLSs

My favs are the shoebox style of the London, New Zealand, and Swiss temples. Cost was probably a factor in their lack of design.

My next fav is the pup tent style of Boise, Chicago, and wherever else this monstrosity appears.

And yes, the Provo temple style of a wedding cake with a carrot stuck in it was quite unusual. Why did they paint the carrot white?

As to the "Ward houses" the early 1980s functional box with no windows and burlap on the walls was quite disgusting. Ironically, Gordo "the Salamander" Hinckly had his SLC Ward house rebuilt with some uniqueness and charm kept intact.

By far, the worst architectural disaster for the Morg was Logan temple rebuilding debacle. My former boss was a Logan stake prez who used to say that members complained too much about how the pioneer handcraft beauty had been replaced by faux chic. Dammit, they were supposed to be there doing the Lord's work, not studying architecture. The Boner.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2016 12:43AM by byuboner.

AS a licensed architectural critic myself, I would say that the present problem with momo chapels is not so much the interiors (they are boring but adequate) but the exteriors. first the roofs are proportionally way too big visually for them to ever be attractive (it's a sea of shingles on top of 9 feet of bricks). Second the steeples are way to tall and way too ornate, it draws too much attention to the big box of bricks.

But if the steeples are too big, the temples have it even worse. the towers on these new temples are monstrously overdone. They are way too tall for the surrounding skyline in most areas. Buildings like these are appropriate in big cities with sky scrapers, but not suburban neighborhoods or small towns. Also Temples are suppose to be made of stone, not composite styrophome tile or whatever it is they are now using. They are suppose to be made by locals with local materials. Not by raiding columbian rainforests and making S. American Indians do all the work?

Speaking of steeples, a few years ago, all the Morg chapels in my part of the Morridor had steeples placed on top of the buildings. Our drab ward house originally had three different size poles sticking up out of the ground. Architecturally, it look a lot better because it broke up the sea of tiles you so well described. Apparently, someone in SLC decided they all needed roof steeples.

And, someone must have decided that all the temples needed the standard Truman Angel Moroni statue on top of them. A lot of times (Idaho Fall, for example) the statue is too small for the building.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2016 02:14PM by byuboner.

I find the Ogden temple more resembles a shrine of some sort. Saw lots of shrines and Shinto temples when touring Japan. They're everywhere.

It is a historical landmark, but other than this I don't feel much affinity for the Ogden temple other than it was Ogden my gggrandfather was deployed to by Brigham Young when he moved to Utah from Wales, to become its first full fledged tailor.

He built quite a thriving business there, that stretched north and south along the railroad lines where his fine men's clothing was in high demand between Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Nevada. He had up to 20 employees at his peak. I learned he left the church later in life, but remained an Ogdenite for life.

http://ldsmediatalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Ogden-temple-open-house-brent-borup-600x300.jpg



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2016 12:41PM by Amyjo.