WALLS ARE ABOUT TO BE SET IN PLACE!
More than likely, you may not have noticed the temple walls if you have driven by the Radha Krishna Temple construction site in Allen, TX. However, they are there – just lying down! Most importantly, very soon they will finally be lifted into place!
To better appreciate the work that went in to build the walls, we’d like to share a bit about how they were built. The construction of exterior temple walls consist mainly of thick concrete panels that have been made right on site. The walls are a little over 7” thick and the smallest one weighs in at nearly 15,000 lbs. The steel reinforcing alone in each panel weighs thousands of pounds.
Before wall construction could begin, large concrete casting beds had to be built since the wall panel themselves are over 36 feet in length. Then the concrete workers built out wooden forms, giving shape to the walls and their window and door openings on top of the casting beds.
A great deal of engineering work went into the panel design and a lot of accuracy into the execution to achieve proper location and sizing of openings and placement of steel reinforcement.
Dozens of concrete trucks brought in concrete that was pumped and poured into the forms. Once the concrete dried and hardened, we have had to patiently wait for some time for the panels to cure to sufficient strength to be safely lifted and set in place without breakage.
This will be an exciting month for the temple construction as we finally see the walls set in place and the basic structure of the temple really begins to take shape.