LDS Conference Center

The LDS Conference Center, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, is the premier meeting hall for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church, popularly known as the "Mormons"), and one of the largest theater-style buildings in the world. Completed in spring 2000 in time for the Church's twice-yearly General Conferences, the 21,000 seat Conference Center replaced the traditional use of the nearby Salt Lake Tabernacle, built in 1868, for LDS General Conferences and major church gatherings, devotionals, and other events. The most notable function of the Conference Center is hosting the semi-annual LDS General Conference from which the center gets its name.

Features

The 1.4 million square foot (130,000 m²) Conference Center seats 21,200 people in its main auditorium. This includes the rostrum behind the pulpit facing the audience, which provides seating for 158 General Authorities and the 352-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir during General Conference. All seats in the audience have an unobstructed view of the pulpit because the balcony is held up by radial trusses. This construction method allows the balcony to sink a full 6 inches under full capacity. Behind the podium is a 7,667 pipe and 125 rank pipe organ. There is also a side theater that seats 905 people that can be used as a dedicated theater or as an overflow room during conferences. Underground is a parking garage that can hold 1,400 cars. A Modernist, three-story chandelier hangs in a skylight in the interior of the building.

External walls of the Conference Center are clad in precisely-cut granite. A 92 foot (28 m) glass-centered spire denotes the religious purpose of the building. No spire existed in the original plans, but it was added at the insistence of the church's First Presidency. A 67-foot stepped waterfall descends from the spire. The waterfall utilizes water from a natural spring found underneath the building during construction. City Creek flows in a rough-hewn riverbed, complementing the Conference Center.

Because the building sits near the base of Salt Lake City's Capitol Hill, the roof is landscaped for attractiveness. About 3 acres (12,000 m²) of grass and hundreds of trees dot the roof. 21 native grasses were employed to conserve water and showcase local foliage. The landscaping is meant to echo the mountains and meadows of Utah.

While essentially Modernist in architecture, the Conference Center has a distinctly Pre-Columbian appearance. This reflects both the church's increasingly Latin American composition--from the mid-1990s onward, the majority of the church's membership has been from countries outside the United States, dominated by Mexico, Central America, and South America--and the now-prevalent belief that the events of the Book of Mormon took place in Central America.

Planning and construction

Designs for the Conference Center were solicited from LDS Church architect Leland Gray in the early 1990s, apparently at Gordon B. Hinckley's request. Hinckley was then a counselor in the First Presidency, but has been president of the LDS Church since 1995. The LDS Church originally sought a 26,000-seat building no more than 75 feet (23 m) high in accord with zoning regulations for the LDS Church-owned 10 acre (40,000 m²) block immediately north of Temple Square. Hinckley publicly announced the project in the April 1996 LDS General Conference. The final plans, completed in late 1996, featured 21,200 seats in the main hall with 905 in a side theater.

Contracting for the building was done by three Salt Lake City firms: Jacobsen, Layton, and Okland construction companies which submitted a joint bid in order to compete with national firms. The companies jointly operated under the name "Legacy Constructors" after winning the contract in late 1996.

Demolition of existing LDS Church properties on the site began May 1997. Deseret Gym—a YMCA-like LDS gymnasium—and a Mormon Handicraft store had to be razed for the project.

Ground was broken July 24, 1997. This date coincided with the 150th anniversary of Mormon Pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley, an event celebrated in Utah as Pioneer Day.

Little Cottonwood Canyon controversy

Although the conference center is a modern steel truss and rebar-based design without need for masonry support, the LDS Church sought slabs of granite to clad all exterior walls. Specifically, the Church wanted granite to match rock quarried one hundred years earlier to build the nearby Salt Lake Temple. Therefore, the LDS Church requested a permit to quarry granite from Little Cottonwood Canyon southeast of Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake County Commission granted a two-year permit on condition that extraction not interfere with ski season. However, the granite quarry became the most controversial aspect of construction. Critics argued that the quarry harmed the environment and burdened residents while endangering drivers through Little Cottonwood Canyon below.

Quarrying began May 28, 1998. Although several court filings challenged the legality of extracting the granite (specifically attacking Salt Lake County's questionable authority to issue permit), the project was interrupted only by winter. The LDS Church finished quarrying by November 1999. Over 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) of granite was extracted, mostly in 1.5 inch (38 mm) panels.

Completion

The exceptionally unusual Salt Lake City Tornado hindered construction on August 11, 1999. Construction cranes toppled at the work site, and four injuries to crew were reported. Otherwise, construction proceeded smoothly and rapidly.

Construction work finished in time for the 170th Annual LDS General Conference on April 1st and 2nd. The pipe organ was not operational, so the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was accompanied by a synthesized organ amplified through the Center's speaker system. Hinckley remarked in his opening address that over 370,000 people had inquired about tickets for the inaugural General Conference. Hinckley also related that a Black Walnut tree that he had planted decades earlier in his backyard provided wood for the pulpit of the new center.

The Conference Center was dedicated six months later on October 8 during the 170th Semiannual General Conference. Dedication was followed by a "Hosanna Shout"—a show of gratitude that dates to the early days of the Latter Day Saint movement. The Shout involves participants waving a white handkerchief while repeating "Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna, to God and the Lamb" three times. Before public broadcast of the Hosanna Shout, some assumed it was specifically related to LDS temple ordinances, which are inaccessible to outsiders. Until that time, LDS temple dedications employed the Hosanna Shout almost exclusively. The Conference Center dedication demonstrated that Hosanna Shouts are not considered secret nor necessarily temple-related to LDS leadership.

Total cost of the building, although not publicly released, has been reported between $160 and $240 million dollars.

Reference

Halverson, W. Dee (2000). The LDS Conference Center. Salt Lake City: DMT Publishing. ISBN 0-9705023-0-3.

External links

Buildings and structures in Salt Lake City | General Conferences of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Significant places in Mormonism