"Falling backward" into progress -- that is how lead architect Siamak Hariri sums up the process experienced over the past four years by the team designing the Baha'i House of Worship to be built in Santiago, Chile.

"We were traversing uncharted waters. We sometimes did not know how problems would be solved, but we are just so confident that they will be," he said on June 16 at a fundraising event for the Temple in Chile at the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette.

Time has validated that trust to the extent that all team members, Bahá'í or not, are working in a spirit of unity and sacrifice to turn the vision of a Temple of Light into reality, Hariri told more than 300 people gathered in Foundation Hall.

And the trust was shared, as evidenced by more than $50,000 in pledges and contributions the Office of the Treasurer estimates was raised.

Invited by the National Spiritual Assembly to speak to the gathering, Hariri -- whose firm is based in Toronto, Canada -- shared a few insights into the evolution of the Chilean Temple's design.

By now the model is familiar to the Bahá'í world: a near-globe composed of nine translucent "wings" of alabaster and glass, supported by a steel latticework, with inside seating at the base and on a ring-shaped mezzanine.

In a talk copiously illustrated by computerized sketches and renderings, Hariri spoke about stages through which that design has progressed since 2003:

• A general idea of a "Temple of Light" that admits natural luminescence into the inside during the day, and in turn glows outwardly at night.
• Study of seemingly unconnected man-made and natural forms -- such as original architectural sketches for the Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette, forest canopies, artworks including a painting by Bahá'í artist Mark Tobey, and more.
• A series of explorations and consultations leading to use of a computer animation program to shape the original model, characterized by "an asymmetry that's perfectly symmetrical," Hariri said.
• Computer-aided refining of a myriad components to simplify construction of the perpetually curved building -- partly by vastly reducing the number of curved parts to go into the assembly.
• Construction of a one-sixth-scale model (by Soheil Mosun Ltd.) of a framework of one of the nine wings, which demonstrated the computer model for construction of the framework was "100 percent accurate."
  Even the current stage, construction of the first 100-foot wing inside a Toronto studio, has been a learning process, Hariri said.

So far, the computer model has accurately guided every construction process the design team has observed, from creating specifications for the building's steel skeleton, to shaping molds for glass and bronze elements -- even to robotic carving of alabaster blocks into the precise shapes that a stable building demands.

"We are going to test how the steel comes together on the first wing," Hariri said. "If it comes together, then we will build the other wings."

Still, for all the high-tech processes involved, he said, "I really love the fact that all these materials we're using are primitive materials: oak, cast bronze, cast glass, alabaster."

In Chile, he added, the process of getting governmental approval continues to advance. Plans have been drawn up for placement of the Temple, curved gardens, a reflecting pool and a visitors center on a specific piece of land.

If all processes go smoothly, the huge wings being built in Toronto could be shipped to Santiago, and the Temple assembled on its final site, in as little as three years from now, Hariri said.

The Bahá'í House of Worship in Wilmette is a highly emotional place to talk about this process, the architect noted.

After all, "I love this Temple," he said, so the inspiration for any "sister Temple ... will have to start with this Temple."