1) Overhead perspective of First Lift

This shot from the mobile platform was taken about 30 feet in the air. The job is about one-third complete. In the foreground is the finished concrete. Because of extra water present in the first aggregates from the batch plant, there was unexpected bleeding of water in this area. Normally fly ash concrete does not bleed water at all. Trucks entered from the north end of the forms into the two sides, so that two trucks could place concrete at once. The trucks came at the rate of about five an hour. On the near right Bill operates the power screed which is pulled along two cables attached to the north end of the forms. On the far left Garry of Steel Tech operates the second screed. Dr. Mehta and Dr. Langley are just to his left outside the forms. Toward the north end of the form, Tom, the local concrete tester, is taking slump tests, air tests and filling test cylinders. The already finished cylinders can be seen just above the concrete truck.

On the far left at the tent, monks and members of Saiva Siddhanta Church have gathered with international guests, including the 110-year-old Swami Bua of New York, to witness the placement. Above them can be seen Dennis Wong on his backhoe, with heavy-equipment operator George beside him, standing by to keep the road in repair and tend to emergencies. Trucks came in a half-mile road which is at left, and went out a second road to the right back to the main highway. They washed out their trucks along turnouts built on the exit road, so there was no extra water to mess up the main work area.

Directly off the north end of the form is the yagnasala, a small platform built for ceremonial fire worship, and behind it a four-foot wide Balinese gong which was struck seven times upon the arrival of each truck. The placement began with the traditional breaking of a coconut near the first truck, and the commencement of religious ceremonies in the yagnasala. All day until the last trucks, teams of priests and lay members tended the sacred fire, chanting mantrams and making offerings of grains to insure the success of the job. Earlier ceremonies were conducted for control of the rain, and by God's grace, there was no rain during either pour. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

2) Ceremonial Parade

About ten am on the August 21st, a ceremonial parade through the ashram grounds brought the guests and monks to the temple site to watch the work in progress. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

3) Ceremonial Parade Continues

The parade passes the area called "Bali Hai Falls" on the ashram grounds. Garden Island photographer Dennis Fujimoto gets a shot from behind an exotic palm tree. The entire ashram grounds is a botanical garden, with hundreds of varieties of haleconia, bromiliades, ti plants and palm trees, not to mention a large selection of fruit trees, an organic garden and a Jersey cow herd. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

4) Coconut Breaking

On August 28th, the second lift begins with the ceremonial breaking of a coconut. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

5) Fire Ceremony

The most ancient form of worship in Hinduism, yajna or homa, is of the sacred fire. Clarified butter (ghee) and food grains are offered to the fire while Sanskrit chants are recited. Dozens of devotees and monks participated in shifts in the worship throughout each day of concrete placement. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

6) Balinese Gong

This four-foot Balinese gong was struck seven times upon the arrival of each truck. It was a pleasant experience to the workers to be alerted to incoming trucks after a break. The gong is located under a banyan tree with which the temple is aligned in an almost due northerly direction. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

7) Cultural Performance

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyawami and Swami Bua sit at the left on the platform while Kauai's renowned singer, Larry Rivera, and hula dancer perform before the assembled guests. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

8) Guests of Honor

Markandeya Peruman, 91, the church's oldest member, with Grandma Nanaka, 100+, a respected elder fo the Kauai Buddhist community. Kauai's population is about 35% Buddhist, nearly all of Japanese origin. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

9) Gurudeva with Moon

Photographer Tim Delavega took advantage of unusual morning sky to take this wonderful shot of Gurudeva with the moon in the background. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

10) Satguru and Ceyonswami

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, guru and president of Saiva Siddhanta Church and Acharya Ceyonswami, the Church's head priest during the pour. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

11) Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. The work in progress can be seen in the reflection in his glasses. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

12) First truck of first lift

Bill, head mason of Steel Tech, directs placement of the first truck at the south end of the forms. The north end forms were removed for most of the job, and the trucks drove directly in. The power screed sits ready to the left. This truck was at a slump of about six inches, the attempt was to reach a range of four to six inches by the adjustment of superplasticizer, as the mix design had a minimum of water. In some of the subsequent trucks, the slump was so high that concrete flowed back to the truck tires. In short order, the Hale Kauai personnel got a feel for this strange concrete mix and got a more consistent slump. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

13) First Truck Arrives

Steeltech's crew unloads the first truck. It made a very small dent in the giant volume to be filled. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

14) Truck with too high slump

This truckload had a slump much too high, and the concrete can be seen running under the back wheels. It was also very difficult for the workers, who had to constantly extract their feet from two feet of concrete with each step. Slump adjustments prevented future loads like this. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

15) Close to end of first lift

Jeff Griffin of Steel Tech, the principal contractor for the Iraivan Temple foundation, mans the delivery chute of a Hale Kauai concrete delivery truck. This is the first life of two feet, close to the finish. The large power screeds are in th background. The slab was poured upon a compacted gravel bed three feet thick and about 20 feet wider and longer than the foundation. Continuous footings were dug for the form in this gravel and concrete placed in the foot deep trenches. One footing secured the main form boards, the outer footing the braces or "kickers." Up to this point the trucks had driven into the forms from the north side, now the end forms had been put back in place and the last concrete placed over them. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

16) Last concrete of the first lift

Also the end of the first lift. The guide beam for the power screed in just in front of the workers. The orange piece of equipment to the rear was a mobile platform capable of reaching the center of the slab from the side, in order to remove the guide beams and supports and the placement continued. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

17) Steel Tech Crew with Langley and Mehta

End of the day after the first lift. The Steel Tech crew assembles on the slab. Standing on the ground in front, from left to right, are Deva Rajan of Saiva Siddhanta Church (the temple's owners), Dr. W.S. Langley of Canada, a world's expert in concrete structure design, and Dr. Kumar Mehta of University of California, Berkeley, a world's expert in concrete mix design. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

18) Steel Tech Crew

Steel Tech crew at the end of the first lift. The carboy of superplasticizer can be seen at far right, the orange mobile platform at the rear. 508 yards of concrete were placed this day, beginning at 6:40 in the morning and ending about 4:30 in the afternoon with some 56 truck-loads delivered. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

19) Steel Tech Crew with Langley, Mehta and Deva Rajan

At the end of the first lift the Steel Tech crew posed with the engineers, Langley and Mehta, and church member Deva Rajan, for a family portrait. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

20) Gurudeva near end of first lift

Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami poses at the south end of the foundation near the completion of the first lift. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

21) Overhad shot of second lift

One-third of the way through the second lift on August 28th. Two layers of visqueen were placed between the first and second lift to prevent them from bonding to each other. such bonding would have increased the possibility of thermal cracks, as the two slabs were at different temperatures. On the day of this pour, the top of the first lift was nearly at air temperature, while the middle was a bit warmer. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

22) Second lift, south end

This shot and the next are taken from the boom truck close to the end of the second lift. The finished slab covered with visqueen is shown here. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

23) Second lift, north end

This shot shows the completion of the second lift, with the next to last trucks lining up for placement. Guests and worker's families are enjoying food and refreshments provided by the church. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

24) First trucks, second lift

The first two trucks have backed up onto the first lift and are unloading against the south side of the forms while ceremonial drums play and conchs sound. There was some concern that the first lift could hold the weight of the trucks, but as the slab had achieved a strength of 1,000 psi by now, this was not a problem. The trucks stayed away from the weaker sides of the first lift and a special ramp bridged the edge upon the north side of the forms where they entered. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

25) End of second lift

Jeff Griffin controls the delivery chute and one of the last trucks delivers its load. The forms have yet to be completed at the end, but the ramp has been removed. After this truck the preassembled forms were installed and braced. After this the trucks dumped over the form boards. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

26) Dr. Mehta and Deva Rajan with fly ash

Dr. Mehta hold a sample of the fly ash. One of the great coincidences of the use of fly ash concrete is that for Saivite Hindus, ash, vibhuti, from burning cow dung, is a highly venerated substance. It represents God's destruction of ignorance. Fly ash is almost identical to vibhuti in appearance, and vibhuti, according to Mehta has the same qualities as the fly ash, so one could make a "vibhuti concrete." Rice hull ash, in fact, makes excellent concrete because it has pozzalonic qualities. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

27) Fly ash up close

Dr. Mehta holds the fly ash, a byproduct of coal-burning electrical plants, in his hand. Hundreds of millions of pounds of this fly ash are generated each year on planet Earth. It has no purpose except to use in concrete. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

28) Mehta and Langley

(left to right) Dr. Mehta, Yogi Yuganatha and Dr. Langley discuss the placement's progress. Yogi is a monk of Saiva Siddhanta Church, originally from Malaysia, and responsible for the Church's construction, buildings, grounds and gardens. Photo credit: Hinduism Today

29) End of second lift

Steel Tech's workers balance on the end form boards as the last Hale Kauai truck unloads it cargo. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

30) Steel Tech workers, second lift

A classic shot by Tim Delavega captures the action of the morning as workers shovel concrete up to the power screed, with monks and guests in the background. A revered Hawaiin priestess is in the background center, 110-year-old Swami Bua is in the background at right. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

31) The family portrait

All the workers, guests, monks and members gather before the Hale Kauai trucks and finished slab for this historic photo of the largest placement of high volume fly ash in history. Photo credit: Tim Delavega

32) Steel Tech and Engineers

Steel Tech's foreman, Jeff Griffin (second from left) stands with his masons to his right. On ground level from left to right are Deva Rajan, Dr. P Kumar Mehta, Dr. W.S. Langley and Dr. Nakagawa (?) landscape architect.