Instead of building his famous igloo, Anthony Wood decided to build a new structure for public entertainment.
Oak Park Igloo family father Anthony Wood brings a piece of sand to the community on behalf of his wife Tanshri.
He said the family had gained a reputation as "a house where two architects went crazy." Their reputation definitely grew during Halloween 2020 when kids in Oak Park wanted to go trick-or-treating even though they couldn't go door-to-door.
Instead of getting used to Covid restrictions, Tansree Wood was not disappointed. To keep the children happy, he built a cable car from the balcony to the fence, where they both swallowed candy every time the children passed by.
Today their reputation lives on.
In recent years, the family has gathered in January and February to build colorful igloos that attract people's attention. However, due to warm winter conditions, Wood decided to pursue his long-held idea with his wife to build a Balinese nature reserve.
Wood and his wife met more than 30 years ago in Indonesia when he was working in Asia on business and she was working in an office. After some time, they moved to his hometown in England while his future wife worked there to get her master's degree. After finishing work and study, they decided to get married. They agreed that the best place for the wedding was Java, where he was born.
During the wedding, her family gathered from all over the world to celebrate the couple's love for each other. In fact, the newlyweds and 30 other friends and family honeymooned in Bali together.
However, the idea to build the shrine began when they went on a family trip two years ago. Wood explains that Bali's main buildings have their own sacred places dedicated to Hindu gods. This observation led to the next project.
The family decided to bring local materials that would be used to build the temple.
“We love Bali very much, and that’s why, probably 10 years ago, after a trip to Bali, we brought this Balinese umbrella and started using it in the garden.” - said Wood.
The bright yellow umbrella, two assistants, elephant Ganesh idol and the wooden back of the temple are all straight from the sand.
According to Wood, he divides the construction process into four main stages: foundation, materials, dry construction and final grading. His first task was to build the sanctuary's base, a 9-cubic-foot concrete slab. He first dug a 12-cubic-foot hole, thinking that if he dug a few more feet into the ground, the walls would begin to collapse. And take this... he digs it all by hand. “I almost got killed digging that hole,” he jokes.
He then built a cage out of metal reinforcing bars before pouring the concrete. This shrine was built for permanent residence, using concrete on a solid foundation.
Then Wood made his first mistake. The instinct is to buy regular bricks to begin the dry building process. However, he was disappointed that the regular bricks looked different: they looked too thick and large.
He needed to find thin brick, and Roman brick was perfect. Roman brick gives a wooden staircase an elegant look. These are the same bricks that Frank Lloyd Wright used to build many of his Oak Park homes.
The next step is to dry all the necessary materials and get back to finishing and enhancing the aesthetics of the sanctuary. Although it was a solo show — a departure from the family's igloo business — Tanshree Wood acted as an "aesthetic consultant" during the decorating process, her husband said.
The wood was eventually bonded with other temple materials to create a beautiful and culturally significant Balinese temple. In total, the project took about five days over the course of a month and cost about $1,200.
Pura Uda Bali is located on Superior Street in the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District of Oak Park.
