Radio Bahá'í and the teaching institutes, Bolivia and Peru.

Designed, built and managed by Max Mowzoon as a voluntary service project, approved by the Universal House of Justice. Drawn by hand, stamped by the province, and put up in stone.

Aerial view of the completed Instituto Bahá'í at Caracollo: a cluster of linked octagonal pavilions under pitched shingled roofs. — The completed institute complex

The client was the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Bolivia, with the work approved by the Universal House of Justice. The brief was a broadcast station and a teaching institute on the altiplano, in a place with no contractor to call and no supply chain to lean on. Related institute work followed in Peru.

Max Mowzoon took it end to end: the concept sketches, the permit drawings stamped by the provincial authority, and the construction itself. The plan is a cluster of linked octagons — entrance, auditorium, dormitories, dining room, kitchen — radiating from a central hall, with the radio building holding two studios, master control, archive, workshop and transmitter room around its own centre.

Passive solar orientation and solar water heating were built into the scheme from the start, because a building on the altiplano has to work with almost no infrastructure behind it. That is the point: every aspect considered for the community it was built to serve, in a place where a poor decision cannot be corrected later. It is the clearest statement of what this firm believes about building.

Project: Radio Bahá'í & teaching institutes
Location: Caracollo, Oruro, Bolivia & Peru
Client: National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Bolivia
Design: Max Mowzoon
Construction: Max Mowzoon
Management: Max Mowzoon
Approved by: The Universal House of Justice
Environmental: Passive solar & solar water heating
Basis: Voluntary service project

One Drawn by hand

Concept sketches, then permit drawings at 1:100 and 1:200, stamped by the provincial authority at Oruro.

Hand-drawn concept sheet: site plan of the linked octagonal pavilions, a perspective of the elevation, and a room schedule in Spanish.

Concept sheet — site plan, elevation and room schedule. Entrada, auditorium, dormitorios, comedor, cocina.

Permit drawing A-1 for the Instituto Bahá'í: principal elevation at 1:200, carrying the stamp and signature of the provincial authority.

Instituto Bahá'í, sheet A‑1. Elevación principal, 1:200. Stamped by the H. Alcaldía de la Provincia, Oruro.

Permit drawing A-1 for Radio Bahá'í: radial plan at 1:100 showing two studios, master control, archive, workshop and transmitter room, with the elevation below.

Radio Bahá'í, sheet A‑1. Planta y elevación, 1:100. Two estudios, control maestro, archivo, taller, transmisor.

Two Built in stone

Load‑bearing masonry, timber roof structure, shingled pitches. Local material, local labour.

The radio building complete: coursed stone walls, tall windows and a broad pitched roof against the altiplano. — The radio building, complete

Aerial view of the long broadcast building standing alone on open ground, access tracks running to it. — Standing alone on open ground

Aerial view of the institute during construction, the radiating roof structure framed and partly covered. — The radiating roof structure going on

The wider site showing the completed buildings in their landscape. — The wider site

The same standard, whoever it is for.

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