This All-Timber Holon Temple is Designed To Be Burned At Burning Man | FR-EE and Planet Collective Designs | US

New York and Mexico City-based architecture practice- Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE), has visualised this Holon temple at burning man. Made entirely of timber, the globe-like pavilion is designed to be burned. Yes, you read it right. Either the Greek-inspired pavilion temple space or a miniature replica inside it would be burnt to ashes in total silence on the eighth night of the nine-day annual festival at Burning Man, in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. The festival draws thousands of people for spiritual gatherings, mediation and contemplation. Its spiritual mission is to represent a blank canvas for people to leave things behind to be burned. Each year new temple is burned to the ground. However, as a part of this process, the people who congregate also plant the number of trees required to counterbalance the amount of pollution the burning would generate. This year's structure developed by FR-EE features a globe-shaped and named Holon Temple after Greek philosophy. Read more about the project below at SURFACES REPORTER (SR):  

Also Read: This 380-Meter Long Pedestrian Skywalk Improves The Dakshineswar Kali Temple Traffic in Kolkata | Design Forum International

A Globe Inside A Globe

"A holon, translating to the whole in Greek, is something that is whole as well as being a part of a larger system." The all-timber structure features a wooden globe inside having stairs where festival-goers can meditate and reflect before the temple burns to the ground.

The festival happens every year and each year a new temple is designed to be burned. Holon temple expresses that something which is a part of a large whole is a whole in itself as well.

Holon Temple Represents As The Multiverse

FR-EE drew inspiration from Greek Philosophy to design the Holon temple.

According to the architect, “It can be conceived as systems nested within each other. Every entity can be considered a holon, from a subatomic particle to the entire Universe. In the design concept for our proposal, the temple represents itself as the multiverse, a group of nested universes, a Holon.”

Just like we can see the grids of latitudinal and longitudinal lines on the globe. The Holon temple uses 48 “latitudinal” trusses and 34 “longitudinal” wooden beams. "The trusses meet at the top in compression rings (35), all of which are connected to 34 circles (horizontal members), each one representing one year of Burning Man’s existence. As burners approach the center, the structure appears lighter and slenderer towards the sky."

Also Read:  What Is Special About Telanganas Ramappa Temple That Made It to UNESCOs World Heritage Site List?

Interiors Interconnected with Surrounding Landscape

The structural design of the temple is composed of complex wooden trusses and rings that further define the interior experience. The interstitial space inside the pavilion allows natural light, air, and sand to enter, creating an enclosed and interconnected system of the surrounding landscape.

when the interior altar burns, the smoke would rise through the circular rings at the top of the temple epitomizing the inescapable departure of parts to a whole."The structure itself will allow time to flow at each person’s own vital thinking pace, in communication with themselves and their loved ones."

Project Details

Keep reading SURFACES REPORTER for more such articles and stories.

Join us in SOCIAL MEDIA to stay updated

SR FACEBOOK | SR LINKEDIN | SR INSTAGRAM | SR YOUTUBE

Further, Subscribe to our magazine | Sign Up for the FREE Surfaces Reporter Magazine Newsletter

Also, check out Surfaces Reporter’s encouraging, exciting and educational WEBINARS here.

You may also like to read about:

ISKCON going green; to develop all its temples across the world as the ‘Green Places of Worship’

The Magnificent Ranakpur Jain Temple With 1444 Unique Pillar Designs

And more…