Spanish architect Miguel Arraiz released designs for a monumental temple inspired by Japanese craft and features volcanic stone. The monumental design features a geologic dome that is supported by buttresses.
The design of The Temple of the Deep was informed by the volcanic geography of Black Rock City. The city was formed as tens of thousands of people descended on the alkali flats of Nevada for Burning Man—an art and community gathering in Nevada.
The monumental, heptagonal dome will be constructed with wood and then blackened by paint, burning, or chemical treatment.
It will have a complex interior support system that allows the structure to have an open-air element in the middle. This element is designed to increase ventilation inside and outside the structure while maintaining the shade necessary in the desert. The interior of the temple will have a vortex of tubing around the central opening and amphitheater-style seating.
The exterior will also feature fractures in the facade, referencing the Japanese kintsugi technique wherein the fractures between shards of repaired pottery are fixed with iridescent material to highlight the repair.
Much of the structure will be assembled in California and shipped in pieces for assembly before Burning Man begins in September.
