Holon Temple | FR-EE / Fernando Romero Enterprise

The holon temple proposal by FR-EE and planet collective expresses influence from the ancient greek ‘holon’— a word which describes an object both complete unto itself and an integral part of a larger system. guided by this concept, together with the principles of burning man, the temple takes the form of an oblong wooden ellipsoid housing a smaller version of itself that serves as an altar. the altar itself contains an even smaller replica, creating a nested system of objects that invites contemplation and embodies the idea of a holon To achieve the holon temple’s distinctive geometry, FR-EE conceives a system of wooden trusses which sculpturally bow outwards. these timber elements are braced by thirty-four circular horizontal members, each a symbolic representation of each year of burning man’s existence. the trusses culminate in the compression ring member number 35 — representing the festival’s 2020 edition — which opens to the sky to let in natural sunlight. recalling the oculus of the pantheon, the crowning compression ring incorporates millennia-old traditions of religious and spiritual architecture into the design of this contemporary temple.