the creative team behind the temple for this year’s annual Burning Man festival in Nevada has unveiled visual representations of their project. Named the “Temple of Heart,” this edition’s designated temple is a testament to all-wood ingenuity, a brainchild of designers Ela Madej and Reed Finlay. Year after year, festival organizers select a fresh blueprint for this central edifice.
For the upcoming Burning Man 2023, Madej and Finlay’s vision materializes as a temple with a twelve-sided base that tapers as it ascends toward the zenith, soaring to a lofty height of 40 feet. A spire will crown the structure, extending skyward from the partially sheltered framework, reaching an impressive altitude of 80 feet.
A series of 640 porous wooden panels, meticulously etched with intricate lace-like motifs by CNC machinery, will envelop the structure. Across these surfaces, ten distinct floral motifs will be intricately carved. Finlay explained that the blueprint was conceptualized with the intent to create a sanctuary for introspection and remembrance, a space that unites individuals both during the construction phase and beyond its culmination. Nestled within the temple’s core lies the Heart Chamber, a space dedicated to cradling the central pillar. This column is envisioned as a canvas for floral embellishments, with Madej and Finlay extending an open invitation to global visitors, urging them to contribute their own blooms to the sacred “altar.”
Circumscribing the temple, an outer ring will grace the surroundings, meticulously crafted as a twelve-pointed star. This starlit perimeter will be punctuated by four majestic gates, gracefully inviting wanderers into the courtyard’s embrace.
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