Temple Galaxia – Mamou-Mani

“The Burning Man Temple is one of the most significant places held annually at the Burning Man festival, a portal for healing, sharing emotional experiences, creating profound connections with one’s own self and others and then watching it all burst into flames on the last day.

Galaxia celebrates hope in the unknown, stars, planets, black holes, the movement uniting us in swirling galaxies of dreams. A superior form of Gaia in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, Galaxia is the ultimate network, the fabric of the universe connecting living beings into one entity.

Galaxia is shaped of 20 timber trusses converging as a spiral towards one point in the sky. The triangular trusses form different paths towards a central space holding a giant 3D printed mandala, the heart of Galaxia. The timber modules start large enough to hold small alcoves in which people can write in peace. As participants walk through the path, the timber modules lift up and become thinner and thinner towards the sky as people reach the central mandala.”

Isometric view.

Protocol (pseudo code)

1. Begin by defining the radius of the inner and outer concentric circles.
2. Create a series of intermediate circles, outlining your domain and the number of steps.
3. Subdivide the curves into points.
4. Rotate the circles in order to define the twist angle of the building.
5. Raise the circles in Z direction with a a paraboloid progress.
6. Interpolate the points to define the main ‘twisting’ structure.
7. Move the created structure downward and rotate in order to find the lower main structure.
8. Interpolate points between the different branches with a specific process to create the secondary structure.
9. Pipe the desired curves to obtain a 3-dimensional outcome.

Exploded Isometric of the three iterations.

Iteration 01

“Rise from the ashes” – iteration 01

“Spire” – iteration 01

“Filtering through” – iteration 01

Iteration 02

“Rise from the ashes” – iteration 02

“Spire” – iteration 02

“Filtering through” – iteration 02

Iteration 03

“Rise from the ashes” – iteration 03

“Spire” – iteration 03

“Filtering through” – iteration 03

Computational Design // IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia
Developed at Master in Advanced Architecture in 2018 by:
Student: Filippo Testa
Faculty:  Rodrigo Aguirre, David Andres Leon
Assistant: Daniil Koshelyuk