Standing 122 feet tall and covering almost an acre of land, the 2011 Temple of Transtion is on its way to fame by becoming the largest freestanding structure in the world. Guinness World Book of Records will be coming to the site during the Burning Man festival to record the event.
The now famous 2011 Temple concept and vision of Chris “Kiwi” Hawkins of Auckland, New Zealand, became reality with the guidance and design skills of well known Reno architect, Ken Rose, who took the Temple concept to construction detail; devising the structural and architectural systems necessary so it could be assembled by an all volunteer crew of unskilled labor at the Black Rock site in only two weeks.
This is the first time Reno has been used as a build site for Burning Man projects. The three-tiered hexagonal tower is surrounded by five smaller hexagonal towers, all embellished with intricate carvings and feature gargoyles perched on the corners, made from the saw dust sweepings sifted from the floors of the build sight on Hobson Square at Fourth Street.
Truckee-Tahoe Lumber Company was selected to supply lumber for the build. Says Andrew Cross, Vice President and General Manager of TTLC, of his experience with the project, “The whole concept is really amazing and an unbelievable feat to actually accomplish. I hope they can pull the project off in only two weeks. To date, they have used 830,000 bf of sustainable forestry initiative certified lumber and 75,000 sq ft of ply wood. This equates to 5 full trucks of lumber and 2 full trucks of ply wood!”
For ease of assembly, all parts of the Temple were prefabricated in Hobson Square’s historic Reno Brewing company, a 13,000 sq. ft. brick building. It was perfect for the project; featuring high ceilings and lots of natural light. Once the panels were completed, it took more than 20 fully loaded flatbeds to haul them to the Playa, over 120 miles away. “And that was a project all of its own!” said Rose, relieved that that part was finally over.
Ken faced the challenge of taming the 122 foot structure, with no foundation and featuring over 60% open space, “Basically a wooden kite that must be held to the ground with screw anchors.”
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