Architectural Installations at Burning Man
A review of 12 significant architect-designed installations from Burning Man's 40-year history, including the city layout and recent temples.
As Burning Man begins its 40th-anniversary event in Nevada, Dezeen has highlighted the work of 12 architecture studios featured at the festival. The event, first held by Larry Harvey and Jerry James in 1986 as a solstice ritual on San Francisco's Baker Beach, now draws approximately 80,000 people to the Nevada desert annually. Architects like Bjarke Ingels have contributed to the festival's landscape of temporary structures. The festival lacks traditional headliners, relying instead on attendees, known as Burners, and the organising body The Burning Man Project to create events and installations for the week-long gathering. Some early organisers say the modern event is barely recognisable from its origins. For more on the festival's structure and events, see our fixtures page.
Black Rock City and Early Structures
The festival's permanent home, Black Rock City, is built and dismantled each year. Its radial plan was designed by resident architect Rod Garrett beginning in 1997, two years after his first visit. Garrett described the arched roads of the concentric semi-circular city as the life-blood of our city, allowing unfettered access and egress for people, as well as to the logistics of supplies and maintenance.
Los Angeles architect Gregg Fleishman designed the Temple of Whollyness in 2013. Fleishman, who began attending in 2007, created a pyramid from interlocking wooden units constructed without nails, glue, or metal fasteners.
Pyramids and Environmental Statements
In 2016, San Francisco architect Dan Sullivan and the Catacomb Crew built the Catacomb of Veils. This pyramidal installation was meant to evoke the surrounding Black Rock Point mountain peak. A project description from the time called it a ruin of a previous society, a remnant of our collective search for moments of quiet, introspection and reflection.
Architects Steven Brummond and Marisha Farnsworth used 100 dead trees to construct a temple in 2017. The aim was to draw attention to dying forests. There are dramatic changes occurring in our forests, said Farnsworth. Pines, oaks, and many other trees are dying in unprecedented numbers from diseases and pests such as Sudden Oak Death and pine bark beetles. For detailed statistics on environmental impacts and other data, visit our stats section.
Recent Temples and Interactive Works
French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani created Galaxia in 2018 using 20 timber trusses that spiraled to a point. The project required six months of prefabrication and 140 volunteers working for 22 days to assemble. Also in 2018, BIG founder Bjarke Ingels and colleague Jakob Lange designed a giant inflatable, mirrored orb anchored by a 32-metre inclined steel mast to help Burners move through the desert.
JKMM Architects collaborated with the Finnish group Sauna on Fire to create Steam of Life in 2019. The installation offered a traditional Finnish sauna experience within a structure of stacked timber slabs forming a spiral.
Chicago architect Antwane Lee's 2022 Solar Shrine was an ode to the sun's movement. The structure shot flames and was made of lumber wrapped in plywood. Steven Brummond returned in 2022 with Project Carillon, a 48-foot-tall (14-metre-tall) structure made from strips of recycled plywood arranged in a fishbone pattern. Festival-goers could climb it to interact with ropes connected to 99 bells.
Panamanian architect Assaf Allouche has produced several versions of The Reactor Project, a structure primarily of wooden slats lined with LEDs. The team described it as a meeting point and melting pot for the wanderers.
The Latest Temples
For the 2024 festival, California-based artist Caroline Ghosn worked with architect Maissa Sader of Kamai Studio on the Temple of Together. The design blended church architecture with Lebanese weaving techniques and featured a central, lit column inside a series of chambers.
The 2025 Temple of the Deep was designed by architect Miguel Arraiz. Informed by natural sanctuaries like caves and Baroque architecture, it was intended as a place of healing. Arraiz said, Like a heart shattered into a thousand pieces, it bears visible scars, reminders of the pain that forged resilience. To see how such projects fit into the broader festival lineup and standings, check our standings page.
