On August 31, at around 10 p.m., some 80,000 people will watch in silence as a mass 13 meters high and 32 meters in diameter burns in the middle of the Black Rock Desert (Nevada, United States), designed by Miguel Root. For the first time, a Spaniard will build the centerpiece of the most massive art festival in the world, Burning Man, the third time a non-American architect has signed it. The organization announced a few days ago the failure of an international competition conditioned by a single requirement: having built in the desert.
And it is at that point that the Arraiz races (Valencia, 49 years old) and this popular event that has been held for more than a quarter of a century the week before each September 1 have been intertwined. In 2016, together with the sculptor David Moreno and 25 Valencian volunteers, they planted the falla revival in Black Rock City, in a milestone that triggered a series of visits and connections between falleros, Valencian institutions and Burning Man organizers during the following years.
From those sparks is born “the “Temple of the Depth” (Temple of the Deepin English), which “breaks with tradition (of Burning Man itself) with a bold new design.” This is how the festival organization justified the choice of Arraiz’s project, due to its “potential to inspire new creative paths.” Evoking one of the volcanic rocks that surround the desert where it will be built, the Valencian architect once again prioritizes the poetic story present in his buildings, this time starring the Japanese tradition of kintsugi that repairs broken ceramics with gold and that in this large elevated black piece aims to inspire the contradiction between strength and fragility.
“That contradiction makes sense there because the temple is the place where Burning participants grieve. This building, which is the last to burn on the last night, is filled for a week with photos, objects and all kinds of memories of people who want to grieve. This mourning is for a deceased person, for a love, for the end of an era… It is also my case, because this project has been the one that has gotten me off the couch after months of being depressed due to a breakup,” the architect explains to THE COUNTRY.
Arraiz has also managed to win over the Burning Man jury by introducing some of the festival’s founding values. In this case, that of “radical acceptance.” “It is difficult to convey in words the atmosphere of freedom that is created in this event,” he says, “but people dress, live and behave in a way totally detached from the norms, prejudices or the aesthetic canon of the moment. In Black Rock City, not only money is prohibited; Barter is prohibited and no brands can be seen, there is no advertising. “Four hours by car from anywhere, everything that can be done there is part of the culture of giving and, within this logic, the temple is the sacred and intended place to face losses, to assume their weight.”
As stated in the winning text of the project, Temple of the Deep It has been designed so that “emotions should be felt, not hidden. This process is essential for personal growth, fostering resilience, and cultivating openness to the world and its people.” And all this in a building that must be erected in 15 days, built exclusively of wood “because the desert must be cleaner than when you arrived” and that has been designed so that its I burned (burning in Valencian) leave a large ring of fire suspended in the air for several minutes at the zenith of that collective catharsis.
On January 30, Arraiz will arrive in San Francisco Bay from where this meeting is organized. It barely has 20% of the building budget, but hundreds of volunteers specialized in patronage, engineering, communication or construction await it. Your main job is to direct them and keep them motivated throughout the year. In total, for the month of March it will have a team of 400 people who will altruistically participate in the materialization of the temple, including 100 to 120 in charge of its construction in August, in a few days in which the temperature in the desert fluctuates. between 40 and 0 degrees, sand storms through.
This team includes a large number of Valencian creators with an international career who are already working to ensure that this architectural milestone leaves its mark on the history of Burning Man. Among others, the Fallas artisans Manolo Martín and Manolo García, the architecture studio Arqueha, or the lighting design studios Radiante Light Art Studio or the sound design studios Banjo Soundscapes. Added to all of them are those who have been advisors on the winning design, Javier Bono, Marta Marcos, Baltasar Otero, Josep Martí and, at the head of this team, Javier Molinero.
The Olympic medal
For Arraiz, the assignment means “something like winning the Olympic gold medal for what I do.” That sport would be that of ephemeral architecture and the centerpiece of Burning Man is an unbeatable showcase for the Valencian architect. Also, the beginning of a third stage as a professional. “From 2000 to 2009 I opened a studio that grew 100% a year. The bubble burst when we were on our way to being 40 people and I realized that Spain and its model were not for me.” The following decade, this architect, who was very close personally and familiarly to the Fallas, decided to get involved until he built the largest experimental monument built to date, Ekklesia (2015), for the seven-time winner of the Special Section, the Nou Campanar fallera commission.
A second stage that included the Burning failure, revival (2016) and concluded with his direction of the València World Design Capital 2022 project in which he developed the Àgora, his emblematic building that remained in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento during that year. Now it is conspiring to take advantage of an opportunity called to definitively connect this type of architecture with festivals and clients on a global level.