Burning Man's 2024 temple design is revealed – and it's inspired by Lebanese weaving techniques

Artist Caroline Ghosn is leading the design of this year’s Burning Man temple, combining Lebanese weaving techniques and Gothic church architecture to create the dramatic temporary structure.

Dubbed The Temple of Together, the pavilion is an architectural homage to power and togetherness. It will be the centrepiece of the arts festival, which takes place in the Black Rock Desert from 25 August 2024 until 2 September 2024. Ghosn has teamed up with architect Maissa Sader, co-principal of Kamai Studio, to design the colossal 70-ft-high structure, which will be set ablaze at the end of the festival.

Ghosn and Sader drew on their shared Lebanese heritage for its design, incorporating pointed Gothic arches and buttresses alongside wooden panels reflecting Khaizaran weaving patterns. Its facade features a woven ‘skin’, and the temple will be ringed by an exterior fence with an opening gate depicting two hands touching. An ‘inner sanctum’ sits at the heart of the temple, hung with drapery, with a central column that will project a beam of light into the desert sky at night.

Around 1,000 volunteers will be involved in the installation’s planning, prefabrication and construction.