trunk – Temple of Seasons

I do need to go back to this last 3D model in Blender once more—if only to measure some dimensions. For visual clarity, I should add them to the images, but I don't feel like learning how to do that, and I really just want to get a rough idea anyway.

On the ground, the base of the trunk is 17' (5m) across. The area inside the trunk is a circular area about 13' (4m) across and 12' (3.5m) to 13' (4m) tall. This will probably get a bit shorter since the roof seems a bit thin, and that's what carries the bulk of the weight.

The first level is about 62' (19m) across, meaning it extends over the ground about 22.5' (7m) out from the trunk. Standing on the first level, the trunk is much narrower at 8.5' (2.5m) across. The second level is about 46.5' (14m) across, and the top branches are about 40.5' (12.5m) across.

The bottom of the first level is about 12' (3.5m) to 16.5' (5m) high, and its walking surface runs from about 13.5' (4m) to 18' (5.5m) off the ground. On the first level, there is about 7' (2m) to 7.5' (2.5m) of headroom to the second level whose walking surface is about 23' (7m) to 28.5' (8.5m) off the ground.

The branches at the top are only about 5' (1.5m) to 6' (2m) above the second level, so I might need to raise them. As it stands now, the top branches are about 31' (9.5m) off the ground with the very tips reaching as high as 35' (11m).

The tl;dr is that the trunk is 17' (5m) across, the whole Temple of Seasons is about 62' (19m) across and about 35' (11m) tall.

For comparison, the last Temple I experienced was the Temple of Whollyness in 2013 which claimed a central pyramid with a base that's 88'x88' (27m x 27m) and 64' (20m) tall with additional work that extends the base to 116'x116' (36m x 36m)—for all intents and purposes about twice as tall and twice as big across. This is similar in scale to 2014's Temple of Grace which was "70+' high, and had a footprint of 80'x80'; it sat in a courtyard approximately 150'x150'" In fact, it seems like this is the approximate size of most of the temples, and the scale is only growing.

I took a few pictures of trees to get an idea of how they look, and some elements of branches and whatnot that I thought would work. I did my best to draw some sketches, but I'm not particularly adept at it and I didn't like what came of it. I got together with two friends: Antoni, a sculptor, and Brandon, an architect to talk about the project. Overall it wasn't too productive, but at least it was a start.

One thing I think is important is to have a spiral ramp—not stairs or ladders—to access the main level. I don't understand why it needs to be a spiral, but it needs to be a ramp to permit people with limited mobility to access it.

It also needs an interior space—a sanctuary for ceremonies and reflection. The yurt provides this. It also helps the stability, since a real tree of such size would have a substantial root structure to anchor it; an artificially-wide trunk would mitigate the instability in absence of such a root structure.

September 29, 2012 Sketch, side — Side view.

Toni encouraged me to start making models using toothpicks as, say, 8' framing members and see what I could come up with. He suggested we make a 1/6 scale model (e.g. "Barbie size") and burn it, say, on the Solstice: December 21.

Tag: trunk

Some Rough Dimensions

Beginnings