After being forced to cancel last year’s schedule of their iconic annual event in Black Rock City Nevada due to the global pandemic, Burning Man has now announced plans for the event to occupy a new permanent space called the Fly Ranch.
Plans for the sustainable space date back five years ago, when the Burning Man project acquired the 3,800-acre ranch located a few miles away from Black Rock City, to be used for creating a year-round long-term and awe-inspiring space.
In 2020, they partnered with the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) and launched a competition asking the Burning Man community to join in co-creating the space. “This design challenge is an invitation to artists, architects, designers, builders, scientists and burners of all kinds to come together and create a collective project that lasts well beyond a week in august,” read the official communication. “Through art, technology, and innovation, LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch will bring together sustainable and scalable solutions for power, water, shelter, food, and regeneration in the black rock desert.”
The initiative selected 10 design projects that best answered their vision of the ranch, which will be given grants to build their prototypes at Fly Ranch. “Teams were asked to integrate sustainable systems for energy, water, food, shelter, and waste management into works of art in the landscape. The objective is to build the foundational infrastructure for Fly Ranch, support Burning Man project’s 2030 sustainability goals, and engage a global audience to work together towards systemic transformation, and serve as an inspiration for the developing field of regenerative design.”
Most of the ambitious and clever proposals took sustainability at center stage, for example, NEXUS plans to use ferrock as a sustainable alternative to concrete; Solar Mountain employs recycled and solar photovoltaic materials to make electricity; and Ripple, which features a bio ceramic dome made of electrochromic glass, intertwines drip irrigation, composting toilets, seed banks, cisterns, native restoration plans, and more.
Take a look at some of the proposals in the gallery below and visit LAGI’s website to see the whole shortlist and learn more about the Burning Man Fly Ranch project.
