We’ve received two wonderful Temple submissions for What If 2026, and we’re asking members of our community to vote to select which vision will be brought to life in Merritt this summer.
From The Ashes Temple
Our Temple is a climb-inside phoenix – a wooden or metal structure whose stair-legs (or open body with a curtain) lead into a small, womb-like chamber that seats 4–5 people. The bird will be made from salvaged . recycled materials. The interior is decorated like the inside of a human body, representing the origin point of all life and the place from which every modern creation begins: the human itself. Surrounding this space are inscriptions on rebirth, resilience, healing, and renewal, reflecting the universal symbolism of the phoenix.
The Temple explores human potential, grief, and transformation. Because BC is no longer able to burn the Temple, the phoenix becomes a metaphor for our community’s grief around the loss of fire – and the truth that even without literal flame, we rise from the ashes of what once was. Participants are invited to climb inside, sit in quiet reflection, feel the heartbeat of community, and touch into the emotions stirred by change – both personal and collective. Sitting inside the body itself reminds us that transformation starts from within.
On the outside, we will build a large nest with large interactive eggs.
The Temple will be held as a quiet, reverent space through clear signage and cultural cueing. The inner chamber is for silence only, and so is the nest.
We are not just here for the build. We are fully here for the meaning, the ritual, and the emotional arc of the Temple.
Open Sky Temple
In the shelter of the forest, where light falls softly through cedar and fir, a temple unfolds – not outward into spectacle, but inward toward stillness. Born from the Korean symbol of Sam Tae Guk, the threefold harmony of Sky, Humanity, and Earth, this pavilion translates cosmic balance into an intimate refuge. Three wings spiral from a shared center, each a chamber of elemental presence: one reaching skyward into air and imagination, another gathering the warmth of human connection, the third settling into grounded rest. Together they form a vessel that both shields and reveals, protecting those who enter while the central light installation casts its quiet glow through screened wood walls, painting each wing in turn with the radiance of sky, humanity, and earth.
The structure asks visitors to slow, to step through thresholds of shadow and filtered light, to sit within one wing and feel the weight of the ground, then rise and move into another to sense the lift of breath. The wood cladding, perforated and luminous, filters forest light inward while projecting soft radiance outward, a reciprocal exchange between sanctuary and landscape. At the center, where the three wings dissolve into open sky, visitors meet one another across their chosen elements, turning from solitary contemplation toward shared presence.
This is a temple for small gatherings, not crowds. Its geometry naturally enfolds attention inward, away from the event’s pulse, creating acoustic and visual softness that invites whispered conversation or reverent silence. This atmosphere, supported by opening guidance provided by the artist, invites the community to shape ceremonies that honour both ancient cosmology and present connection.
What remains is transformation measured not in flames but in breath: the moment someone looks up through wooden latticework to see stars, then turns to meet another’s gaze across the glowing center.