Temple in Stone and Light

SpaceMatters - Barmer, India - 2016

Key words: Duality, Heritage, Inclusion, Light, Sandstone, Shakti, Shiva, Temple

TEMPLE EXTERIOR - Photography: © SPACEMATTERS

This temple in the sand dunes of Rajasthan represents a bold reimagining of Hindu sacred architecture, balancing heritage, symbolism, and inclusivity within a challenging desert context. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, the design translates his paradoxical identity - the Preserver and Destroyer, masculine and feminine - into architectural form. Rather than treating dualities as binaries, the temple embodies them as a continuum: a heavy sandstone exterior by day transforms into a glowing lantern by night, shifting between solidity and translucence. This play of light not only creates a powerful sensorial experience but also symbolically reflects spiritual inclusivity, challenging historic exclusions of caste, gender, and class within religious spaces.

Materiality anchors the project within Rajasthan’s deep tradition of stone craftsmanship. Locally quarried Jaisalmer Yellow Sandstone ensures continuity with regional building culture, its golden hue evoking both the desert sun and the temple’s emergence from the dunes. The compression-based stone superstructure celebrates tectonic honesty, while the stainless-steel shikhara provides a contemporary counterpoint, catching light at sunrise and sunset to emphasise transcendence.

Critically, the temple succeeds in bridging past and present: rooted in local heritage yet projecting universal themes of duality, transformation, and inclusion. It demonstrates how sacred architecture can both honour tradition and challenge it, becoming a living symbol of continuity and renewal.