Successive Approximation in Burn Design
/I have returned from the burn — Alchemy, Georgia’s fall Burning-Man-style event — exhausted and ready to get back to work on a variety of projects. But first, some musings on the event and my design of it.
This is the placement map for Alchemy 2018. It shows all the roads, theme camps, open camping areas, burn plazas, public squares, and organizational infrastructure, and it was my job to put all those things there. (You can see the actual map here.)
More than that, though, I had to Make the Thing That Is Not: we were once again on new property, and since it was two large, flat meadows I had a literal tabula rasa to work with. I had to create the entire burn map before I could place all the things on it.
This is the fifth burn I’ve designed from the ground up, including two that didn’t happen, and we’ve moved to new land every fall since I’ve been doing this. We think we have finally found a permanent home, and for the first time that gives me the opportunity to build on what I’ve learned at the actual event.
So what are my SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATIONS for my burn design?
It is impossible to predict how the passeggiata is going to turn out: camps lie about the amount space they need; camps aren’t able to attend; camps push their structures back up against the tree line instead of setting up next to the road. All of this leaves large (dark) holes along the street.
The area labeled “The Burbs” was open camping, and it was a good idea. We didn’t need all that space, so I’ll reduce it (especially for the smaller spring burn, Euphoria) both in size and in the grid.
“Lake Ruby” is an area that turns into a shallow pond if it rains torrentially, but it’s super fine for burn plazas.
The Effigy — the major structure that we burn on Saturday night — worked well in the center of the burn. On the night, seeing the lights of the camps all the way around the Effigy was inspirational.
The concept of public squares, which I introduced this time, worked extremely well. I will be extending the idea, especially the strategy of using smaller paths to cut across the larger loops.
“Sound Row,” the string of loud party camps at the bottom, did its job: give free rein to those who like their whomp-whomp music (technical term) at 4:00 a.m. while allowing the rest of us to sleep. In the future, I’m going to experiment with moving them out into the ‘playa’ area so that all are within reasonable walking distance.
I need to do a better job educating theme camps on how to set up their camps in order to contribute to the passeggiata rather than detracting from it. Also, I need to do a better job recognizing which camps are going to have huge bedroom communities and place them so that they don’t become impenetrable walls of tents along major thoroughfares.
We will need more parking space (not shown on the map).
The woods are ripe for development, and the land owner is excited about working with us to determine where to clear out.
Operationally, I need to make sure that the placement supplies (stakes and construction tape) are retrieved on storage on Friday before build weekend on Saturday/Sunday the weekend before the burn. That way I and my volunteers can get to work immediately after opening speeches and ceremonies on Saturday, rather than waiting the rather long time we did this year.
I’m sure there are more lessons that I learned, but that’s the overall view from the future. I’ll keep you posted if there’s anything important that might be critical for all of you designing your regional burns out there.
