Article published on the architecture-specialized website Dezeen (November 2041).
The Black Temple: An Exploration of the Limits of Human Perception
In 2031, during excavations at the site of an ancient volcano in Iceland, speleologist Gary Henderson made an unprecedented discovery: an immense underground cavity, named The Cave. This natural cavern, the largest ever recorded, boasts staggering dimensions—approximately 527 meters in height and nearly 1,760 meters in width. Located about 3,000 meters below sea level, it constitutes an extreme and unique environment.
The walls of The Cave are primarily composed of porous volcanic rock, giving the site an exceptional acoustic property: the near-total absorption of sound waves, making echoes impossible. Furthermore, due to its depth, no natural light penetrates this space, plunging the cavern into absolute darkness.
Another remarkable feature of this location lies in its atmosphere, which retains faint traces of sulfuric vapors from past volcanic activity. Although breathable, this atmosphere profoundly alters sensory perception, eliminating all taste and touch sensations. Additionally, the high atmospheric pressure induces a sensation of weightlessness, disrupting the sense of touch and spatial orientation.
It is within this extraordinary setting that the Black Temple project was launched in 2041. Led by a team of engineers, architects, and neuroscience researchers, this project aims to explore the effects of complete sensory deprivation on human consciousness. Inspired by aerodynamic principles, particularly the curves of the experimental D2 aircraft, a monumental structure was designed to be suspended at the bottom of the cavern using ultra-resistant cables.
The Black Temple was designed to gradually guide volunteers toward total sensory deprivation. During the descent, a specially designed drone follows the structure, illuminating the apparatus and guiding its path through the cavern. This drone provides lighting until the structure reaches the bottom of the cave, where lanterns have been installed to allow participants to fully appreciate the vastness of the space before entering what scientists call Nero: absolute darkness.
To maintain sensory perception for as long as possible, the structure of the Black Temple is equipped with wings that generate turbulence, creating variations in sound waves and contributing to air purification. This process allows volunteers to temporarily retain their hearing, smell, and taste before deprivation becomes total.
The Black Temple ultimately stops just 1.2 meters above the surface of a shallow underground lake, located at the lowest point of The Cave. This final point of contact with material reality marks the ultimate step before experiencing absolute sensory void. The exploration of this extreme zone could thus reveal new perspectives on the nature of human consciousness and its ability to adapt in the absence of any sensory reference points.
