Ocher Rose: Harbin Temple, Architecture, Masterpiece

The Harbin temple is so beautiful. It has 3 copper cones on top, with a brass sun orb at its point. The roof looks alive with many angles, has shingles of 2 colors of brown, a cupola with cone skylight on top, beneath the brass spires. The roof looks like a beautiful, old, straw hat, and from the inside the Temple's roof could be the work of a very fine shipbuilder, with arced beams. The cob finish work around the bathrooms in swirly, and much more richly so than art nouveau, and has a lot of beautiful stone inlays. Everybody put the cob (mud) on the bales (of hay) together, naked, in the spring of 2005 (I was around).

Inside, the floor has texture, but is also smooth, and redden, like red earth, and heated from below. The temple is like a Native American sacred space. It's modern and is comfortable, too. It's made for Harbin, so hippies are comfortable here. There's a harmonium and cushions for circles, gatherings, and Kirtan (chanting), and a sound system for dances, and nice, wooden furniture that holds yoga props. The inside roof sweeps up, all in wood.

The building is situated very beautifully toward the beginning of the Harbin Mainside area, adjacent to the Harbin garden. It expresses Harbin and yet is uniquely beautiful, and compared with the other Harbin buildings. Sun Ray designed it. The building has a harmonizing effect for me.

It's a mini-masterpiece.