The journey of making this Temple design was quite tough at times, however when I reached the final results I felt quite happy with it. Which was nice because I’m never happy with my work!
For this unit I’d say My Design Process felt slightly chaotic. I had big ambitions and really wanted to push myself, as it was our first chance this year to properly design something ourselves. I definitely have felt the pressure for this unit, but I have definitely enjoyed it so far.
I did a lot of back and forth during this unit, in regards to design choices, and storyline, however once I got my final idea I was pretty settled on it and wanted to make it perfect.
I drew up a little timeline and tried to fill it in as I went along, as I thought that’s probably the best way to show my process, then I will break down each area on their own page.
This timeline doesn’t cover every area of research/work I did, however it has the main parts eg. General, Research, Design, Story etc. My final decisions are highlighted in a yellow box.
Final Design – Ancient Jedi Temple
Backstory Breakdown
My final Design is an Ancient Jedi Temple. It exists on the Planet Crait, and has been left abandoned for decades.
Temple Backstory:
The Temple is rich in history, and its intended use is for Jedi that have lost their way, or as a place of meditation so they can reconnect with the Force. The Temple is meant to feel like a holy place, and personal to those who visit. Its one way pathway is meant to guide Jedi on a straight path to enlightenment. The steps and high location within the mountains is meant to elevate Jedi to feel closer to the divine.
Design Process & Inspirations:
Establishing the backstory of my design was what threw me off early on. I wasn’t sure what to base my design on, because there is so much content and history in Star Wars. I kept trying to avoid the idea of basing it from Jedi or Sith lords, because that seemed too obvious.
Due to this, I started looking into the idea of including Mandalorian, as I had recently been watching the TV series. I liked the aesthetic in The Mandalorian, as it was a bit darker than that of the Star Wars films. I didn’t want it to completely take over, so I looked at Mandalorian symbols and possibly featuring them on the wall, adding a bit of a threatening feel to the Temple.
In order to help with extra research, I played the Jedi Fallen Order game, as I had always been interested in the game and I also wanted to research into Video Game Design. After playing some of the game, I fell in love with the design of it. The game is purely based around Jedi Temples and abandoned places, so it helped greatly with realising my final concept. The concept of the game, paired with the main character Cal Kestis, seemed to fit perfectly with my vision.
Design Breakdown
As a Jedi travels to the Sanctuary of the Temple they go though several spaces:
The Salt Flats/Ship Graveyard:
Originally Jedi would have to walk across the Salt flats in order to reach the base of the Mountain. This would inspire peace and appreciation, because of the beauty of the Salt flats. After the Battle Crait, The Salt Flats were left as a ship graveyard. This is now meant to inspire the Jedi of the strength of their kind, and use that same strength to reach the Sanctuary of the Temple.
Design Process & Inspirations:
I tied not to stray too far from the original films for this part of my design. I used visuals from The Last Jedi, before and after the Battle of Crait. I also looked at a lot of visuals from Blade Runner 2049, as there is a scene of abandoned Las Vegas that gives a good indication of what an eerie atmosphere looks like in film.
Mountain Steps: These steps are steep, old and crumbling. There are hundreds of steps to reach the Walkway of the temple. This acts as a sacrifice of strength on the Jedi’s Pilgrimage to the Temple. When the Jedi reach the top of the steps, they are met with an overhanging ledge, allowing them to look out at the breath-taking view to re-inspire them of their journey with the Force
Design Process & Inspirations:
The steps of the mountain were a last minute though when thinking about how Jedi would get to the Temple from the ground. I tried to incorporate features of Pilgrimage by having big, tiring steps to act as a form of sacrifice. This is very common in Pilgrimage, where visitors need to make some kind of sacrifice to reach their destination and reach enlightenment. Visually, I took inspiration of course from temples themselves, but also from some Star Wars concept Art of Anch-to, another Jedi Temple.
Temple Walkway/Promenade: The Walkway is guarded by four giant Jedi Statues, similar to other Jedi Temples, that also use four statues as it represents the Four Jedi Masters (Jedi Temples). This is to remind the Jedi that the four Jedi Masters are with them along the way.
Design Process & Inspirations:
I didn’t want to make the walkway too complex, as I didn’t want to take away from the Jedi statues. Originally I had just the Statues and doorway, but after looking at more features of Temples, I noticed they tend to include very large steps that visitors can climb up and sit on.
Temple Entrance: As Jedi approach the Temple entrance, they are faced with a giant door made from stone and bronze, with Jedi runes carved into it. In order to open the door, Jedi have to place their hand over the runes and open the door using the Force. The doors open by two slabs of stone parting to the side.
Design Process & Inspirations:
This was one of my favourite parts of the design. The Door started off quite simple, but eventually evolved into being quite a complicated Structure. From the start I wanted to incorporate the Jedi symbol in my design somehow. The way I did this, was by taking part of the Jedi symbol, turning it upside-down and utilising imagery from sunlight to form the complete symbol (see diagram).
Once I decided on the basic concept behind the door, I began to think of ways to make it more complex. The door originally was left as being open all the time. After receiving some feedback from Claire about using the light as a form of storytelling, I decided to change the design so the door would be able to open and close with the use of the Force. Playing the Jedi Fallen Order influenced how it would be opened (hand on the runes) as it was a common way Cal Kestis would open doors to other Temples. A lot of the material inspiration has come from Jedi Fallen Order too, by using lots of rusted Bronze and Copper, and scattering Jedi Runes on walls and doors.
Inside the Temple/Hypostyle Hall: The Hypostyle Hall is the final walk up to The Sanctuary. Whether the Temple is already lit or not depends on the Jedi visiting the Temple. If the Temple is left in darkness when the doors close, it means the Jedi is disconnected from the Force and must reconnect with it. The Jedi must then guide their way to the Meditation platform using their lightsaber for light. However, if the Temple remains lit up, that means the Jedi is already connected with the Force.
The Hall has a constant steam of water dripping down the rectangular columns either side of the walkway, and Led strip lights cover the triangular columns in between. Under the walkway is a 80m drop down to the cave floor, where a stream of water runs through it.
Design Process & Inspirations:
The interior of the Temple is what I’ve changed the most out of everything. The scale of the temple has always been very large in scale, however after looking at the scale of other temples, I kept making it bigger.
The triangular columns were a feature I started with. The idea for these columns came from looking at common shapes in Sci-Fi and Star Wars. I found hexagons are the most common shape. I also saw a picture of the Royal Hungarian Salt Mine of Désakna, and that helped me decide on having a repeating form.
I wanted a way to exaggerate the scale of the caves, and make the temple look quite daunting. The way I decided to do this was to create a drop either side of the walkway. Originally it was just a cut out in the floor that looked very man-made, but after I decided to make the walkway like a Bridge and more of a cut out and natural formation from the caves.
The final decision for the Temple was to add LED panel lights to the triangular columns. Initially I wanted the Temple to be very natural, however the LED panel lights are so common in Star Wars, I felt they would be a nice touch. At first I thought it wouldn’t work, but when I added it into my concept art, and made them look old and mossy, it seemed to fit quite well.
The Sanctuary/Meditation Platform: This is the final part of the Jedi Pilgrimage. The Meditation platform is a space where the Jedi can meditate and reconnect with the Force if needed. The platform forms the end of the walkway, and overhangs into the Crystal Caves.
When the Temple is lit up, at certain times of the day a beam of light shines onto an entrance on the cave walls, which Jedi will have to jump to from the Meditation Platform. This leads further into the Caves where old Jedi relics are hidden.
Design Process & Inspirations:
At first I was set on completely designing the crystal caves surrounding the Meditation Platform. I started off by having some kind of rabbit hole structure around the platform, then tried having it as just an empty void, as if standing in space. Eventually, I decided to utilise the imagery of the actual crystal caves in The Last Jedi. When I imagined the platform I saw it displayed in lots of extreme wide shots, which would be hard to show in a confined space. By having the Platform extending out into a huge cave, seriously plays with scale, making the already huge temple, look tiny in relation to the crystal caves.