From Planetarium to Planetary Temple — Re-Imagining Cosmic Spaces

Humanity has always built spaces to encounter the planets — from the two-millennia-old Navagraha temples of southern India (circa 100 BCE), to Tycho Brahe’s Uraniborg observatory – an alchemical laboratory (circa 1576 CE) in Denmark, to the modern planetarium (1925 CE), the West’s most recent iteration of this ancient tradition.

This article contemplates a ‘new paradigm’ Planetarium which I choose to call a Planetary Temple. It explores the purpose of such spaces, its hidden historical precedents and a vision for more meaningful possibilities for such a public space.