1er class Permanent Colonist / Local Civilisation Data Sheet / Draft68-Asrani / 120-15
The building depicted in the cut views above, called an Okan in the Asrani dialect, is the only official building you can find above the ground surface in every important town controlled by this fennec-like humanoid tribe. The translation of "Okan" by "temple" is quite frequent but too simplistic, as it has also the function of main gathering place, court trial and decision centre.
Given their specific physical characteristics and the semi-desert climatic zone where they are living, the asranis' life philosophy plays a noticeable role in the definition of the Okan architecture :
- The great importance attached to hearing to the detriment of sight explains both the careful attention given to the beautiful acoustic of the Okan, the presence of one to seven music instruments similar to glass organs (cf D68-A/120-16) and the absence of real decoration of the walls and columns.
- The heavy symbolic tied to running water has a result in the presence of several small purification ponds, generally one placed in the centre of the tiers (fed by the main glass organ) completed by one in each lateral "chapels".
- The strict segregation between the working and religious classes lead to several architectural fittings, like the tall separation wall surrounding the tiers, that make impossible for the members of the two main casts to see each other. This concern for invisibility is even applied to the main organist's cabin, perched on the side of the workers tiers, as it is surrounded by metallic grids thats act as louvred shutter.
Even if the pared down style of the building and its simple white-washed walls can often remind well-know examples of Neo-Islamic mosques, the absence of minarets and widespread use of round arcs make the Okan architectural style more related to the pre-space Christian Roman style, while the general plan is similar to the Terran Antiquity basilicas.