An independent rebuild of the Bahá'í House of Worship in New Delhi, from published dimensions and construction notes, in three.js with no model files. Drag to orbit, scroll to zoom. The three fixed views match the ones used in the site lab so the two builds can be compared like for like.
70 m across · 40.8 m high · 27 leaves
Measurements
What the sources say
Footprint
70 m diameter to the tips of the entrance leaves
Height
40.8 m overall; inner leaves 34.3 m above the inner podium; hall 33.6 m high, 34 m across
Leaves
27 free-standing thin-shell concrete leaves, 133 to 255 mm thick, marble clad (Pentelikon, Greece)
Arrangement
Nine sides. An outer leaf stands in front of each inner leaf on the same axis; the entrance hoods sit between the pairs on the nine door axes, so a bud seam stands over every door
Inner leaves
Taller, only partly open: they enclose the hall and leave a glazed gap at the crown
Outer leaves
15.4 m wide, 22.5 m high: near vertical, fanning outward at the tip; tips stop well below the bud
Entrance leaves
18.2 m wide, low hoods over the nine doors with a 7.8 m arch beneath; tips about 13 m up near the podium rim
Grounds
Nine pools between nine bridges, red sandstone walkways, raised podium with nine stairs, 26 acre garden
Capacity
1,300 seated in the hall; nine doors
Method
How it is built
Each leaf is a doubly curved shell: a bezier profile in the radial plane (base radius, mid bulge, tip radius, height) swept across a pointed width curve, with a central crease pushing the ridge outward.
The shell has real thickness: an inner skin offset along the normal, joined by edge returns, so the leaf edges read as the 0.2 m marble returns in photographs.
Nine sides; inner and outer leaves share nine axes, the hoods sit between them on the door axes (a bud seam over each door, as the front photographs show).
Pools are nine basins nested between the entrance leaves: a V-shaped inner edge tucks under the two leaves, straight-sided lobes reach out to about 47 m, and only a 5 m bridge separates one pool from the next, as in the site plan.
Every part is modelled: marble panel seams on the leaves, the ribbed inner dome under a glazed crown, nine framed doors, a three-tier nine-sided podium with iron balustrades, nine stair bridges with railings, sandstone coping on every pool, the ring walk, the south approach avenue with lamps, palms and round-canopy trees in the lawns.
Materials: Pentelikon marble (near white, low roughness), red sandstone walkways, dark basin, lawn; sun from the south-east with soft shadows.
Sources
Read before building
Wikipedia, Lotus Temple · WikiArquitectura, Bahá'í House of Worship, data and plans · Institution of Civil Engineers, How was the Lotus Temple built · studiomatrx, Lotus Temple guide (three rings, leaf behaviour) · worldarchitecture.org, Lotus Temple: a symbol of excellence (spherical leaf surfaces, shell thickness) · learnarchitecture.net, Architecture of the Lotus Temple (entrance leaf 15.4 m × 22.5 m) · Kaarwan, planning diagram (nine pools, bridges, podium).