Scaffolds and dissections: computational reconstruction of Indic temples and their architectural production

This paper presents scaffolds and dissections for the comparative representation and analysis of Indic temple geometry found in temples across South and Southeast Asia. Scaffolds are representational schema that capture classes of constructive geometry such as grids, geometric profiles and procedures from canonical descriptions. Dissections represent horizontal and vertical profiles that capture attribute features of a temple from field measurement methods. Together, they guide the development of 3D schematic reconstructions of individual temples that capture the architectural form of the temple, but also the knowledge of temple production and their architectural lineage. Drawing upon canonical descriptions and previous scholarship on temple geometry, the paper outlines schematic reconstructions of four individual temples. A comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the temples reveals the role of the canonical constructive mechanisms underlying these temples. Individual temples and their similarity features are categorised into a series of related objects in compliance classes. More broadly, both method and vehicle posit a broader understanding of how individual buildings of a particular historical and philosophical lineage may be compositionally connected through the method of scaffolds and dissections and provide a symbolic view of variance in architectural production over time.