MANISHA

B.ARCH 4TH YEAR.

REDEARCH METHODOLOGY

location map

The Bah' House of Worship in Delhi, India, located at 283311.46N

771535.10E

Architectural style

: Expressionist

Location

: New Delhi, India

Completed

: 13 November 1986

Opening

: 24 December 1986

Height

Technical details

: 34.27m

Structural system

: Concrete frame and precast concrete ribbed roof

Diameter

: 70m

Design and construction

Architect

Structural engineer

Seating capacity

SITE PLAN

ZONING PLAN

: Fariborz Sahba
: Flint & Neill
: 1 ,300

THE BAH' FAITH IS A MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION FOUNDED BY BAH'U'LLH IN 19TH-CENTURY

PERSIA, EMPHASIZING THE SPIRITUAL UNITY OF ALL HUMANKIND. THERE ARE AN ESTIMATED
FIVE TO SIX MILLION BAH'S AROUND THE WORLD IN MORE THAN 200 COUNTRIES AND
TERRITORIES

IN THE CAPITAL CITY OF DELHI LIES THE BAHAI MASHRIQU'L-ADHKAR, BETTER KNOWN AS
THE"LOTUSTEMPLE" DUE TO ITS SHAPE LIKE A HALF OPENED LOTUS FLOWER BUILT IN WHITE
MARBLE.

THE TEMPLE IS A SYMBOL OF THE BAHAI FAITH, WHICH BELIEVES IN ONENESS OF ALL
RELIGIONS AND MANKIND. THIS FAITH GIVES EMPHASIS ON PRAYER AND MEDITATION.

THE BAHA'I FAITH IS THE YOUNGEST OF THE WORLD'S INDEPENDENT RELIGIONS. IT'S FOUNDER,
BAHA'U'LLAH (1817-1892), IS REGARDED BY BAHA'IS AS THE MOST RECENT IN THE LINE OF
MESSENGERS OF GOD THAT STRETCHES BACK BEYOND RECORDED TIME AND THAT INCLUDES
ABRAHAM, MOSES, BUDDHA, KRISHNA, ZOROASTER, CHRIST AND MUHAMMAD.

Components of the structure:

Main building consisting of

Basement
Three groups of Nine shells springing from the podium
Double layered Interior dome
Nine arches
Nine ponds
Walkways

Ancillary building consisting of

Information center
Library
Administrative building
Rest rooms

SCARED SYMBOL
o

When one looks closely at Indian architecture, one realizes that despite the outward
dissimilarities to be seen between various temples, we can sometimes discover significant and
sacred symbols regarded as holy and divine by all the Indian religions, symbols which have even
penetrated to other countries and other religions. One of these symbols is the sacred flower of
the Indians, the lotus.

Creative Force
o

The symbolism of the lotus flower (padma, pundarika, utpala) was borrowed by the Buddhists
directly from the parent religion Brahmanism. From earliest history, the lotus flower appears to
have symbolized for Aryans primarily the idea of superhuman or divine birth, and secondarily the
creative force and immortality. The traditional Indian and Buddhist explanation is that the
glorious lotus flower appears to spring not from the sordid earth but from the surface of the
water and is always pure and unsullied, no matter how impure the water of the lake may be. It
thus expresses the idea of supernatural birth and the emergence of the first created living thing
from the primordial waters of chaos.

Architectural Brilliance Of Lotus Temple

It took 10 long years for Fariborz Sahba to complete the Lotus Temple in Delhi. As many as 800
Engineers, Artisans, Workers, and Technicians made their valuable contribution in completing the
temple.
The structure comprises more than 20 Petals that are arranged in 3 Ranks. The petals are made
of concrete cast and are wrapped in Marble. The arches offer the main support to the structure.
There are pools on the outside where you will find reflections of the petals. These are basically
the green leaves of the lotus petals.
There are 9 Entry Points in the temple that open directly into a central hall that can
accommodate as many as 25,000 worshippers.
One of the significant features of the Lotus Temple is the precision with which the temple has
been made without upsetting the Indian history and simultaneously making it an engineering
masterpiece.

 The cost of building the Lotus Temple was Rs. 10 million

Asias one and only Bahai Temple.
During the course of the construction of the Lotus Temple, a lot of hardship had to be faced by
the workers. This was mainly due to the fact that the 9 petals had to be built so close to each
other, that there was little space left for working upon the adjacent structures. This was really
challenging. And there were times when the workers had to work for 48 hours at a stretch to
maintain the continuity of the structure.

Analysis & Design of Structural components:

Spherical surfaces for the Entrance & Outer leaves

Arch soffits have a Parabolic cone shape

Spheres, cylinders, toroids & cones for Inner leaves

Nine intersecting spheres form interior dome

Final geometrically converted shapes were so complex that it took the designers over two & a
half years to complete the detailed drawings of the temple.

In-situ Reinforced Concrete construction

Guniting

Interior dome is 28 m in height and 34m in diameter

Inner leaves are of 200 mm thick and of 33.6 m in height

Outer leaves are of 135 mm from their cusps to the line of glazing, beyond which they thicken to
250 mm and of 22.5 m in height

Entrance leaves are of 150 mm at center to 300 mm thick at their edges and of 7.8 m in height

Shells within the interior dome: 60mm thick

The Worship Hall

 The temple is devoid of deities. There are meditation halls where people of all religion can
gather.

Architectural Blossoming Of The Lotus

o

The temple complex, as seen from the layout, consists of the main house of worship; the
ancillary block which houses the reception centre, the library and the administrative building;
and the restrooms block.

The temple proper comprises a basement to accommodate the electrical and plumbing
components, and a lotus-shaped superstructure to house the assembly

Walk Way & STAIR Way

All around the lotus are walkways with beautiful curved balustrades, bridges and stairs, which
surround the nine pools representing the floating leaves of the lotus. Apart from serving an obvious
aesthetic function, the pools also help ventilate the building.

The top where the leaves separate out, nine radial beams provide the necessary lateral support.
Since the lotus is open at the top, a glass and steel roof at the level of the radial beams provides
protection from rain and facilitates the entry of natural light into the auditorium. Below the
entrance leaves and outer leaves, nine massive arches rise in a ring. A row of steps through each
arch lead into the main hall
The inner leaves enclose the interior dome in a canopy made of crisscrossing ribs and shells of
intricate pattern. When viewed from inside, each layer of ribs and shells disappears as it rises,
behind the next, lower layer . Some of the ribs converge radialy and meet at a central hub.
The radial beams emanating from the inner leaves described earlier meet at the centre of the
building and rest on this hub. A neoprene pad is provided between the radial beams and the top
of the interior dome to allow lateral movement caused by the effects of temperature changes
and wind.

Lotus Temple Information Centre

The Information Centre of the Lotus Temple consists of a ART GALLERY or we can say it a
PICTORIAL MUSEUM having all the information about Lotus Temple and the Bahai House Of
Worship.
Attached is the office of the DIRECTOR of Office Of Public Relations inside who have all the
records of the Concerts, School Trips and everything else happening in the Temple.

LOTUS WATER POND

A glance at the design will show that the 9 pools around the building form the principal
landscaping. At the same time, they represent the green leaves of the lotus afloat on water.
Moreover, the pools and fountains help to cool the air that passes over them into the hall. The
super-structure, the podium, and the pools are designed as an integrated whole, and the parts
cannot be separated from the whole.

SEQUENCES OF CONSTRUCTION
The basement and the inner podium were constructed first. Thereafter, for casting the arches and shells,
the structure was divided into convenient parts, taking into consideration that when de-shuttered , the
portion of the shells cast would be self-supporting until the remaining shells were completed. The
structure was divided as follows:

ARCH.
All around the central hall are nine splendid arches placed at angular intervals of 40 degrees. The shape
of these arches is formed by a number of plane, conical and cylindrical surfaces. The intersection of these
surfaces provides interesting contours and greatly enhances the beauty of the arches. The nine arches
bear almost the entire load of the superstructure.

All 9 arches were cast one after the other in two lifts until the circle was completed. The de-shuttering of
the soffit of each arch was taken up after the adjacent arches had attained specified strength .

INTERIOR DOME
Three ribs spring from the crown of each arch. While the central one (the dome rib) rises radialy towards
the central hub, the other two (the base ribs) move away from the central rib and intersect with similar
base ribs of adjacent arches, thus forming an intricate pattern. Other radial ribs rise from each of these
intersections and all meet at the centre of the dome .Up to a certain height, the space between the ribs is
covered by two layers of 6Omm-thick shells. The intricate pattern of the interior dome

SECTION THROUGH ENTRANCE LEAVE & INTERIOR DOME

Entrance leaves and outer leaves.

The shell surfaces on both sides of the ridge of the entrance and outer leaves are formed out of spheres
of different radii, with their centres located at different points inside the building. There is one set of
spheres for the entrance leaves, some of which define the inner surfaces, and others which define the
outer surfaces of the shells. The diameters of the spheres have been fixed to satisfy the structural
consideration of varying shell thickness.
Similarly, for the outer leaves, another set of spheres defines the inner and outer surfaces of the shells.
However, for the outer leaves, the shell is uniformly 133 mm thick towards the bottom, and increases to
255 mm up to the tip, beyond the glazing line.The entrance leaf is 18.2m wide at the entrance and rises
7.8m above the podium level. The outer leaf is 15.4m wide and rises up to 22.5m above the podium.

VENTILATION
Since the climate in Delhi is very hot for several months of the year, and the degree of humidity
varies, it seemed as though the only solution for the ventilation problem would be airconditioning.
However, this is very expensive to install and maintain, and, therefore, not feasible for a temple
in India.
On the basis of the methods of ventilation used in Ancient buildings, a different, though
complicated solution for the ventilation problem of the Temple has been devised. This, in a way,
can be called NATURAL VENTILATION" , and is based upon the results of Smoke Tests" which
were performed in the Imperial College of London on a model of the Temple.

INTERNAL VENTILATION SYSTEM

o

The results demonstrated that with openings in the basement and at the top, the building would
act like a chimney, drawing up warm air from within the hall and expelling it through the top of

the dome. Thus, constant draughts of cool air, after passing over the pools and through the
basement, flow into the hall and out through the opening at the top.
This ventilation is complemented in two other ways:

A set of exhaust fans is arranged in the dome to cool the concrete shell and prevent transference
of heat into the temple, while

Another set of fans funnel air from the auditorium into the cold basement, where it is cooled and
recycled back into the auditorium.

This system, and its maintenance is by far cheaper than air-conditioning, and our calculations
forecast pleasant and agreeable temperatures inside the Temple.

FINAL SIGNIFICATION
The Lotus represents the Manifestation of God, and is also a symbol of Purity and Tenderness. Its
significance is deeply rooted in the minds and hearts of the Indians. In the epic poem of Mahabharata,
the CREATOR BRAHMA is described as having sprung from the Lotus that grew out of Lord Vishnus navel
when that deity lay absorbed in meditation. There is a deep and universal reverence for the lotus, which
is regarded as a sacred flower associated with Worship throughout many centuries.