This chapter addresses the evolution and interconnection of temple-building traditions across South and Southeast Asia. The remains of early temple architecture are mapped through the comparative analysis of temple geometry through 3D reconstruction. The chapter presents the 3D reconstruction pipeline for combining image-based analysis methods with flexible generative modelling techniques. These 3D schematic reconstructions of individual temples capture the architectural form of the temple as well as the knowledge of temple production and their architectural lineage. Drawing upon canonical descriptions and previous scholarship on temple geometry, the chapter presents schematic reconstructions of four individual temples. A comparative analysis of the similarities and differences between the temples reveals the role of canonical constructive mechanisms underlying these temples. The computational reconstruction of temple geometry is described in the chapter. First, canonical geometry identified from early Indian temple texts is formalized into 3D geometric constructions called scaffolds. Photo-based structure-from-motion (SfM) techniques are used to develop digital point datasets of temple remains. Dissections represent horizontal and vertical profiles that capture attribute features of a temple from field measurements and surveys. Geometric scaffolds and dissections are then combined to propose conjectural reconstructions. The chapter outlines the results and contributions of the work in developing the geometric modelling of early temples. It concludes with an overview of how such digital reconstructions can assist in the conservation of digital cultural heritage in South and Southeast Asia. More broadly, the methods posit a broader understanding of how individual buildings of a particular historical and philosophical lineage may be compositionally connected through computational means to provide a symbolic view of variance in architectural production over time.

This chapter is based on completed research of the author on the connections between the temple-building traditions of India and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. The author would like to acknowledge Dr. David Beynon, University of Tasmania, who was a co-investigator in an Australian Research Council-funded Discovery Project The Influence of Indian Antecedents on Southeast Asian Temples and co-author of the research monograph Digital Archetypes: Adaptations of Early Temple Architecture in South and Southeast Asia. Research students Stuart Hanafin, Michael Sharman, Greg Pitts, Holly Farley and Andrei Smolik assisted with digital modelling, photogrammetry and visual analysis of the temples.