Fariborz Sahba spent seven years studying light and water before drawing the first petal. The commission was deceptively simple: build a house of worship without clergy, ritual, or walls. In 1986 he answered with twenty-seven marble petals rising from nine pools, clustered in threes so daylight enters from every side.
The Mathematics of Openness
The nine-sided plan was not ornamental. Bahá’í theology holds that unity does not require uniformity, and the building expresses this with geometric precision. Each petal follows the same curve, yet each turn around the pools reveals a complete new face.
Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness. — Fariborz Sahba