There are echoes of centralised types of different periods and cultures including the Pantheon in Rome, the medieval fortress of Castel del Monte, Mogul tombs, Bengali mosques of the Sultanate period, even Buddhist mandalas and stupas, but these diverse inspirations are fused and transformed in an active configuration of voids traversed by axes and laid out in a clear hierarchy. One recognises too Kahn’s interest in the geometries of nature, including crystals and snowflakes. Above all the spatial conception is modern, a reversal of dense masonry masses: a celebration of voids filled with light.