Koothambalam: a night walk through a Kerala temple

Project description

Koothambalam, named after the temple theatres of Kerala, turns a visit to a Kerala temple at night into one continuous scroll. You start at the kalyani, the temple pond where you wash before entering, under a full moon. Then you pass through the gopuram, the timber gateway into sacred ground, and arrive at the rangam, where a Kathakali troupe performs as an offering. Malayalam names sit beside the English ones, and short cards explain the gopuram, Kathakali and the vilakku, the brass lamp tower lit at dusk. The scene is built from painted layers at different depths: sky, moon, temple, courtyard, lamps and foliage. Each layer moves at its own speed as you scroll, so the page feels like walking rather than reading. With sound on, a tanpura drone and temple bells play throughout, and the dance music starts when you reach the troupe. I started with a detailed scene brief, including a layer-by-layer depth table, and art-directed every pass. The illustrations and motion were made with ChatGPT, Gemini and Higgsfield. The site was built with Claude Code in Three.js and WebGL; the paper-cloth cards and drifting clouds use the Cloth and Clouds effects from Canvas UI by David Haz. Inspired by Kage, Meng To’s night walk through a Kyoto mountain temple.