The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill uses a virtual reconstruction of the Swoyambhu Stupa in Religious Studies 283, The Buddhist Tradition: India, Nepal, and Tibet. Students explore the Buddhist site in Kathmandu to connect reading and discussion with religious spaces and practices. Lauren Leve leads the teaching and cultural research; Jim Mahaney and UNC computer science students support the scanning, reconstruction and VR development.
The current Swayambhu Stories presentation describes a navigable reconstruction with information cards, video and detailed annotations at points of interest. Its developer reports assembling 20,000 photographs and 100 LiDAR scans into an original 14GB architectural and terrain mesh, then optimizing the model for Unreal Engine 5.6. Cesium supplies surrounding terrain. Packages target Meta Quest 3, Windows and Mac. Earlier browser versions used Unity and then Three.js; those versions should not be confused with the native VR application.
The work builds on a Lenovo-funded UNC instructional innovation grant awarded in 2018, followed by collaboration with Buddhist stakeholders and heritage specialists in Nepal. A 2022 prototype combined a site model with community interviews; at that stage VR accessibility was still an ambition. UNC subsequently exhibited VR reconstruction research at its February 2026 CoreAI event. Classroom use is confirmed by reporting published on September 9, 2026.
The project serves both teaching and cultural documentation, preserving measured records and local knowledge that could support future heritage conservation. A current student reported that the model helped contextualize course material. Leve said it was too early to determine students’ learning outcomes.
