Spontaneous Learning: spaces for social interaction by Emilia Tomasetto

Spontaneous Learning spaces for social interaction emilia tomasetto

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Spontaneous Learning spaces for social interaction emilia tomasetto

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Academic promotor Ignaas Back Contributors Klaas Vanslembrouck, Hilde Bouchez, Tom Callebaut. “Spontaneous Learning: spaces for social interaction” Master Dissertation Thesis 2017-2018. Writtend and edited by Emilia Tomasetto Printed by KU Leuven PrintLab All rights are reserved under international copyright conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-coping, recording or by any information storage terievel system, without permission in writing from the publisher or specific copywright owners. Work and publication made during the course of a personal master dissertation project. © 2018 Emilia Tomasetto Contact Emilia Tomasetto emilia.tomasetto@gmail.com +32 476 79 60 32

KU Leuven, Faculty of architecture Campus Sint Lucas, Ghent 2017-2018 www.arc.kuleuven.com www.internationalmasterofarchitecture.be

“The joy of making, learning, teaching” In collaboration with CEPP Centre for Educational Policies and Practicies

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Table of Contents: _________________ Abstract

Introduction: Diverse Nepal

The Nepali experience Kalidevi Ghandruk

Research Phase Statement Observations Social responsibility History of Nepali composition The city, the house, the school Case studies Interpretation Buffer zones Details and Materiality

Design Rules Reuse Dare to be a landmark Low tech

A Strategy Prototype Kalidevi strategy Ghandruk strategy

Design Phase Design Process Design proposal: Kalidevi - Low tech schemes - Project design - Design choices: materials - Interaction space scenarios - New learning scenarios Design proposal: Ghandruk - Low tech schemes - Project design - Interaction space scenarios

Final reflections

116

Acknowledgments

117

Bibliography

118

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Abstract _________________

Spontaneous Learning: spaces for social interaction is a Master Dissertation included in the framework The Ideal School: limited resources on continuity and identity. The aim of the framework is to

propose a prototype school that can respond to the needs of a limited resources area. The country I have the chance to investigate is Nepal, where I spent one week living with locals, in the rural area of Makwanpur District, getting in touch with the features and the problematics of the school system, in order to propose a grounded design for an ideal school. All the design comes from the observations I did during this dense experience and it is condensed in this reflection paper: my first interest was to understand why the school building is not anymore perceived as part of the community, since the Nepali culture is rooted to the communal social structure. This social behaviour, moreover, is clearly reflected on the architectural forms, characteristic of the country, so my focus was and it remained untill the end the social insight of the learning environment. During the research phase I underlined the main problematic of the school building assessment: it is detached from the community because it does not include spaces for a spontaneous way of learning. The aim of this Master Dissertation is to suggest a strategy that includes these spaces to improve the coherence between the school building and the architectural typology of the Nepali house and bring back the connection between the school and the society. I believe that the education should be the beginning of the social improvement and its main apex. The best way, in my opinion, is to give to the community both a landmark, of which they can be proud, but also a space where they, especially children, can feel comfortable and that can be perceived as familiar, welcoming enough to be the fertile ground of new social dynamics. The following pages show the process from research by design to design by research.

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Kalidevi panorama, personal picture KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Introduction Diverse Nepal

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Introduction: Diverse Nepal

High Mountains 2.500-8.848m alpine climate Middle Mountains 2.000-2.500m cold climate

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Mahabharat 700-2.000m temperate climate Siwalik 500-700m rain forest climate Terai 0-500m tropical climate

Nepal is a small country in the Asian continent, that borders China to the north and India to the east, south and west. This particular feature made of Nepal an in-between country always contended by the two bigger powers, so for a long time Nepal was split between India and China, but from 1768 the country is unified. After more than one rebellion the country became from a kingdom to a federal republic, so at the moment Nepal is a democratic country. Even if Nepal is quite small its main characteristic is that it has extremely various morphologic conditions, from the south to the north, in fact it is possible to find five different situations: _the Terai, corresponding to the Gagetic plain (<500m); _the Siwalik hills, or low hills (500-700 m); _the Mahabharat hills, or high hills (700-2.000m); _the Middle Mountains (2.000-2.500m); _the High Mountains, or Transhimalaya (2.5008.848m). The capital Kathmandu stands in the central area of the Mahabharat, on a height of 1.400 mt and it is the biggest valley of Nepal, called indeed Kathmandu Valley. The origin of the Himalaya is due to the collision between the Eurasian Plate and the Indian Plate, which are converging exactly in the Nepali area, and for the same reason the country has an extreme high risk of earthquakes, which are always been the most traumatic events for the population, just to mention the earthquake in 2015, 7,8 magnitude Richter. The whole country is cut through by a lot of tributaries of the Gange river, in fact almost all the left side tributaries of the Gange come from Nepal. This makes of Nepal a region rich in water. The three main rivers from west to east are the Karnali, the Narayani-Gandaki and the Sapt Kosi. The climate is monsoonal, characterized by a dry season, from November to April, while from May to October is the rainy season. This is the only feature in common for the whole area, but talking about temperature and vegetation all Nepal is equally various. The same morphological areas can be used to describe the variety of climates in the country _the tropical climate, Terai; _the rain forest, Siwalik hills; _the temperate climate, Mahabharat hills; _the cold climate, Middle Mountains; _the alpine climate, High Mountains. The warmest month is May, since is the first month of the wet season, while the most touristic month is November, due to the very green vegetation and the end of the monsoon. Talking about vegetation it goes from a jungle forest in the Terai, to Alpine vegetation in the Middle Mountains, while in the Hill area and the valley the vegetation is generous and fertile, suitable for agricolture.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Kathmandu

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Fig. 1: Climatic zones Nepal, personal drawing

Nepal can be defined as a multi-cultural, multiethnic and multi-lingual country, in fact another part of their tradition which is various is the religion and the language spoken. The national language is nepali, but every ethnic group speaks also a different language, which is an important issue of the public school: there are nepali and english classes, but taught by teachers, which most of the time are not able to speak the local languages, that are more or less 123 different in the whole territory. The religion as well, is multifaceted, the main part of the population is Hindu, but another broad part is Buddhist and in the recent years there is an increase of the cult of Christianism. The problem with the religion is that in the rural areas religion is also health, since there is no possibility for an easy contact with doctors, so people are converting to one religion or another in order to feel more safe.

Fig. 2: Boudhanath Temple, Kathmandu, personal picture

The presence of the majestic Himalaya is a great source for Nepal, its economy, in fact, is based mainly on agricolture and tourism, and the mountains attract a huge amount of tourists every year. The mountains, though, create a big problem in the field of infrastructure: Nepal still has the creation of roads as a heavy issue, because of the complexity of the orography and of the cost of the materials, so at the moment the infrastructure is built by foreign investors, for example from China. This, as well as many other issues of Nepal, is a double faced coin, because people desire modernization to increase the condition of their lifestyle, but modernization means also gentrification and contamination.

The school system in Nepal is well defined in the thoretical way, but the system has some issues that are difficult to control, because the central power cannot reach all the small settlements outside the city center. In the city centers like Kathmandu and Pokhara there are a plenty of private schools where the quality of teaching and the quality of the structures are good, but they are too expensive for the poor part of the population, so outside the center the people have to use the public service of education. The government set the school organization for public education dividing the process in different classes: _Primary Education: 5 years (class 1 to 5); _Middle Education (lower secondary): 3 years (class 6 to 8); _Secondary Education: 2 years (class 9 and 10) of common academic curriculum+2 years (class 11 and 12) of separate streams in different specialization like commerce, education, science or humanities; _Tertiary Education: 5 years (university). The greatest problem of the school system derives from the detachment between teachers and communities: from a local based school system, the government changed the set during the 70s to a centralized control organization, in order to avoid too much active and potentially insurgent teachers and protect the new, fragile democracy. The government sends teachers from the center to the small communities outside to teach their children, but in this way the community doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel the relation between itself and the education system, and on the other side, teachers are uprooted from their own community to teach in a complete new environment where they are foreigner, since most of the times they speak different languages, as mentioned before. The school needs to be again connected strictly to the community and integrated with the life of the settlement. The subjects teached during the primary and the lower secondary school are Nepali, English, Math, Science, Social and Global. The chldren are supposed to go to school everyday from Sunday to Friday, Saturday is a day-off to help the family with agricolture works. All the school timing is regulated by the Nature, since the whole villages live thanks to Her.

Fig. 3: Kalidevi school, personal picture

Fig. 4: Kalidevi library, picture by Juan Thibaut

Fig. 5: Kalidevi school, picture by Carolina Torres Ortiz

Also the bulding of the structure for the schools was regulated by the government and this led to a serie of schools, more or less with the same structure, building techniques and appearance in all the rural areas: a linear building with a concrete structure, minimal, with just the rooms for classrooms and a porch in front. The roof is one of the main issue of the structure, since is usually a wooden structure covered with metal sheets, not really good to prevent overheating and noise. There is not a lot of quality on the existent structures, but the positive thing that I noticed is that the main structure is often in concrete, and this is an advantage, because after the earthquake everyone is wishing for concrete structures to feel more safe. Fig. 6: Ghandruk school, personal picture

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

A walk through the hills, personal picture KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

The Nepali Experience Living Nepal

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 7: group model 1:5000

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Living Nepal

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Kalidevi Kalidevi is a village set in the Narayani zone, Makwanpur district. According to the previous map the village stands on the area of the Mahabharat hills, or Mid-Hills, on a height of 1054 metres asl. To reach the village and spend there one week we had to drive from Kathmandu to the closest stop through Hetauda, then we had to leave the bus and walk for a while. This is the path that all the people from the village have to follow if they want to reach the closest town, Hetauda indeed. The infrastructure is almost non existent for now, even if a road is being built on the east side of the village, but all the houses are connected by different walkable path through the fields. The village is divided in two parts from the promontory where the school stands, with a lower and a higher side. The southern slope is less dense in housing and vegetation, while the northern one is more clearly organized in different fields. The village is a spread settlement, due to the hilly landscape, in fact is extremely difficult to describe precise borders, but from the different paths is possible to notice a sense of proximity. The greatest part of the houses are isolated, the only two public buildings are the school and the church, but both of them are not really landmarks for people. This doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no interaction between them, but that interaction moments happen everywhere.

High Mountains 2.500-8.848m alpine climate Middle Mountains 2.000-2.500m cold climate Mahabharat 700-2.000m temperate climate Siwalik 500-700m rain forest climate Terai 0-500m tropical climate

Kathmandu Kathmandu Kalidevi

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Fig. 8: location scheme, personal drawing

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

View of the Middle Hill panorama. It was difficult in one week to find the orientation of the area, since it is extremely hilly but the school is in a good position, on top of a hill, in between the lower and the upper side of the village.

Fig. 9: personal picture

Fig. 10: Kalidevi surrounding, personal drawing

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Climate Since Kalidevi is in the Mid-Hills area, the climate is monsoonal, as in the whole country, but temperate. The climate conditions are not extreme, since the average temperature is around 10°C in winter and 25°C in summer, but what is affecting a lot the life of the people is the daily excursion and the monsoon. The daily excursion is sensitive, since in winter during the day is not too cold, but during the night the temperature can drop close to 0°C, while during the summer the temperature can rise untill more than 30°C, but then drop again under 15°C. The monsoons can be disruptive since there are no paved roads, so the paths become muddy and the water management is not good enough to face the storms. The monsoons raining seasons are problematic in a way, but on the other side thanks to the rain all the landscape regenerate and from a dusty ground it becomes green and fertile. The wind is another climatic event to take in account when designing a public building, since sometimes can be quite strong, so the design of the roof needs to be well thought.

Fig. 11: temperature chart, worldweatheronline.com

Fig. 12: rainwater chart, worldweatheronline.com

Fig. 13: sunpath chart, sunearthtools.com

Fig. 14: wind chart, worldweatheronline.com

Kalidevi: Coordinates: 27.42°N 85.15°E Zone: Mahabharat Hills District: Makwanpur, Narayani Climate: Temperate Altitude: 1054 m asl Area: 6 Km² Population: 300 inhab. Ethnic group: Tamang Main religion: Hindu

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

The climate charts shows a monsoonal climate with dry winters and wet summers, but what is affecting more the quality of the buildings is the lack of sunlight during the winter season, and poor ventilation during the summer.

Population The most stricking experience I had in Nepal and especially during the week spent in Kalidevi was meeting people with such a different and reach background. My humanistic education brought me to pay always attention on my traditions and culture and I tried to apply the same way of reading the environment around me when I was there. It was mesmerizing how much we can learn from those people and how little they think they can be helpful for us. Spending time with them let me notice some behaviors that are at the base of my thesis and I will never be enough thankful for this, because observing them is also a way to understand better our own culture and appreciate more both. Moreover, this taught me that flexibility is the most important characteristic of a good architect, because even if I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t design buildings just in places so far away from us, needs are always different and respect them is the first step. The main part of the population in Kalidevi sustains itself through farming, all the landscape, in fact, shows the human intervention, all the parts of the ground useful for agricolture were sculpted to obtain terraces where the rice cultivation can occur.

The different properties are marked through irrigation pipes and every house has a part of the land to cultivate. The most poor families see the parents move to the city to find a temporary job, usually for a factory, to earn more money. Men usually works in the fields, while women take care of the houses and children, if they have a small shop, where they sell rice alcohol and snacks, women take care of that as well. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a patriarcal society, but women are definitely the driving force of the life in the village. The main meeting places are the houses where the grocery is and anyway all the porches in front of the houses are used as gathering points. The school is also used as a public space during the election period or parents committee, but still it is not seen as a landmark. One member of the family has to the nearest center, Hetauda, once per week to buy the basic products they need, but now that the road is going to be built they will have easier access to the services. This road is lived as an opportunity for them, but is also harmful for the conservation of their rural traditions, but tradition, from latin tradere, means to transmit, but also betray, so there is always a compromise.

During the meeting we had with the community the best part is notice how a model can explain more than one hundreds words, people started to interact with the scaled maquettes and discussed between each other.

Fig. 15: community meeting, personal picture

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 16-18: Seeing foreigner people look at our job and interact with it was something to be proud of, as well as spend time with children in the class. Personal pictures

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Fig. 19-21: The construction site, how to build a school in limited resources, nothing is better than personal experience.

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Housing Construction The Nepali house has a specific structure, which is common in all the different areas of the diverse country, what changes is the material of the house, since it depends on the availability of some materials and on the climate. The Tamang house has a structure of pillars and beams usually in wood while the walls are in adobe and the roof covering in metal sheet, since Kalidevi benefits of a temperate climate. In colder climates the structure of the walls can change for stone walls and it is possible to find roof in stone slates, especially in mountain areas, where the stone is available and the cold requires better insulated houses. The main room of the house is the kitchen, where all the family meets to seat around the fireplace and eat, usually the kitchen has a column in the middle, which represents the strenght of the house and metaphorically the strenght of the family itself. The bedrooms are usually on the first floor and the storage on the under-roof level, but when the family is too poor to have a two level house the bedrooms are in the groundfloor.

The week on site was the most dense experience we had, and it had no price to have the possibility to live with locals and see with our eyes their way of living. Here is some sketches of the house we lived in, a quite wealthy family with a shop. The structure of the floors is depending on the status o the family, two floors means a good status, while the characteristics of the external structure is similar with all the other houses. Fig. 22-24: on site sketches, personal drawings

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Fig. 25-26: pictures of the house where we lived, the terrace is an important feature, because is the upper floor distribution and creates covered open space on the groundfloor. Personal pictures

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 27: Kalidevi school, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

School Typology The school is a linear building, made of five classes and a teachers’ room, set in an L shape. The space in front is open, used as a playground from the children when the school is out or when the teachers don’t show up. On the south-west side of the main building there are the toilets and the concrete water basin, few meters away, while in the same direction, but farer, there is the library building. The two buildings have the same structure: a concrete frame of pillars and beams supports the walls, which are made, probably of plastered bricks, while the structure of the roof was built in a second moment, with pillars separate from the walls, which create the porch in front of the entrance to the classes, and wooden trusses which lean on top of the concrete beam. The roof is pitched, with a metal sheet covering, which is a very light roof, suitable for the safety during an earthquake, but not really good for insulation against overheating and noise during the raining season. The school is in a very strategic place because is set on a promontory, which is in the middle between the lower village and higher village. This is the perfect spot for a new landmark.

Classrooms

Teachers’ room

Classrooms

Classrooms Playground Classrooms Fig. 28-29: The school floorplan and section is simple, the school is made of just six rooms and a porch in front, surrounded by the playground. In front of the school there is also a walkable road, which connects the two parts of the village, and one is behind. The measurement of the existent school were taken on site with the collaboration of Interior Architecture students. Personal drawings

Classrooms

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Roof: corrugated metal sheet. Almost all the roofs in the village are built in metal sheet, good for earthquake, bad for insulation. A more sustainable alternative can be handmade compressed adobe tiles. Wood work: the structure which support the metal sheet is in sall wood, which is the easiest material to find in the area, a wood with a light color, but when exposed to air becomes dark brown. The trusses are supported by a reinbeam and the columns of the porch, in this way the brick walls are not related to the roof.

Concrete frame: the walls are probably in brick, but supported by a structural frame of pills and beams in concrete. Concrete is for them something reliable against the earthquake. Pillars are sticking out the brickwork and their section is probably 25x30cm

Concrete pillars: these pillars are separated from the framework of the walls, in fact they have a different grid, they are supporting just the roof. 27x27cm section

Concrete plinth: as the most traditional feature of nepali way of building, the school sits on a plinth, called pati, which is made usually by stones rendered with concrete. The pati is 30cm high.

Brick walls: it is unusual to find in this area walls made completely in concrete, since this material is expensive, so most probably the framework in concrete is filled with brickwork, rendered in concrete and plaster. They are pretty thick walls of 25 cm. Fig. 30: Exploded view of the school, personal drawing

Winter 39°

Spring 62°

Fig. 31: Sun and shadows study, personal drawing

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Summer 85°

During the week in Kalidevi we had the possibility to help on the construction site for the enlargment of the school. The locals got interested on this project thanks also to the participation we promoted.

Fig. 32: on site sketches, personal drawing

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 33: Group model 1:5000

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Living Nepal

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Ghandruk Ghandruk is a town in Gandaki zone, Kaski district. From the map, the zone of Ghandruk is the Middle Mountains, in fact it stands on an altitude of, in average, 2000 m asl and it has a cold climate, but still not alpine. To reach this village we walked from Pokhara through the Poon-Hill trekking path, and Ghandruk was the last stop of the trekking. Going around forests and mountains gave us an unbelievable experience of how the people can deal with the distance in this environment, which is completely different from the environment of Kalidevi. Here there are no roads, but the trekking path is so touristic that all the villagers can take advantage of this, opening a lodge, in fact almost all the houses are also lodges for trekkers. The only way to transport goods from the closest center is use the animal power of donkeys and horses, which were always our trip mates. Is quite visible from the first look that this village has more economic opportunities than Kalidevi, because of the location. The settlement is extremely dense, the whole town expands on a side of the mountain and the only building which is a bit more separate from the others is the school.

High Mountains 2.500-8.848m alpine climate Middle Mountains 2.000-2.500m cold climate Mahabharat 700-2.000m temperate climate Siwalik 500-700m rain forest climate Terai 0-500m tropical climate

Ghandruk

Kathmandu Kathmandu

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Fig. 34: location scheme, personal drawing

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

The day we spent in Ghandruk was cloudy, but in normal days the Annapurna is visible from every point of view: the locals have a tight relation with the mountains and the environment. Fig. 35: Ghandruk view from the school site, picture by Carolina Torres Ortiz

Fig. 36: Ghandruk village, personal picture

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Climate Ghanduk is in the geographical area of the Middle Mountains, so the climate is different from Kalidevi, is more clod with temperatures that can drop under 0°C during the winter, because of the altitude, but with hot summer, with temperatures over 25°C. As well it is affected by monsoon, but it presents less water bombs than in Kalidevi, which makes the conditions better, because the rainwater is spread in more raining days. The wind is a real problem, because the wind gust is stronger at this altitude, for this reason roofs made in corrugated steel are not common, and the walls of the houses are often made of stones. This led to a better insulation, both for wind, low temperatures and daily excursion, which is also quite strong. Agricolture in this climate is possible, but because of the complex topography, is not the main economic way of sustenance for the population, farming animals, like muttons and goats is more common. The presence of a gravel road close by makes the effect of the monsoon on the infrastructure less problematic and when I was there I noticed that a new road is being built at the east border of the town, in order to have a better connection to Naya Pul, the closest center with a paved road.

Fig. 37: temperature chart, worldweatheronline.com

Fig. 38: rainwater chart, worldweatheronline.com

Fig. 39: sunpath chart, sunearthtools.com

Fig. 40: wind chart, worldweatheronline.com

Ghandruk: Coordinates: 28.38°N 83.81°E Zone: Middle Mountains District: Kaski, Gandaki Climate: Cold Altitude: 2000 m asl Area: 4 Km² Population: 4.700 inhab. Ethnic group: Gurung Main religion: Hindu

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

In this case the climate charts pinpoint the differences between the two different sites, Ghandruk has a climate more cold but also with more rainy days and wind. The temperatures go under the zero level and it snows during the winter.

Trekking to Poon-Hill I had the chance to visit Ghandruk during our trekking to Poon-Hill, Annapurna. This was one of the most exciting experiences we did in Nepal, even if the itinerary was quite simple it was a pleasure to enjoy beautiful landscapes and to face the fatigue of our backpacks on our shoulders at least for few days. I think this was fundamental to observe a complete new part of the country for us, where the people are not completely separate from the tourists, like in Kalidevi. In these areas, extremely harsh in terms of topography, but also really touristic, the people there had already to confront themselves with the problem of contamination and conservation: all the villages, in facts, live thanks to the tourists and to the farming, so the greatest part of them adapted to respond the needs of trekkers, with lodges and small shops, but ths doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean that they lost their tradition, especially in the field of architecture. The houses there are visibly more qualitative than in other poorer areas, they are most of the time with multiple levels and a strong structure in stone. Since the settlement is really dense, different moments of interaction happen, even on the streets, which have the configuration of stairs, the people can meet and gather, so itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a different way of living the community, caused by the proximity and the different feature of the environment.

Fig. 41: Trekking road, personal picture

Fig. 42: The first view of the village, personal picture

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

All the landscape of the trekking is characterized by pathways made of stone steps, the whole life of a village happens on these steps and the difference of level is the routine for the people living there. It ends up with mesmerizing views of the Himalaya, such as the view from Poon-Hill.

Fig. 43-44: The trekking experience, personal pictures

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Housing Construction The houses in Ghandruk are completely different than in Kalidevi, due to the different availability of materials. The main structure is not in wood anymore, since there is a lack of this material in the areaยน, but it is made of stone, a material instead very qualitative and easy to reach, since all the villages are made out of it. The roof covering for the private houses is in stone slates and probably the pati is as well made of stone rendered with concrete. The only part which is still made in wood is the roof structure, as it is possible to notice from the picture, where the supports for the roof are in wood and also the columns outside the house.

Fig. 45: Ghandruk house characteristics, personal drawing

ยน A. Pokhrel, Ghandruk village profile, Purbanchal University 2012

Fig. 46: Ghandruk stone house, picture by Carolina Torres Ortiz

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 47: Ghandruk school, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

The School The school in Ghandruk is a big secondary school, with a campus typology: the classes and other facilities, like probably a library, are set around the playground which is used from the community for meeting and elections during the days off school. The quality of the building, as well as the quality of the houses, is really better than the one we experienced in Kalidevi, since probably the school was renovated not a long time ago. Old buildings of the previous school are visible in the levels up, now used as teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rooms and housing for the teachers. A new building with a concrete flat roof is set on the east side of the school and it is more playful than the others with tiles outside and colorful pillars. Outside the courtyard there is a basket field quite big, where the children can play and excercise in the morning. The school, besides its construction quality, is in a not really convenient part of the village: is not integrated since it stands on the border of the settlement, completely separated from the community by two gates and it is in the lower side of the village, not interested by any path, to rach it, in fact we had to leave the main road and cut through the whole settlement.

Classrooms

Playground New Building

Old Building

Fig. 48-49: Ghandruk school, plan and section, personal drawing

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Interaction moments, personal picture KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Research Phase the School is the House

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Statement

_________________

When I left Belgium for Nepal I tried to have less expectations, since I had no idea on what I would find there and I had no experiences outside Europe. This helped me to see clearly what was in front of me and read it with a fresh mind. Once we reached the village of Kalidevi my first goal after all the talks we had during the first semester was to understand better how the structure of the society is, because, from my background, the school is, or should be, the mirror of the society and its dynamics. The first confrontation was definitely that the government is not investing at all on the education in the rural areas, so this relation between school and society was clearly interrupted, because of a lack of resources and because of different priorities: the extreme urbanization of the past years brought a lot of people in the cities, where the system of the school is mainly privatized, so the government was more interested on investing for those schools, more than for the public ones. By the way, I continue to believe that a correct and succesful school should be the direct consequence of the local society, so I observed more in deep the life of this amusing population and the features which are missing in the existent school. The research I am going to show in the next pages wants to start from a personal observation, but after this first step wants to be an academic, as scientific as possible, reading of an existent condition, in oder to detect needs and lacks, and have a strong, grounded, rooted base for the design of the strategy for this ambitious goal of building 8.000 schools in the next 3 years. The main goal of the research is to focus on a social behavior of the children and to understand how and why the existent school is not addressing this behavior, starting from the study of their tradition on architectural composition, but, going on, studying also sociological theories which create a connection between the feeling of the space and our, as humans, reaction to it.

Fig. 51: Children gathering, Kalidevi, personal picture

Fig. 52: Adult gathering, Bhaktapur, personal picture

Fig. 50: Interaction moments, personal drawing

Fig. 53: Class under the tree, milijuli.com

The sketches represent my first reading of the interaction moments in Nepal, from gathering, to meeting, to traditional way of teaching

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Observation

THE PEOPLE, THE HOUSE, THE SCHOOL _________________ The first thing I wanted to understand when I get in touch with the Tamang family we were staying with is the moment of interaction between the parents and children, because this is the first activity which usually creates local knowledge and transmission. The reason why I started from this is because from where I come from, Italy, this moment is extremely important and it is also the strongest part of our tradition and it is broadly recorded: eating. In fact, in every school in Italy there is always a dining hall, where the learning process doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop but can pass from a formal system, to a more informal one, where the children can learn from each other. The people in Kalidevi have a strong sense of the family and the family is really the first school for them, since they spend all their time with their children untill they have the age to go to school, but after that, I noticed that eating together is something that they do everyday, but it is not fundamental, is not a ritual. They spend better quality moments with their children doing something, like working in the fields or after dinner, waiting for the time to sleep. In those moment I found the real exchange between parents and children and even between grandparents and grandchildren. The grandmother of the family where we were staying was always joining after dinner, to talk and drink the rice alcohol

together, more than for the real dinner, and in these occasions I appreciated a lot the openess and the transparency of those people: we were talking about a lot of strong topics, like life choices and money problems, with freedom even if the children were there. This observation made me understand why, firstly, the school is not presenting any dining hall, but instead it has a porch: because that is the place, for them to address external interaction. On the other side, I still wanted to go a step forward and see what is another moment of exchange for them and at the end of the week I came to the conclusion that children, after the school age, they spend more time between each other, gathering around with older boys or girls, and learning from them, more than with parents and I found this a point of potential. This conclusion was even more supported by an experience we had the last day: after a week with the translator from CEPP, the last night we had to stay without her and this was a great opportunity to challenge ourselves to interact even with the wall of language. We discovered that one of the boys in the house was perfectly able to speak in english and he never did it before because it was not really necessary, but now that he was the only bridge between us and them, he took this responsibility. All my topic started from these observations, which are not scientific, I am conscious of that, but architecture and society are not always scientific matters.

Children playing, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t matter what is happening, children will always find a place for their games.

Fig. 54: Children gathering, picture by Carolina Torres Ortiz

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Social Responsibility

_________________

Starting from the observation, work in a social field is a broad topic, so at the beginnign I want to explain what is the social responsibility I am talking about and which are the characteristics of the space that can promote this behavior, according to sociological and neurological researches. This information was useful to add more details to the design. Social responsibility means to feel comfortable enough to share with someone else our knowledge, enough to feel resposible also for the other children and interact with them even when the teachers are not there, which is a common situation. The question is how to create a space that can afftect the comfort of a person, a Nepali person.

Fig. 55: Reference book covers

Psychology of architecture is a thematic quite recent in the architectural discourse, but since a few years it started to enter the debate, thanks to Heinrich Wölfflin: “How is it possible that architectural forms are able to express an emotion or a mood?”¹ According to Wölfflin the reason why spaces can affect human feelings is because we have a sensorial body, which teaches us the fundamentals of proportions, weight, gravity. Humans have the tendency to read the space around them interpreting it as an expression of themselves, so humanizing it. For example a curved line is more appreciable than a zigzag one, because we can read ourselves more on a curve, because our body has no sharp angles. The topic developed from Psychology of architecture to Architecture and Empathy with Harry Francis Mallgrave and Juhani Pallasmaa, which applied the mirror effect, recently discovered in the neurological sciences, to the experience of architecture². Simplifying a quite complex system, mirror neurons are responsible of the active reaction of our brain to a stirring, provoked by the eyesight of an action, a piece of art or even a space. To have an example, when we look at a pianist perform a song our brain reacts imagine ourselves paying the piano. This can seem far from the architectural field, but it means that specific points of view in a building can provoke differen reactions to the audience, and even a particular space can inspire a feeling on the person which is experiencing the space. Space is made of proportions, relations and materiality, and since architecture is “a realm that is deeply biologically, culturally and mentally grounded”³, the first step is to investigate the culture of architecture for Nepal and design something that is familiar to the people which has to live the space, but in the same time stricking enough to move them to action. ¹ H. Wolfflin, Prolegomena to a Psychology of Architecture, Getty

Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1994 ² H. F. Mallgrave and o., Architecture and Empathy, Tapio Wirkkala-Rut Bryk Foundation 2015 ³ J. Pallasmaa and o., Architecture and Neuroscience, Tapio WirkkalaRut Bryk Foundation 2013

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

History of Nepali Composition

Fig. 50-52: The following schemes represent the shift between a spiritual concept, the mandala (fig. 50) to an architectural insight for the drawing of the plan of a temple (fig. 51), with the final plan of the perfect house (fig. 52).

_________________

Getting into the Nepali traditional way of building is necessary to cite the Vastu Sastra. The Vastu Sastra is a doctrine whch regulates the way of building and planning the city in Nepal, according to the Mandala. The Mandala is a religious circle, which represents Brahma in the middle, surrounded by different circles of minor deities. This application of the divine cosmology to architecture gives specific rules about the hierarchy of spaces for cities, houses and temples, following this doctrine all of these can become mandalas and have “the same cosmic-magic effect on the initiated town dweller as the mandala had on the yogi.”¹ There are different kind of mandala, according to different modules, but the most common is the 81 square mandala. The Vastu Purusa is the spirit of the building and it’s represented as the cosmic man superimposed on the mandala: this should guide the architect, in order to respect the most important part of the building, the vital organs of the cosmic man and his heart are placed in the square of Brahma, because these are the most important spaces, which can bring good or bad luck to the owner according to the design. The other important part of the house is the North-East side, where the head of the cosmic man is. This is the side from where the feminine and masculine spirit can enter the house, to have a house in harmony this side should be open to welcome the spirits. These and other norms are part of the Vastu Sastra, which is translated in a specific house plan where all the elements are in balance, the center is dedicated to the Space, with the four elements around, with a special attention to the Water, the North-East side. This is the base of the architectural composition, historically, and it can tell a lot on the architecture typology.

Fig. 56: mandala, personal drawing

Fig. 57: vastupurusa 9x9 squares, drawing by J. L. Aranha

Fig. 58: The perfect house plan, personal drawing

¹ J. L. Aranha, A comparison of traditional settlements in Nepal and Bali, from TDSR Vol. II, IASTE 1991

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

The implications of the Vastu Sastra doctrine are visible both on the plan of Kathmandu and on the plan of the traditional Newari settlements: _in the city map is possible to see how the city developed, from the center, where the Durbar Square is with the temple, to the first matrika and the second matrika, rings around the central spot. Traditionally those rings were divided in castes, The higher castes were closer to the center, while the lower were farer. To protect the city from the evil forces outside it was fortified by walls. _in the housing settlement the configuration is the same, a shrine in the middle, on the courtyard, with the private rooms around and going farer from the center the space becomes more and more public since it is outside the house. ThsĂŹis can be read as the wall which fortifies the city, a border between harmony and caos. This means that the structure of the house reflects the structure of the city, with a private, and sacred heart and a serie of buffer zones to protect it around, since the public space comes, the last ring.

Fig. 59: Newari cluster, Bhaktapur, personal picture

Fig. 61: Newari settlement, drawing by J. L. Aranha

Fig. 60: Kathmandu map, drawing by J. L. Aranha

Private

Sacred Private rooms and shops

Profane First ring: high caste Temple

Shrine

Second ring: suburb

Public porch

Fig. 62: City scheme from the map above

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Fig. 63: House scheme from the plan above

Public

The City, the House, the School _________________

Stated that the organization of the city and the house in the Nepali tradition are similar and comparable, what is the role of the school? Since in the Nepali tradition there is no recorded connection between the school and the city, since the education in the ancient times was happening under a tree, we have to borrow the theory about this relation from the western academic research. Herman Hetrzberger, a Dutch architect which took as fundamental the social insight of architecture, said “the city is the best school” and in his “Space and Learning”¹ he compares the school to a microcity, because the school, as well as the city, express itself the best in the spaces which are not functionally fixed. The process of education is more composite than the plain formal education in the classes, and it inevitably involves the city, or the community. The school needs to be the catalyst for learning, not only the subjects taught, but also the social life, the dreams, the future. The places which best address this spontaneous leaning are, according to Herman Hertzberger, the in-between spaces, corridors, halls, common spaces, both for the school and for the city, because the public domain is the place which gives the fundamental character to a city. The school needs to redefine its function, promoting and enhancing the opportunity of meeting and exchanging, blending into one with the community. If the school has to be a micro-city, and in Nepal the structure of the City is similar to the structure of the House, the investigation of the relations between the school and the house is a field of potential in my research, in order to discover which are the lacks of the structure of the existing school. Moreover, the structure of the city in Nepal is opposite than the structure of the western cities, which we are used to, so a comparison needs to be done.

Private Public

Private houses

Public realm

Fig. 64-65: Scheme and example of a city block, LiMa Housing

Classrooms

Public hall

Fig. 66-67: Scheme and example of the Presikhaven School

If the House is the City (nepal) and the City is the School (h. hertzberger), is the School like the House?

¹ H. Hertzberger, Space and Learning, 010 Publishers 2008

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Case Studies

_________________

The following chapter represents the investigation on the relation between the assessment of the house and the one of the school in three different ages and cultures: the Flemish culture, the Roman culture and the Nepali culture. Since, from the Vastu Purusa, the gradient of the house goes from intimate, sacred, to open, public, I studied the case studies from this point of view, in order to prove that in both roman and flemish cultures, but I could bring even other examples, the school is the direct translation of the house in public building, where the open space is public, and the small rooms, classes or family rooms, are private. This occur because the house is the first educational experience for the child and when it is the time of the passage to the school the best way to avoid shocks is to have a school which is the image of the house. The familiar atmosphere is something largely investigated by Herman Hertzberger and Aldo Van Eyck, indeed, their projects of school are extremely precise in the design of the relation between spaces and points of view. In both the references, the schools created by those two sensitive architects are far from having loose ends. Proportions, relations and materiality are carefully design to avoid any type of hierarchy between children and to inhance the exchange between them. The following drawings were drawn by myself and explain the structure of the building in their privacy gradient.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Fig. 68: The first learning environment is the house, personal picture

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 69: traditional facades in Bruges, picture from website

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Flemish Typology

Private Public Scale 1:250

bedrooms

courtyard

kitchen

living

entrance

courtyard kitchen

living

Flemish House The typical Flemish house is here shown in plan and section. Since the tradition of Belgium is to have the house developed in vertical, the difference between public and private is readable in section. On the groundfloor there is the livingroom, the most public space of the house, going further the rooms become more and more private, but as well going up the rooms become bedrooms and this is the most intimate part of the house.

Fig. 70: plan and section of a traditional flemish gable house, personal drawing

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Fig. 71: facade of the school, picture from website

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Private Public Scale 1:250

classroom

playground

public services

Flemish School De Springplank school in Bruges is here took as an example of a flemish school whch has the same system of a house: on the groundfloor all the functions are public, while going up there are the classes, a more protected space for children.

Fig. 72: plan and section of the Springplank School in Bruges, design by Thys Vermeulen, personal drawing

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Fig. 73: Historical picture of the Domus, 1880, picture from website

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Roman Typology

Private Public Scale 1:250

atrium

porch

garden

atrium garden

private rooms porch

Domus and Palestra The roman domus is usually set around a peristyle, the atrium and the peristyle are the public spaces of the house, to welcome people from the community. On the next page: the Palestra was the educational buildings in roman age, it was a place where the body and the soul could get together, with a playground in the middle, where children could excercise, and rooms around.

Fig. 74: plan and section of the Domus of the Faunus, Pompei, personal drawing

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Fig. 75-76: Ruins of the Gymnasium, Cyrene, picture from website. On the right page plan and section of the Gymnasium of Cyrene, personal drawing

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Private Public Scale 1:250

porch

garden

classroom

classrooms

porch

garden

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 77: Newari house facade, Bhaktapur, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Nepali Typology

Private Public Scale 1:250

shop

porch

kitchen

shop

kitchen

porch

shrine

shop

porch

courtyard

private house

Newari House The structure of the newari house, as explained before, in the opposite of the Roman typology, with a sacred, intimate space in the middle, private rooms around and the public space outside, in front of the house, usually under a porch. This is an extremely important place, all the houses, not only from the Newari culture, have it, and it is one of the most used exchange place.

Fig. 78: plan and section of a Newari settlement, personal drawing

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 79: Tamang house facade, Kalidevi, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Private Public Scale 1:250

bedrooms

porch

fireplace

shop

fireplace

Tamang House The Tamang house has a system comparable to the Newari one, with the fireplace in the center of the house, an intimate place, with the porch outside, with a shop as a buffer zone between the two. The central space is characterized by the presence of a column, which represents the strength of the building and the strenght of the family nucleus.

Fig. 80: plan and section of a Tamang house, personal drawing

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Fig. 82: Kalidevi school, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Private

Dichotomy between school and house

Public Scale 1:250

classroom

playground

classrooms

porch

playground

Kalidevi School Firstly, it is important to explain that the playground in the Nepali schools is used as public space from the community, since is not a closed space and it is used during the community meeting, like election days and committees. Looking to the drawings the system of the school is opposite than the one of the Nepali house, in fact the public space is centralized, same configuration of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;campusâ&#x20AC;?, with the classes, which should be a more intimate space, facing the playground.

Fig. 83: plan and section of a Tamang house, personal drawing

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Fig. 84: Ghandruk school, picture from website

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Private Public Scale 1:250

classrooms

playground

clas

sroo

porc

play

grou

Ghandruk School In Ghandruk the school is way bigger bur it presents the perfect structure of “campus”, where the classes frame the playground which is used from the whole community, destroying the concept of protection for the education spaces. The east side of the building is a new structure added later, while the building on the south side is an old building probably used for offices and teachers’ room.

Fig. 85: plan and section of Ghandruk school, personal drawing

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Fig. 86: Kalidevi new buffer zone, perspective section

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Interpretation At the end of the case study section the interpretation of this part of the research is simple: the school should respond coherently to the structure of the house. A possible solution, which will be presented more in deep in the design chapter, is to create a buffer zone, a space for interaction between the children in the place where now the playground is set, in order to protect the classes better and to promote different kind of relations between child and child and between teachers and children.

Fig. 87: suggested interpretation of the research: creation of a new covered space to filter the playground and the classrooms, with a new interaction space, personal drawing

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Buffer Zones

_________________

Urban Porch Since the answer to the problem of coherency of the school plan is to create a new buffer zone, it is necessary to define those buffer zones and understand their characteristics. The first is the urban porch, set in front of the houses, which is used for meeting people, but also to sell some products or to work together with other people of the community. The model shows the materiality of the space and its proportions.

Fig. 88-89: Picture and model of the urban porch, the most public space in the Nepali house, the pati.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Rural Porch The second type of buffer zone is similar to the first, but it is in the rural area. Everything happens there, children play, parents work, community gathers. The materiality is pretty different, since the area is rural.

Fig. 90-91: Picture and model of the rural porch, a community meeting space.

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Public Structure The last type of buffer zone is an hexagonal structure, which can be found all over the country, and can address the needs of people outside the community. In the trekking route are used to relax and have rest from the walk, or it can be used for more formal activities like committee.

Eventually, the characteristics of the buffer zones in Nepal are: _buffer zones are always a covered space; _they are on a higher level of the pati; _they are open, but enclosed by a naked structure; _there is always a place to sit; _the height is not high: attention on the proportions; _they are always a filter between the street and the house, or between a community and strangers.

Fig. 92-93: Picture and model of the public structure, these small pavilions offers shelter all over the country.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Details and Materiality

_________________

The importance of materiality, according to the statement of Mallgrave, is crucial to obtain a specific feeling of a space, he stated that “architecture, of course, design objects or materials in a way that they touch one another—purposely, not accidentally”. This brings in the game the importance of mirror effect and the touch, so to obtain a feeling of familiarity and protection first of all we have to investigate the details of the Nepali tradition, which are quite interesting because they have a traditional way of deal with the wooden joints. Vertical Joints To deal with the point of contact of a beam with a column, the most common way is to create a puzzlejoint to obtain a stronger connection.

Fig. 94: On site sketch of the vertical joint between pillar and beam.

Fig. 95: Connection pillar-beam, personal picture

Fig. 96: Connection pillar-roof beam, personal picture

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Horizontal Joints The peculiarity of the horizontal joints is that they as well have a puzzle-joint with a nail to support the connection, but this creates a flexible joint which can move, so it is flexible enough to respond better to the earthquakes.

Fig. 97: On site sketch of the horizontal joint between pillar and two beams.

Fig. 98: Connection beam-beam, personal picture

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Fig. 99: Connection beam-beam, personal picture

Frames and Decorations Frames are built in a specific way, usually they are load-bearing, so they are part of the wooden frame which supports the adobe covering of the walls. To add the other parts of the window or door frame probably they use joints and nails. The wooden decoration for columns, windows and edges are common in every part of Nepal, the more are complex, the higher is the status of the family living in the house.

Fig. 100: On site sketch of self supporting window

Fig. 101: Wooden window of the library, Kalidevi, picture by Eda Uraz

Fig. 102: Detail of the wooden decoration, Kathmandu, personal picture

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Exterieor view of the project, personal collage KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Design Rules from research to design

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Design Rules

_________________

Starting from the research is clear the need of an intervention to address not only the formal learning moment, but also the interaction activities. The best way to achieve a good quality space is to respect the Nepali way of gathering that I explained in the Buffer Zone chapter and to try to recreate a more familiar atmosphere, as the Case Study research teached me. In a country where the resources are limited these reflections are not enough to propose a grounded design, so in this chapter the rules of my design will be explained more in deep, since it is important to take in account the material availability, the climate and the community situation. The design rules need to be fixed above all because the goal of this Master Dissertation is not a nice school design, but a proposal which, variated according to the context, can be reused for the realization of 8000 schools in the next 3 years. This ambitious target is set by the NGO organization CEPP (Centre for Educational Policies and Practices), with which we collaborated in the organization of our trip in Nepal and which gave us the possibility to have translators and guides during the week we spent in Kalidevi. The relevance of a prototype project will be discussed further. This atlas of considerations I made during my design process can be seen as a vademecum for a school project in Nepal and empirically they can be applied not only in Kalidevi but in all the other places where the school building needs to be improved.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Reuse

_________________

Limited resources means not only that the availability of materials is always a question mark, so the design choices will be a compromise between environment, cost and safety, but also that waste needs to be avoided as much as possible. The first design rule, which is the base of my design, is to maintain the existent structure of the school, in the parts that are qualitative and useful, and demolish the parts which are not responding to the needs of the children. In every situation the first step is to evaluate the existent situation in order to understand which parts of the school can be reused and which are field of potential in the demolition. Sometimes demolish a part can create more possibilities but this depends on the context.

Just with a new roof a class can achieve much more quality without demolish the whole structure.

Fig. 103: Existent class Kalidevi, perspective section

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Dare to be Landmark

_________________

Since it is stated that the school has to reflect the society it is important to include in the project a space for the community, taking in account the local use of the space and the interaction moments. The school environment and the classes must be protected, but since the school is almost the only public building identified in a lot of rural villagesยน, a strong design rule is to include a community pavilion or a community space that can welcome all the people from the village. At the moment the classrooms or the playground are used also for public committees and election days, but they are not enough equipped for this, so promote interaction not only between children but also between the school system and the parents is really important. The school will take advantage on being a landmark for the settlement.

Fig. 104: Kalidevi school, view of the model from the walking path. The position of the school is an advantage to reach the landmark status, since is set on top of a hill.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Low-tech as Starting point _________________

Low techniques is the last rule to follow in order to achieve a qualitative learning space, especially in a country where the environmental conditions are so various. I started investigating the peculiarities of the site, Kalidevi, in order to use them in advantage of the project, so natural sunlight and reuse of water are two of the basis of the design. Ghandruk, instead, presents different environmental characteristics, so I used the second site as a test: what can happen to the design if the conditions change? In this case, even if I maintained some aesthetic parts in common, the design changes according to the different needs: while in Kalidevi the sun and the water are the features to take in account, the temperature and the fire are the focus points for a site in a cold climate.

Fig. 105: Ghandruk school, the focus point is the fire so the chimney is the protagonist of the design, perspective section

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Strategy model, personal picture KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

A Strategy Prototype 8000 schools/3 years

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

A Strategy Prototype

_________________

As said before, the goal of the studio is to propose a design that can address the need of 8000 new schools in three years, so the first step talking about this is to define the term prototype: it has more than one meaning, but the most direct is a shape prototype, where the whole building can be replicated infinite times where is needed. This module approach has several advantages, first of all, thinking about one single building, the module can reach a very good quality because all the focus is on one building, moreover the repetition leads to some kind of perfection, since all the mistakes in the building phase can be fixed the next time, making the project better and better. The disadvantage of the module is that it has to be is flexible enough to answer the extreme diversity of Nepal, otherwise it will fail. My first question was: is it a prototype of shape the best answer? Going back to the design rules I expressed, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe in a prototype of shape for my own approach, so I think the best way is to define a strategy prototype that can lead the design while the shape can adapt to the environmental needs.

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

I started from the idea of reusing the classrooms, but with the ambition of making them better with a simple proposal, which integrates sunlight, different heights, new spaces for children and new spaces for the community. The way to reach this goal is through the construction of a light structure that empirically can be built fast using mostly local materials.

Fig. 106: Axonometric scheme of the building in Kalidevi, the roof is shaped according to environmental reasons.

Fig. 107: Axonometric scheme of the building in Ghandruk, the shape is different because the conditions are different.

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Kalidevi Strategy The strategy I am proposing is simple, the first step is to evaluate the condition of the building and decide which is the weak point. The next one is to see, removing this weak point, which are the possibilities that the building can give and through the creation of a light structure above the existent achieve a better quality inside the existent classrooms and provide different spaces and moments to address new functions, first of all the interaction space that works as a buffer zone between the public and the intimacy of the classrooms. The shape of this new structure changes according to environmental conditions. The addiction of the structure should improve the status of the building and should create new possibilities.

Step One: evaluation of the existent condition

in kalidevi the weak point is the roof which is a metal corrugated sheet bad for thermal and acoustic insulation

Step Two: demolish the roof

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

the walls of the classrooms are qualitative and reliable since they are in concrete, good opportunity to keep giving a new color for a better atmosphere

Step Three: addiction of a new structure to cover the space

this structure will create different kind of classrooms with different heights, open air classes and covered interaction space

through one gesture the school not only address new functions for children but provides also a community pavilion in the front facade

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Ghandruk Strategy Ghandruk is taken as a test to evaluate the flexibility of the strategy, which remain the same, but with different characteristics caused by the different climate. It is important to notice that the climate affect also the social behaviour, for example the meeting spaces in Ghandruk are mostly enclosed, heated spaces, since during the winter the temperature doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t allow the outside gathering. As well as in Kalidevi the addiction of a new structure on top of the existent gives the possibility to enhance the actual condition.

Step One: evaluation of the existent condition in ghandruk again the roof is in corrugated steel sheet, so it has the same weak point, especially in a cold environment

Step Two: demolish the roof

the walls of the classrooms are even more qualitative since are made of stone

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Step Three: remove two classes in order to have building more open to the community. new rooms will be included in the project

ghandruk school is in a not very convenient part of the village, far from the center: open up the structure is a field of opportunity

Step Four: addiction of a new structure which include a chimney, in order to heat the interaction space and through air directioning also the new classrooms

the strategy is in this way tested for two different situations

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Interior view of the project, personal collage KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Design Phase Spontaneous Learning

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Design Process

_________________

The design rules I set at the beginning are basically the real development of my project: first I took in account the environmental characteristics of Kalidevi, especially the sunlight situation and the rainwater precipitation, because these are the main climatic features of the area. The shape of the proposal is strictly dependent on these two peculiarities. The second part went through the design of the main facade of the school, which is the connection between the community and the school itself, so in this moment I focused more on the design of the community pavilion. In the last phase I played more with the inner space in order to create different moments and different experiences, so I proposed different kind of classes, according to the ambition of promoting different kind of learning, and scenarios for the possible uses of the interaction space. Fig. 108: Model of the first proposal

Fig. 109: Model of the development

Fig. 110: Model of the development

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

In the previous part I focused more on Kalidevi because is the site that we experienced more during the trip, but then I used Ghandruk as a test to prove that even if the shape and materials change, the strategy can be coherent. For this reason the steps were the same, I investigated the main environmental features and I propose an intervention that can improve the existing situation. The shape follows the needs of climate and some recognisable forms, such as the cylinder which in Kalidevi is a water storage, change function and become a chimney, because the fire and the temperature are the real needs of the cold area.

Fig. 111: Model of the first concept

Fig. 111: Model of the development

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Design Proposal: Kalidevi _________________

The situation plan of Kalidevi shows clearly how the village is spread and how the school is the only recognized public building. As said before my intention is to create a new structure where a new buffer zone is integrated with the ambition of making better also the existent situation, aiming for a school building more suitable for learning, but also more involved in the community. Once understood that the sunlight coming from the south can be the way to make better the existent classrooms, I based my design proposal on that, trying in the same time to combine the water disposal and also a shape that could be perceived as a landmark. The design process started mainly from a section which showed the possibilities that this shape can create, for example the sunlight entering from the south and the possibility to collect the water easily. Then I switched to plan to integrate also the community space, which respects the characteristics of the gathering places I explained in the research, such as the presence of a covered structure, a place to sit and a space articulated by the structure itself. Eventually I started to go more in deep on the quality of the spaces that this structure can provide trough a serie of images and scenarios. Beside the interaction moment, which I believe needs to be as free as possible, with this project and its creation of new spaces I want to express my idea that a population like Nepali, which is poor and with limited resources in the rural areas, can have a spur in being curious and feeling proud of the community school building. For this reason the project presents more than one typology of class and space, in order to attract the attention of a population that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t trust anymore on the system. A model 1:20 was the last test to perceive the atmosphere.

Fig. 112-115: On the left page, situation plan, scale 1:1000. On this page, concept schemes, personal drawings

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Low Tech Schemes sunlight

Sun inclination 39° winter

Sun inclination 62° spring

Sun inclination 85° summer

Fig. 116-118: schemes

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

Natural

sunlight

Low Tech Schemes ventilation and water disposal

Warm air 30째 Cold air 22째

Warm air 30째 Cold air 5째 Sunlight

Reused water Rainwater

GE RA O ST ER Q T M WA 0 IN 19 RA

Fig. 119-121: Natural ventilation scheme, bamboo louvers, rainwater disposal scheme, personal drawings

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Project Design: groundfloor plan scale

1:100

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Project Design: perspective section scale

1:50

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ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Design Choices: Materials scale

1:30

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

The materiality of the project is important, as shown in the research, to achieve the familiar and warm atmosphere, so the idea is to maintain the strong concrete feeling of the walls in the groundfloor, but in the same time use lighter materials for the new structure, from wood to bamboo. In this way there is a gradient of materials from heavy to light, using local resources and keeping the details of the joints which are so specific in the Nepali tradition. It is interesting how this tradition gives importance to the visibility of the joints, almost as if they would trust more on something that they can see and, through the sight, understand. Because of this all the joints are visible, especially the detail of the connection of the bamboo to the wooden structure, which is made with a steel profile. The only part of the structure which is not light is the roof covering, in tiles, I chose this material to avoid noise during the raining season and to insulate better the rooms from the overheating. The insulation of the roof consists of a layer of earth between the ceiling and the roof tiles. Moreover the earth is also creating a load, well responding to the wind gust, which during the monsoon can be very strong.

Roof tiles

Earth insulation layer Bamboo beams

Fig. 122-124: Materials choice: saal wood, bamboo, tiles with earth insulation. Model of the facade.

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Interaction Space Scenarios Dry Season

_________________ The central part of the plan has the function of a buffer zone, where all the interaction moments between the children can happen in a more informal environment. I want to show through inner views the potential of this space and its flexibility, since it can respond to several needs. The difference of level between the outside and between the classes creates a hierarchy of spaces, in analogy with the concept of the pati. The open structure provide covering and shelter but let the air flowing in order to avoid overheating during the hot summer, also it encloses and articulates the space.

Fig. 125: Inner view of the interaction space scenario when the school is off or when the teachers are absent, and the children can use it freely.

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Fig. 126: Inner view of the interaction space scenario when there is a special class and the teachers can get more close to the pupils.

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Interaction Space Scenarios Wet Season

_________________ Another feature that I wanted to show is the relation between the nature and the social interactions, in a climate where the monsoons are leading the human life the raining season creates new opportunities of meeting and gathering and the interaction space I am proposing can address also the climate change needs, attracting for example people from the community to find a shelter in the covered space, starting in this way new dynamics.

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Fig. 127: Inner view of the interaction space scenario when it is raining.

103

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

New Learning Environment _________________

Beyond the interaction space I propose also different kind of classrooms in order to promote more active learning, so the structure of design can provide also these new possibilities.

Fig. 128: Inner view of the class on the new upper floor and relation with the old classroom, which will become a double height space.

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Fig. 129: Exterior view of the open air classroom on the roof, the corridor in this way becomes not only a passage to access the new classrooms, but also a usable space.

105

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106

Design Proposal: Ghandruk _________________

Ghandruk presents a completely different situation than Kalidevi, the village is more compact and the school is set at its eastern border, on a lower plain. Since this part is a test to prove that the strategy presented before can work in different climates, the design started equally from a section, but taking in account different characteristics: if in Kalidevi the characteristics of the climate are related to the sunlight and to the water, in Ghandruk the peculiarities are related mainly to the temperature, which can go under 0 Â°C, and to the wind, which is stronger than in Kalidevi, due to the different altitude. Starting from this base the shape of the building changes, the butterfly roof turns into a pitched roof maintaining the different height in order to achieve the same quality light in the existent classrooms. In the social field I am working on, it is fundamental to take in account how the difference of temperature can change the social behavior, in fact while in a warm climate the community gathering can happen in an outside space, since the temperatures never go under a certain level, in a cold climate, as we experienced during the trekking, the most dense interaction moment is around the fire, in a heated closed space.

For this reason the cylinder which is a strong feature of the project in Kalidevi here becomes a chimney, in this way the interaction space in Ghandruk school becomes suitable both in winter and in summer and with pipe installation I suggest the possibility of heating also the upper floor classrooms, through the air heated by the fire. The chimney is important also to avoid bad quality air in the closed space, the open fire, in fact is a problematic common in the whole country. Talking about materials, in Ghandruk wood is not a material easy to reach, since it is mostly used for fire burning, but the concrete and steel are available, due to the presence of a road which connects Ghandruk to Naya Pul. The materials I am proposing, for this reason change from wood to concrete (or steel) for the vertical supports, while the bamboo trusses can still be used. The bamboo louvers in facade are suitable for the warm season, but in winter are not working good, since are not insulated. What I am proposing is a second frame with a clear plastic sheet that can insulate better during the cold season and that can be removed during the summer.

Fig. 130-132: On the left page, situation plan, scale 1:1000. On this page, louver adaptation for summer season and winter season, model of front facade to show the louvers.

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ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Low Tech Schemes sunlight

Sun inclination 39° winter

Sun inclination 62° spring

Sun inclination 85° summer

Fig. 133-135: schemes

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

108

Natural

sunlight

Low Tech Schemes ventilation and water disposal

Warm air 15째 Cold air 0째 Smoke

FIREPLACE

Warm air 15째 Cold air 0째 Smoke

Fig. 136-137: Ventilation and air heating scheme

109

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Project Design scale

1:100

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

110

111

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Project Design scale

1:50

KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

112

113

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Interaction Space Scenarios Summer and Winter _________________

Inner views images are the most suitable way to show the quality of the project, so I wanted to show both situation, in summer, when the climate is temperate, and in winter when the temperature drops.

Fig. 138: Inner view of the interaction space during the summer

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Fig. 139: Inner view of the interaction space during the winter

115

ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY _ THE IDEAL SCHOOL NEPAL

Final Reflections

_________________

Giving an end to the design process, my initial ambition was to propose a strategy that can address needs in different zones of Nepal, beginning from the idea that the existent schools are not responding to social demands, and this is the reason why the communities and the school system are now detached. I ended up with a design that wants to create spaces and opportunities, both for students and communities, respecting the Nepali way of living, learning and enjoying. In the same time the design walks two different parallel paths, the social and the technical, which I intersected, integrating in the project also the loe techniques application and taking in account the environmental situation. Nepal is a country where the life is still related to nature and it is a pity to not appreciate and take advantage from this feature, which makes the country so rich. From the intersection of these two paths, the design shows that most of the interventions are not only promoting new social dynamics, but they are also enhancing the environmental quality of the building. This coexistence between social and environmental I think is the character of my project, joined with an attempt of respect a broad and rich culture that I got in touch for a small percentage during our travel experience. At the end of this trip I am glad to ascertain that this was definitely the course which gave me more insight untill now. Coming from a reality like Italy, Venice, where I had my bachelor studies, I would not imagine to finish my academic experience with a proposal in Nepal for my Master Dissertation, but this perfectly responds to the reasons why I decided to move two years ago: to test my flexibility, to question my consciousness. Nepal taught me to ask myself many more questions than other design studio I attended and i believe that those questions are close to the reality of being an architect. Save the resources is now, more than ever, a fundamental of design; the space we are designing has to be used by people which are different from ourselves; availability of materials and craftsmen skills can change the design choices, these are the insight that for me are just the first taste of the architect job, but I appreciated them.

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Acknowledgements

_________________

As the final epilogue, I want to thank all the people that helped me discovering, creating and designing my final project: my promotor Ignaas Back for his support during the process and his helpful advices, my travel mates and colleagues that pushed me always to look beyond my limits, my family, that even with the distance supported me and believed in me. A special thank to the collaborators, Klaas Vanslembrouck, Hilde Bouchez and Tom Callebaut, which through their books, lectures and consultations never stopped to add value to our work. I want to mention as well the great assistance that Teeka and Micheal, from CEPP, gave us during the Nepali experience, sometimes a little comment can say more than one hundred words and this is, I think, the essence of the Nepali culture: without all the western superstructures the people I met there taught me more than all the lectures I attended.

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Bibliography

_________________

Books _Hertzberger, H., Space and Learning, Rotterdam, 010 Publisher, 2008 _Hertzberger, H., The schools of Herman Hertzberger, Rotterdam, 010 Publisher, 2009 _Hertzberger, H., Lessons for students in architecture, Rotterdam, 010 Publisher, 1991 _Mallgrave, H., Architecture and embodiment, London, Routledge, 2013 _Jenkins, P., Forsyth, L., Architecture, participation and society, New York, Routledge, 2010 _Till, J., Schneider, T., Spatial agency: other ways of doing architecture, Routledge, 2011 Academic papers _Gallese, V., Mallgrave, H., and others, Architecture and Empathy, Tapio Wirkkala-Rut Bryk Foundation, 2015 _Pallasmaa, J., Mallgrave, H., and others, Architecture and Neuroscience, Tapio Wirkkala-Rut Bryk Foundation, 2013 _Garramone, V., Studio dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;empatia in architettura, PhD research, Rome, 2013 _Strauven, F., Aldo van Eyck: Shaping the New

Reality From the In-between to the Aesthetics of Number, CCA Mellon Lectures 2007 Articles

_Aranha, J., A comparison of traditional settlements in Nepal and Bali, from TDSR Vol. II, 1991 _Till, J., Schneider, T., Beyond Discourse: Notes on Spatial Agency, from Agency in Architecture: Reframing Criticality in Theory and Practice, 2009 _Wolfflin, H., Prolegomena to a psychology of architecture, from Empathy, Form and Space: problems in German aesthetic, Santa Monica, Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, 1994 Websites _Lopez, R., Spazi sociali per lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;apprendimento http://www.festivalarchitettura.it/festival/It/ArticoliMagazineDetail.asp?ID=179 _http://peopleplacespace.org/frr/design-and-social-responsibility _https://issuu.com/communityarchitectsnetwork/ docs/the_bamboo_book_final_12-5-13 _https://issuu.com/pokhrel/docs/ghandruk_village_profile__a_study_o _https://issuu.com/juan0274/docs/booklet-ilovepdf-compressed _https://www.worldweatheronline.com _ http://www.deboerarchitects.com/BambooThoughts.html

Kalidevi panorama, personal picture KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

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KU Leuven Campus Sint-Lucas Ghent Master Dissertation Nepal The ideal school: limited resources on continuity and identity KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE_Emilia Tomasetto

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