In the eyes of a flower the importance of reuse
Mรณnica Cardoso Master Thesis 2016-17
THE IDEAL SCHOOL FOR NEPAL a nepalese collaboration with the international masters of architecture
Two weeks in Nepal with the international masterstudents of KUL faculty of Architecture The workshop aims to (re)construct the school building of Nuwakot and rethinking the education method. Therefore, an elaborate research on traditional and local Nepali building methods and ways of living is an important part of this project. It aims not only at designing structurally strong, aesthetically pleasing, functionally efficient and economical/ecological attractive schools, but also to build them in such a way that the local population can relate to them.
IN THE EYES OF A FLOWER the importance of reuse Master dissertation project
This reflection paper presents a combination of a participatory process, research and analysis to build up my architectural project of a school in Nepal. It is a reflection on the local context, elements and traditions, along with global problems and personal beliefs. Brought as a coherent book, this reflection paper offers an insight into the progress and outcome of my master dissertation project. Cover image: The following people contributed and guided the development of this project and publication: Ignaas Back (academic promotor) Klaas Vanslembrouck, Hilde Bouchez, Tom Callebaut, Wart Thys and Lin Seminck (contributors) 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. Š 2017 Mónica Cardoso Contact: monica-c@live.com.pt This project was developed for the master dissertation, within the project of the Ideal school for Nepal. Proposed by Ignaas Back.
KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture Campus Sint Lucas, Ghent Class of 2016-2017 www.arc.kuleuven.com www.internationalmasterofarchitecture.be
CENTER FOR EDUCATIONAL POLICIES AND PRATICES cepp - nepali ngo
THE JOY OF MAKING, LEARNING AND TEACHING a sustainable school and community
In the eyes of a flower the importance of reuse Mรณnica Cardoso Master Thesis 2016-17
In the eyes of a flower table of contents _________________
1. Introduction
5
2. Nuwakot: a damaged place with warm people
8
- Location - A week relearning how to live - Perpetuating traditional knowledge - Debating international projects with the locals - Playing and Learning - The Ecology class
9 11 14 15 17 18
3. Climate
20
- Topography and Water Streams - Topography and Wind Direction - Temperature and Sun Angle - Earthquake: fears, myths and real solutions
21 23 25 27
4. Reuse of Traditions
30
- The houses in Nuwakot - House Typologies: Tapa House - House Typologies: Neupane House - Phalayecha and the Terrace - The Kitchen - The Rooms - The toilets - The roof - Foundations, floors, ceilings and openings - Places for goats and trees - The School - The Temple
31 33 35 37 39 41 42 43 45 46 47 48
[1] The kids
[2] The School
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5. Reuse of Materials
50
- Situation in Kathmandu - Situation in Nuwakot - Situation around the world - Lifecycle of materials - Study Case: Brighton Waste House - Study Case: Earthship Hut - Research about Disposable Materials - Summary - Eco-cooler system - Reuse and Local Crafts - Reuse in Nuwakot - Materials on site - Materials from the village
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 61 62 63 65
6. “E-school”: thoughts on the existing education system
66
- A foreign architect building for a foreign education system - In the eyes of a flower - the mission
69 71
7. The school project
74
- First ideas and drawings - Foundations, benches, wood beams - The seating area - Classrooms and Community spaces - Earthquake resistant strategies - School program - Final Masterplan - Final Classroom plan - Reused Materials - Final Section and Facade - Scale Model 1:20
75 79 81 83 85 87 88 89 90 91 93
8. Conclusion In the eyes of a flower - the importance of reuse
96 97
[3] The ecology class
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In the eyes of a flower, the world is a flower.
In the eyes of a thorn, the world is a thorn.1
1. Verse of the song “Phoolko Ankaama�, written and sang by the Nepalese buddhist nun Ani Choying
Introduction _________________ Being an European architect in Nepal is coming from a reality full of unperfect rules and be surprised by the splendour of its beautiful chaos. Colours, patterns, smells, car horns, animals, people, religions, traditions, symbols, looks, expressions, presences - an abundance of different details that reach your eyes in every glance. It’s to be scared of the mess in the city and amazed by the nature in the mountains. Mesmerized by the positivity you can find everywhere. It’s reconnecting to your primitive life habits, touch vernacular techniques, learn about old beliefs and listen to different mindsets. It’s to share your reality and realize by the look on the people just how different it sounds from the story they have previously heard. And it’s to try your best to prove that their traditions are as right as ours once were. It’s also to face poverty, people strugling everyday to recover from a 2-year-old catastrophe that seems to have happened yesterday. Definitely one of the things that has damaged the strength of this culture - not only in physical therms, but also in phsycological ones. It is true that this catastrophe revealed one of the major flaws on their building systems, the fact that most of their constructions are not prepared to face earthquakes, which caused a national wave of fear of simply being inside a closed space. But on the other hand, the solutions proposed by the government to solve this problem unveal a much deeper issue that is threathening the identity of Nepal: the lack of self-confidence in its own culture, and a strong desire for “modernity”. A mindset that finds its roots on the history of the British empire in Asia, that has impregnated the idea that Western culture is somehow superior and, in times of despair, becomes an idol to follow. This is also the idea behind this project, the reason why this partnership between a Nepali NGO and an european university came to exist. But we, western students studying sustainability in architecture, know very well the consequences that “modernity” has brought to our countries. And given all the facts previously described, how can we develop an undeveloped country in the present, aknowledging all the mistakes the modern countries did in the past and are presently paying for? Speaking about energy and water consumption, deplition of natural resources, wildlife extinction, global warmth - and even the lost of many of our own identities to it. How can we help Nepal flourishing from the ashes
again, avoiding the solutions that caused all these consequences which our countries are dealing with now? The solution certainly starts on education: create the awareness on these kids about the problems of the now will instigate the answers of the future. The learning environment plays a big part on this task, once it is by experiencing and learning by doing that the children learn more efficiently. To provide them direct contact with the abundant nature around them, respecting it and using it for mutual benefit, as an integrated part of the school space, is the starting point to arise this sensitivity. However, after spending one week living with the local people, it is clear that these children and all the inhabitants from the villages are more than used to live hand in hand with nature - they know how to grow any product for their own survival, and for their crafts, they know how to take care of their animals with respect for their lives, how to build their houses with green materials and sustainable low techniques - this is just not valued on their education. On the other hand, the education system is following the principles of the western countries, teaching them to disconnect off their roots and preparing them for a “city” life. In fact, this consumerist and pollutent lifestyle has already reached the city of Kathmandu, and little by little is spreading to the remote villages. Even with just a few mini markets in the Nuwakot valley, the amount of plastic bags laying on the school site is uncountable. The sustainable materials that once were used to build their houses are now being replaced by concrete structures and walls, and a school module pre-designed by the gorvernment is going to be built where the traditional still remains. But in the eyes of a flower, every problem is also an opportunity. In the same way that plants can reuse CO2 and toxic substances to thrive, we also have to learn how to look at all these factors from a different perspective and try to turn them into benefitial solutions. This is where the concept of “Reuse” comes to play. Reuse is more than the common concept of giving old materials a new use. It’s the action that trully applies the concept of “the beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: it shows that it is the way you look at a certain ordinary element and see all the extraordinary possibilities that it can become. The capacity of deeply understanding the good and bad characteristics of a certain element, of grasping its pure essence, and making the most out of it.
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Reuse goes beyond physical elements - one can apply the exact same principle to rethink old systems, traditions, cultures. It is the mindset that will help us reavaluating the Nepalese culture by analysing its current status and understanding what should be kept and what should be adapted into something more useful for their current needs. And it is with this mindset that I propose to develop the school project for the lovely children of Nuwakot: a project that reuses physical and cultural elements, and inspires them to think for themselves - to see the world from the eyes of a flower. Reuse glasses on.
[4] [5] Drawings from the Nuwakot kids
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Nuwakot: a damaged place with warm people
Location _________________ The school is situated in the beautiful Kabilash village, which belongs to the district of Nuwakot, central region of Nepal. It stands on a hillside, with a beautiful view to the valley on the south where the river runs and irrigates the crop fields.
[6] Kabilash Village within Nuwakot disctricy
[7] Distance from Nuwakot to Kathmandu
20 -25 M
15 MIN NACHANDANDA VILLAGE
[8] Nuwakot disctrict in Nepal
9 KULEUVEN - FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE - MÓNICA CARDOSO 15 MIN
20 -25 MIN
SCHOOL SITE
[9] The river valley
20 -25 MIN
15 MIN NACHANDANDA VILLAGE
SCHOOL SITE
ANPCHAUR VILLAGE
PRIMARY SCHOOL GRADE 1TO 3
[10] The school site and closest settlements
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A week relearning how to live _________________ The stay with our dear host families was a very enriching experience. To learn how to sustain ourselves only on basic needs and reconnect with nature showed us again how life can be so simple, yet so beautiful at the same time. Waking up with the sun light for a freshly cooked pop corn bowl and a tea cup, using a trully open and green “toilet” under banana trees and next to the cow’s shelter, reviving some basic science and math classes, visiting the other villages in the afternoon until the sunset and moon-walking home after the third and last Dal Bat of the day.
We shared life stories and future plans, and realized how much the parents wish a better life for their children and want them to study and find a better job in the city. During the stay we all got sick, and were treated with their home-made medicines and their natural kindness. They also showed us how the life of every living being is equally important, and how everything has its own time to live and be harvested. With their hospitality, humour, curiosity and a sense of self-confidence as humble as each afirmation given with a mild shake of the head, our families showed us the spirit of the people of Nuwakot - and made us all fall in love with it.
It was also to learn how to connect with people from a completely different culture, opening our minds little by little, and learning something new each day. While helping them with their daily tasks as cooking, doing dishes or feeding the animals, we learnt about the spaces that originally composed a Nuwakot house, and how they adapted it after the earthquake damage - which also revealed their capacity of self-construction and to harvest the necessary materials. We learnt about their religious beliefs, how they read a different chapter with a life lesson every night - and that everyone is welcome to enter the first room of the house and listen to it. We heard the music coming from a local festival down the valley, and weaved to a group of ladies that were taking their best clothing to celebrate nature and fertility. How their cast system determines their professions and the school they frequent, the differences between a public and a private school and how the school image can influence its status.
[11] Neupane Family
[12] Tapa Family
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[13] Didi lighting up the fire to cook
[14] Breakfast
[15] Cooking with Didi
[16] Food preparation
[17] Doing dishes with ashes
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[18] The fire camp. Last night in Nuwakot
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Perpetuating traditional knowledge _________________
“An ancient culture is an ecossystem. A complex web of relationships between human beings and the land they live on.”1 As it happens in many Nepalese vlllages that are located far from the city, people still maintain and use traditional crafts, objects and everyday life habits developed throughout their history - be it leaf plates and bowls, woven matts, fishnets, cooking recipes, the way they peel off a ginger root with a sickle or their construction methods. These solutions were originated as a result of many years developing solutions for everyday life problems, that are intrinsically related to the context they live in and to the local resources they had to produce solutions from. However, the context in Nepal tells us that these needs, however, can come either from a strictly physical origin, like the need to eat from a bowl or to seat on a matt, or from an artistic or a spiritual one, all of equal importance. (necklaces and bracelets, cleaning the entrance floor every morning) These elements and habits reveal the unique identity of each place, and fortunately Nuwakot still maintains its culture very alive. However, the influence from the West is reaching even the remote areas of Nepal, bringing its globalization within - with its good and bad features.
would teach the local knowlodge to the young children, and children could teach what they learn in school in return. This would be a solution to reestablish the importance of the local culture to the elder generations, and to perpetuate it for the future ones.
[19] Fixing necklaces
[20] Weaving mats
Unfortunately, there seems to exist a mindset that looks up to a Western culture, as something more developed than their own. And this factor, along with the desire of offering a better life to the children, is diminishing the importance of this local knowledge and gradually being lost. An object isn’t untouchable and urgently needed to be preserved just because it’s something traditional from a place - as time goes by these solutions decay and better ones replace them. Following the Nepalese teachings, eveything has its own time to exist and naturally evolve into something else. However, besides tradition, these elements have in them the characteristic of being fully sustainable, and the traditions show a profound respect for nature, which in nowadays is a big added value and an example to follow. So their time might not have come yet.
1. Schooling the World: the white man’s last burden. (2010). Lost People Films. [online] Available at: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=oDxYWspiN-8
While discussing this idea, our team of Nuwakot came up with the idea of including an “Exchange Learning Program”, where the elder generations [21] Handmade leaf plates and bowls
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Debating international projects with the locals _________________ A participative project is more than observing a culture’s behaviour - it’s the clash of different ideals, mindsets, backgrounds, people. And in this particular case, of different ages as well. Before presenting the various examples of schools around the world, the children were asked to draw their ideal school, and their drawings were exhibited as flags during the debate with the parents. The debate was very intense and rewarding, and helped us understanding what the parents expected the most - a safe school for their children. But once the safety and monetary requisits were garanteed, we were able to explore different design proposals with the parents, and realized they were looking for an innovative yet simple to build school, with smart spaces that can transform themselves and host different functions. The possibility of including a space for parents to teeach the traditional crafts was also very well received by the elderly, that seemed excited with the idea of exchanging knowlodge. It was also clear that the school site is a great opportunity to gather the inhabitants of both vllages, a possible community space.
Afterwards, the children were asked to draw another ideal school, and this time the results denoted clear influences of the designs presented, along with the important elements that they liked about the current school. The playground, as it was expected, appears as an essential need to the little wise ones. At the same time, colorful classrooms stand out on every drawing, The following elements were also higlighted in many drawings: staircases, teachers, animals and plants, in contrast with the facade of classrooms marked with 5 doors, each for a different school grade. Curiously, the school was never drawn from the inside - from which we can conclude that, on one hand, the image of the school building is very important and, on the other hand, the interior of a classroom is not appealing or interesting enough for the children. This result clearly shows the opposition between their free lifestyle and the imposed closed environment of a school - a problem that should be solved in the new project.
[22] Handmade leaf plates and bowls
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Topics collected from the participative project:
- Safety (mostly against earthquakes) - Financial viability
[23] Morning discussion with the local responsibles about the models
- Inovative but simple construction - Easy harvest and transportation of materials (since they are going to be the ones doing it!) - Smart spaces that allow different functions - A staircase (as in the exemple of Mulan Primary School in China) - A community space - Exchange Learning Program - Appealing interior
[24] Playing and learning
- Inclusion of nature - Color - Playground area
[25] Enthusiastic debate with kids, parents and interested locals
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Playing and Learning _________________ After all the kids and teachers arrive from both nearby villages, the school days start with a morning ritual which basically consists in a light physical exercise with all the grades together in the school playground during 30 minutes. The morning classes usually start at 10h30 until the lunch break at 12h. As there is no canteen or food service available for the kids, they use their break to simply play around in the school playground until 14h, when the classes restart. The school day finishes at 16h, time when the kids return to their homes alone or in groups, by foot. On the moment classes take place in the Temporary Learning Center, an improvised envelope of woven mats, bamboo and rough wood structure that was erected after the earthquake in 2015. The classrooms are very small and have a clear acoustics problem, due to the thin layer dividing them. The benches and tables used are the ones that resisted the catastrophe, but are still quite damaged.
However, the kids are very proud of being in a school, and show a great curiosity to experiment and understand everything around them. The teacher show a great commitment on pushing the kids to learn what they have to teach, and some of the parents also give their contribution to mantain the school as best as they can. All them definitely deserve a better school.
[26] Bar graphic of the school schedule
Despite of the teachers’ efforts to mantain a “normal” classroom environment, the kids are very easily distracted by all the sounds around them - a problem even worse when there is a lack of teachers (3 teachers for 5 grades), and one of them has to lecture 2 grades at the same time, and the other one is very usually unsupervised.
[27] Science class (inside of the current temporary school)
[28] The current temporary school
[29] Morning ritual
[30] Ideal school class
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The Ecology Class _________________ The school site has another peculiarity that coudln’t escape our attention: there is trash all around it. Similarly to what happens all around Nepal, there is no system to treat or recycle the trash, and no specific place to collect it either. It was very concerning for us to see that the kids were not aware of the problem they were creating everytime they threw a plastic bag into the woods, simply because they were not thaught the difference between natural decomposing materials and industrially processed products, that do not decompose along time. Our group decided to help by teaching the kids the effects of neglecting this problem, how it is currently affecting the planet and all its living beings and how it would affect them if they didn’t find a solution. Afterwards, we collected all the trash that was lying on the school site and gathered it in an improvised trash bin made out of the school rubble. This moment, along with the acitivity of using plastic bottles as vases to plant flowers inside the classrooms, was the first attempt of inspiring the kids to be creative and reuse what they have in hands - and was the first sparkle that motivated my research topic and the school design.
[31] Kids cleaning the school site
[32] The collected plastic amount
[33] The ecology class
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The Climate
Topography and Water streams _________________ The school site is located in one of Nuwakot’s hills, 20 minutes away by foot from a water course. During the monsoon season, the heavy rain flows down the mountains and floods the river, revigorating all the fertile crops fields that grow on its borders. The annual average percipitation is of about 100-200mm.The school site, however, places itself in a ridge line, with water streams on both sides that will drain the water out until the valley.2
School
[36] Ridge and Water Lines Map - site zoom in [35] Average rainfall in Nuwakot3
[37] Ridge and Water Lines map - Nuwakot
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The pitched roof allows the correct water drainage during the heavy rainy season, and the elevated sloped plint avoids flooding and moisture problems, directing the water to the site extremities where it can continue its course until the river bank situated on the South of the hill. This is achieved through the implementation of a sliced bamboo gutter in both front facades, that protects the staircase from forming a water stream, and a slight depression on the soil in the remaining sides of the buildings.
[38] Rain water courses on the school site
[39] Overhang protection and water recuperation
[40] Flooding and Moisture protection
2. Energy and Buildings: Climate Responsive Building Design Strategies of Vernacular Architecture in Nepal. (2014). 81st ed. Germany, pp.227–242 3. Worldweatheronline.com. (2017). Weather in Nuwakot, Nepal | 14 Day Weather Forecast Nuwakot. [online] Available at: https://www. worldweatheronline.com/ nuwakot-weather/np.aspx
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Topography and Wind direction _________________ The school belongs to the “Lesser Himalayan Zone”, according to the 5 Morpho-geotectonic zones. However, the wind on site has the typical behaviour of a valley wind: due to the temperature fluctuations, the air pressure directs the wind towards the top of the mountain in the morning, and returns in direction to the valley during the night. This means that the school building has to resist strong winds coming from West-East and returning, specially during the monsoon season, where the winds are described by the local inhabitants as “worse than the earthquakes”.
[41] Average and Max wind speed and gust in Nuwakot4
[42] Day time - uphill wind just after sunrise
[44] Wind Stream directions - school site zoom in
4. Worldweatheronline.com. (2017). Weather in Nuwakot, Nepal | 14 Day Weather Forecast Nuwakot. [online] Available at: https://www. worldweatheronline.com/ nuwakot-weather/np.aspx
[43] Night time - downhill wind just after sunset
[45] Wind direction on the school site
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The openings were positioned according to the wind direction (East - West) in order to minimize its strong effects on the structure during the moonsoon season. At the same time, it also facilitates the ventilation during the hot period, allowing the wind to cross the school building horizontally and vertically through the windows and roof openings.
[46] Wind streams through the school building.
[47] Overhang protection and water recuperation
[48] Overhang protection and water recuperation
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Temperature and sun angle _________________
WARM TEMPERATE CLIMATE 5 Medium Temperature: Winter 10ºC Spring 26ºC Summer 30ºC
Nuwakot has a very comfortable weather along the year - except for the moonsoon season, when the village is swipped by the strong typhoon-like winds. The minimum temperatures don’t require a heating system during winter, but the summer temperatures do require a proper shading. The site is propitious to have the best light, since the south facade is excalty turned into the beautiful view fof the valley. With the following roof design, the school can benefit from a passive design strategy that maximzes the use of sun light during winter and protects it from overheating on summer, adapting it to the different sung angles from both seasons.
[50] Sun maximum angle during Summer Solstice
[51] Sun maximum angle during Winter Solistice [49] Circular graphic of the sun angle along the different seasons
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5. Worldweatheronline.com. (2017). Weather in Nuwakot, Nepal | 14 Day Weather Forecast Nuwakot. [online] Available at: https://www. worldweatheronline.com/ nuwakot-weather/np.aspx
Climate School schedule vs Sun schedule _________________ The students of Nuwakot Primary School start their day at school with a morning ritual outside the classrooms, that lasts for about 30 minutes, followed by classes until 13h. From 13h till 14h all the little ones have a break - supposely a lunch break, alhough they don’t bring lunch to school and the school doens’t have a canteen, which leads them to use this break to play. From 14h till 16h they go back to the afternoon classes, and after it they head back home.
[53] Bar graphic of the school schedule
Some elements of the community gather in the temple site near the school to discuss some problem of the village. They meet between 8h till 10h in the morning, the time before they go to their specific jobs. This factor was also included on the school schedule to create the possibility of a meeting room in the schoo, that can be used by the community in rainy days, for example. By transforming the bar schedule into a circular one and compare it with the sun schedule, we can see what are the directions that we can use to garantee a good use of the sunlight within the period of time when the school is used. [54] Circular graphic of 24h showing the school schedule
[55] The multiple light openings allow the building to have a diffuse light on the inside.6 [52] Circular graphic of 24h showing the school schedule vs the sun hours 6. Designing quality learning spaces. (2007). [Wellington, N.Z.]: Ministry of Education.
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Earthquake: fears, myths and real solutions _________________
“Brittle, intensely loaded structures are much more vulnerable to earthquakes than resilient, widely distributed structural designs.”1 Another natural element that the design has to take into account is the constante danger of an earthquake. In 2015, a 7,8 magnitude earthquake severely damaged the country, and most villages are still recovering from this catastrophe. The inhabitans still live in a constant fear of this phenomenon, mostly after verifying that great part of their buildings didn’t resist the disaster. The house of the host family that provided us with food, for example, lost its entire first floor to the earthquake, and nowadays the family still sleeps on the groundfloor as close to the exit door as possible.
In fact, safety was one of the most debated subjects during the models’ presentation for the new school. After the earthquake, the Nepalese government implanted a new legislation with specific construction rules, that places concrete as the most eficient material to resist this natural phenomenom and this connected the ideas of concrete and safety all over Nepal. However, this idea is widely doubtful, once concrete is a very rough and strong material with a very low flexibility performance. Furthermore, concrete can’t be produced in Nuwakot, which would make the inhabitants order it from the industrial area of Kathmandu, adding the extra costs of production, transport and hand labour - while on the other hand they have an abundancy of Sal wood and bamboo growing on their woods, easily harvest and with constrcution methods widely known by the inhabitants.
[56] Some damaged houses in one of the Nuwakot villages.
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The fear is, in the end, another key factor to deal with in therms of structure of the school building, But some research about the topic showed that wood and bamboo have a great performance against earthquakes, if applied with the right design. The use of shear walls with braced frames was, in the end, the most effective option to stand the diagonal forces caused by the typical earthquake behaviour, and is a traditional low-technique method that can be easily built with Sal wood by the locals.
The final solution, however, was not only about building with safety, but also about showing that safety to the inhabitants. This is the reason why the chosen structure is open in many points of the building, showing off its strenght and stability to all its users - and inspiring them with its beautiful shapes.
[57] A typical Dhajji house that uses shear walls and braced frames.8
7. Reynolds, M. (1993). Earthship. Taos: Solar Survival Architecture, p.73. 8. Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: https:// www.researchgate.net/ publication/224771434_InPlane_Behavior_of_the_ Dhajji-Dewari_Structural_System_Wooden_Braced_Frame_ with_Masonry_Infill
[58] Construction method and design alternatives of braces frames.8
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Reuse of Traditions
The Houses in Nuwakot _________________ Local stone, Sal wood, mud and straw are the materials that compose the villages of Nuwakot, along with its most recent post-earthquake addtions: corrugated steel roofs, blue plastics and concrete. The settlements are of rather dispersed and scattered character, usually placed in the sunny side of the hills, turned to the valley. The houses are spaced among them with enough distance to include the animals’ shelter and the crop fields of each family. The houses display a rectangular shape, with the elongated plan turned to the sunny side of the slope (longer facade and larger windows turned to South, South-east ir South-West). They are composed by two stories, having the public functions on the groundfloor (terrace and kitchen), which height is situated between 1,6m and 1,9m in order to easiliy heat the building during winter. The private rooms are situated on the first floor. The walls are made of locally available stones in structural bearing rubble masonry, using clay and earth as mortar. The exterior ones can go up to half meter thick, providing the building with a high thermal mass. They are plastered inside and/or outside with white, ocher or red mud. One of the most peculiar characteristics of the house typologies is the terrace, a covered area that works as a transition between inside and outside. However, after the earthquake many houses lost their first floor and had to be rearranged, which developed some nuances on the typical typology.
[60] Position of the houses on site in one of the Nuwakot villages.
[61] Spacing between the houses.
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[62] The characteristic facade of a Nuwakot house and the terrace area.
[63] Entry space of the Neupane’s family house.
[64] Back wall of the Tapa family house.
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House Typologies _________________
“Sometimes accidental, often asymetrical, and utilizing materials that are naturally close at hand, these buildings, with their molded curves and softened lines, convey a personal and human beauty. Quietly and almost without notice, they outwit the might of modern machinery with simple tools and materials that welcome, encourage, and amplify use of the human hand. They remind us that the beauty and usefulness can come from simple things.”9 Tapa House hosted us during nights, while the Neupane House was our daily Dal-bhat restaurant for a week. They are examples of a typical house in Nuwakot, built by the father of the family, which are also local constructors. Tapa House is a two-story building that welcomes its visitors with the typical terrace on the groundfloor between interior and exterior. This terrace is the one area where all living beings are accepted and co-habit: mother, father and both son and daugther, along with goats, bees, dogs, chicken... A very open place with a beautiful view, where the family members perform many of their daily activities: peel their vegetables, having their meals, feeding the animals, fix their tools, do some of their crafts (leaf plates, bracelets and necklaces...), where the children do their homework and where parents and kids gather and spend time together as a family.
Once one enters the house it’s clear that the massive walls and small windows play a big role on maintaining a comfortable temperature inside (cooler in the summer, as we could experience - warmer during winter, as we were told). However, this implies that the kitchen and storage area become a very dark space, which reduces them to their basic functions of cooking and store tools and harvested vegetables. The steep stairs on the right corner of the house take us to another very dark area on the top floor, sliglthly smaller than the previous one. This is basically an intermediate area, a central core that gives access to the rooms that surround it. It also includes a small praying spot on the East wall, the only that doesn’t have another room behind it. The rooms, on their turn, are ventilated areas with a wooden shading system all around, and each side belongs to a member of the family: the West row is the children room; the South, the parents’ one; and the North used to belong to the grandfather of the family, that kindly moved to another place in order to host us during the nights.
9. “Lessons from vernacular architecture”. Willi Weber, Simos Yannas. London : Routledge, 2014
[65] Tapa House East facade
[66] Tapa House Section
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[67] Groundfloor plan
[68] First level
[69] Tapa House South facade
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House Typologies _________________
Neupane house also used to be a two-stories house, but after the earthquake destroyed its first level, the family kept it as a single-story. It only contains kitchen and bedrooms, and the old terrace area was closed of to use the space as a bedroom. However, the characteristics of this space still remain: the Palayecha wooden element is used for cooking, eating, reading, watching tv, gather the family and the visitors.
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[70] Section
[71] Groundfloor plan
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Palayecha and the terrace _________________
“The main lesson of vernacular architecture is to harmonize, and it is by harmonizing conflicting design requirements that it achieves its sense of community and timelessness.” The terrace is one of the most interesting areas of every house, because of its multifuntionality and liveliness: a generous space that allows many different activities, where all living beings are allowed to be and co-habit, where family, friends and neighbours gather under the shade and can appreciate the beautiful landscape around them, observe the flows of their village, look after the kids that are playfully running and jumping all around, and take care of their animals. A simple open corridor only delimited by a wall on one side and a row of collumns on the other, with a comortable mud floor and wooden roof. Another peculiar characteristic of this area is called “Phalayecha”, a wooden plan elevated from the ground, an element that resembles a big table covered by woven mats where people seat or lay, and some times sleep as well.
9. “Built by hand : Vernacular buildings around the world”. written by Athena Steen, Bill Steen and Eiko Komatsu ; photogr. by Yoshio Komatsu. Layton : Gibbs-Smith, 2003
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The Kitchen
_________________
Considered as a sacred space in many Nepali regions, the kitchen of Nuwakot is not as forbiden to foreigners as it supposedly should be. However, since it is located inside the house core, the small windows only allow a certain amount of sunlight inside, which turns the space into its basic function of cooking and storing tools. The food is cooked on a small fireplace, filling the room with smoke that kills the bugs inside the house. A small table with a stove and a shelve seems to be all the essential furniture, along with the round stone that is used to smash the Dal Bat spycies.
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The Rooms _________________ The rooms are located on the first floor, in rows around the central area. They are ventilated areas, with the actual walls only reaching half of the height and completed by a wood shadding system. Similar to the other areas of the house, the space is reduced to its essenital dimensions.
1.The Tapa House room that watched us sleep for 7 nights
1.The kids room on Tapa House
1.The kids room on Neupane House
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The Toilets _________________ The toilets are usually located apart from the house building, an individual shell to cover a simple hole on the floor that conduces the human by-products to a slightly distant zone where they can be naturally absorbed by plants. However, this is not a compulsory element of the house, since there is a natural green toilet all around.
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The Roof _________________
First level
As most roofs in Nuwakot, the roof is pitched, supported by a timber structure and usually covered by locally available thatch, stone tiles or tiles. However, the most predominant cover material is currently the corrugated steel panels, nailed to the wood structure with a chunk of rubber around the nails (to prevent water infiltration) and kept in place with extra weight of rocks that are layed on top. This is also due to the earthquake, which unfortunatley destroyed the mines where the inhabitants used to collect their stones from.The stones tiles were the best option in this region because, even though they were very thin, their wieght was enough to keep them in place against the strong monsoon winds forces, and at the same time, the small spaces in between them reduced their strenght by letting it pass between its breaches. A overhang of 50cm protects the walls from the heavy rains and avoids direct solar penetration during Summer. Similarly to what happens in Kathmandu valley, the roof support is characteristic by its triangulations, originated by a secondary supportive beam that helps the walls opposing the forces from the top roof beams.
First level
Both these secondary beams and the wood frame that encloses the roof perimeter are usually higly decorative elements in public buildings of Kathmandu valley, which doens’t happen in the dwellings typoology of Nuwakot.
East Facade 1. Tapa House roof plan and slopes
1. Stone tiles that were usually used to cover the roof
Section through terrace 1. Tapa House section (highlight roof and secondary beam)
Ground level
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1. Tree-story temple in Kathmandu Valley: roof scheme1
1. Area under the overhang of a temple in Kathmandu Valley (wood carvings)
1. Tapa House roof (corrugated steell panels) 1. Web image (source indicated on the Bibliography) 2. Image scanned from “Traditional materials and construction technologies used in Kathmandu Valley”, Chapt. 2, page 59
1. Typical roof details of a Newar House2
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Foundations, Floors and Ceilings _________________ The houses in Nuwakot are usually supported by stone foundations which protects from flooding. Thick stone platforms of 30 to 50cm, extended about 1,50m at either one or more sides of the exterior walls to create the terrace (semi-open working space). The ceilings are low (no more than 1,80m) to reduce the air volume that needs to be heated in winter. They are supported by a timber framework of pillars and beams and covered with 20cm mud layer and a final layer of clay mixed with cow dung. On flooring, the additional use of clay and earth increases the thermal mass and balances the diurnal temperature changes.
Openings _________________ The oppenings are located in the longer facade towards South (faces downhill). They are medium-sized and are equiped with shutters that can be closed during cold nights in summer/winter, tightning the envelope and reducing heat losses. The houses usually have a roof overhang that protects the South facade from sun and heavy rain.
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Place for goats and trees _________________ Animals are an intrinsic part of Nuwakot’s inhabitants life, and they also have a space on the houses dedicated to them. They are usually apart from the house building, or integrated on the terrace area. However, the animals are free to wonder around during the day, only kept inside during night. Even thought there is at least one dog per family, the majority of animals that the inhabitants take care are the ones they can collect back something from them: chicken, goats, cows, buffalos and bees. The cultivation areas near the houses and school vary largely in species: even though some of them were initially planted intentionally in a specific place, all the area is very fertile and allows for banana trees, mango trees, lychee trees, many kinds of herbs, rice.
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The School _________________ The school site, at the moment, has 2 existing buildings: the old school on the top, destroyed by the earthquake and no longer in use; and the Temporary Learning Center, previously described and currently having classes. The site is accessible through a road on its West side that connects the school with the 2 villages nearby.
The playground is also located on the West area of the site, with an amazing view for the valey and the river on the South - also looking at the temple of the village.
The school site is also marked by a big tree, that provides shadow to the upper slope of the outside area. This is also next to the water pipe, from where the children drink in their school breaks.
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The Temple _________________ The Temple is located 5 minutes by foot from the the school site on the Southern area of the village. It is situated next to 2 very important trees for the Nepali culture, which shade is used as the gathering place for the community meetings. In fact, the first models’ debate was held under these trees during a meeting of responsible people from the village - which shows the importance these natural elements have in the local culture.
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Reuse of Materials
Situation in Kathmandu
_________________
All around Kathmandu we are confronted with amounts of disposable waste, construction leftovers and residual parts of damaged buildings.
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Situation in Nuwakot
_________________
In Nuwakot, as previously mentioned, the waste management is a big issue: during the “collecting plastic from the ground� activity experienced with the kids, we were surprised to see that the soil already had layers of plastic on its composition. The more we digged, the more we would find. On the other hand, there were also lots of rubble and other old materials laying around the school ground - also residues from the earthquake damage.
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Situation around the World _________________
“Every 5 houses built equivale to 1 house in waste”.10 Duncan Baker Brown It’s not only in Nepal that exists a problem with trash: a little bit all around the world we are all dealing with excess of waste. Even though the project is held in Nuwakot, that contains its specific materials and construction methods, the same philosophy can be applied to projects all around the globe: it’s always a matter of searching which materials are availabe and use our imagination and skills.
10. Can Architecture Matter?: Duncan Baker-Brown at TEDxBrighton. (2013). [video] Available at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=kWUpV6J1JN8
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Lifecycle of materials
_________________
As we all know, our current consumerist system is depleting the planet resources, a one way road leading us to the planet destruction. It is important that we all aknowledge the consequences of our actions, even more in a field of work that causes such a big impact as architecture. And once again, reusing materials is a new opportunity to discover new solutions, something to prompt our creativity!
Reusing: 1. Saves time, transportation, work and money - and the Planet! 2. It’s a new opportunity to explore the different qualities of materials 3. Inspires the future generations
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Study case: Birghton Waste House _________________
Brighton Waste House was an idea of the architec Duncan Baker Brown which investigates strategies for constructing a contemporary, low energy, permanent building using over 85% ‘waste’ material drawn from household and construction sites. The building is Europe’s first permanent public building made almost entirely from material thrown away or not wanted. It is also an EPC ‘A’ rated low energy building, that envisions low-thecnique strategies for heating and cooling.
11. Pinterest. (2017). Graphic. [online] Available at: https://www.pinterest.pt/ pin/271482683762325402/
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Study case: Eartship Hut _________________ The Eartship buildings were designed by Marc
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Research about disposable materials _________________
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Summary _________________
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Eco-cooler system
_________________
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Reuse and local crafts
_________________
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Reuse in Nuwakot _________________
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MATERIALS ON SITE Materials on site _________________
After exploring what to do with the disposable materials like plastics bags and bottles, I decided to map the existing materials on site and reuse them as well.
20 Benches
Windows
Woven Mats
Multiple sizes
Corrugated Steel Panels x2
Rubble 136,3m3 5 Doors
x2
Foundations
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Bamboo
In the end, this method showed to be very useful, once it reduced significatively the need to harvest and transport materials to the site, and the time required for those processes - and most of all, it would inspire the inhabitants and kids in the village. Starting by the foundations, the building was shaped inside the old limits, which saved a lot of work moving soil and rubble from one place to another. Afterwards, the existing wood had to be chopped in hte extremeties in around 10cm lenght, in order to garantee its quality (avoid rotten ends). Most of the wood was used in its remaining dimensions, but many leftovers of the beams that were bigger than necessary were used to create the triangulation of the braced frames.
The rubble was entirely used - it was even too much to use. The roof returned to its place with a new half, and doors and windows also came back to their previous lives. Benches and woven mats, on the other hand, were reinvented, used as structure and roof layer. Only the bamboo had to be harvested and treated, and new wood brought to the site - unless, of course, there were some more materials in the villages nearby that could be reused for the kids’ school, as it was the case of the green and orange plastic cover used on the windows.
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Materials from the Village _________________
Along with the materials on site, some more were requested to the inhabitants to their children’s school. It was the case of the two colorful nets used in Neupane’s house, the green and orange covers behind our translator Shail, that apparently was really enjoying his meal on this picture.
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“E-school” - thoughts about the existing education system
A foreign education system _________________ When we first asked our translator what was the word for school in Nepalese, the answer was a surprisingly easy “e-school”. It was so intriguing that we asked again: “No, the word in Nepalese”. “E-school”, he replied once more. This curious expression, in fact, summarizes the education system in Nepal: an imported system by the British colonialism period in Asia. The formation of the word itself illustrates the effort that was made to adapt the English system to the Nepalese one: the simple addition of an “E” before the word “school” equals the addition of the Nepali language class to a completely English educational program. The British colonialism in Asia happened gradually from the 17th till the 19th century (mostly by establishing trade routes) and reached its peak in the beggining of the 20th century with the control of India. Even though Nepal was never part of the British empire, the contact of the country’s elite with the english colonists in India and the further participation of the Nepalese army in the British wars influenced the country’s mindset in a very profound way.2 During the process the English culture and the Western ideology arose as superior to any other asian culture, in therms of education, technological advancement and globalization - and this mindset still prevails nowadays, even in Nuwakot.
“There is no doubt that if we look honestly at the traditional forms of education and compare them to today’s modern education system, the traditional forms of knowledge fosted sustainability. All these cultures are not perfect, but they did know about their own specific climate, soil, water. And they did managed to survive independently, in charge of their own lives, for generation after generation.” Helena Norberg-Hodge, founder of the International Society for Ecology and Culture, recently known as Local Futures3 While it is more easily understandable that children who grew up in cities and are used to live and play inside buildings are more willing to learn from books inside a classroom, it is quite peculiar that children who co-habit with animals are studying them in the exact same way as the previous ones: from a book, inside walls that separate them from those same animals, and from a scientific point of view that is completely detached from their spiritual beliefs. In the same way, the setting of the classroom in Nepal is also highly questionable from an anthropological point of view. The people from these villages are not used to seat in chairs and write on tables - their bodies are incredibily more flexible than most of western population, exactly because their use is as important as the use of the brain, and both are connected and help each other.
In fact, in therms of technological advancement and globalization, the developed countries of the West are indeed ahead the subdeveloped ones. However, technology and modernity are as important in the definition of the Western culture as spiritualiy and sustainability in the Nepali one - both with their advantages and flaws. They simply represent two different ways of development, prompted by different ideologies. And the fact that our technological development is harming the planet and its living beings is the reason why the modern Western culture is trying to reconnect to the traditional methods that were lost in many American and European cultures - which shows that both sides should be learning from each other. Therefore, the subjugation of one towards another - whatever the factors were that premiditated this to happen - is the problem that is holding back the Nepali culture to flourish on its own way. And it not only represents a loss for the country itself, but for the world.
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2. Web article “English in Nepal: From colonial legacy to professionalism”. Source: http://eltchoutari.com/2016/01/ english-in-nepal-from-colonial-legacy-to-professionalism/ 3. Schooling the World: the white man’s last burden. (2010). Lost People Films. [online] Available at: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=oDxYWspiN-8
They are used to seat on the floor, climb trees, jump from rock to rock, They don’t shut one down in order to use the other, which is exactly what happens in modern schools where we seat children for hours looking at a blackboard (or a computer). This position instigates them to focus on using only their brains and disconnect from all the other senses, along with the reality outside the classrooms, which goes against our own nature. And while modern society has already taken this action as normal, the children of Nuwakot still didn’t.
“These children in these settings spend most of their time in a completely different attentional state from children in normal schools, a state phsycology researcher Suzan Gaskins calls “open attention”. Open attention is widely focused, relaxed, alert; Gaskin suggests it may have much in common with the Buddhist concept of “mindfulness”. If something interesting happens, he can watch for hours, A child in this state seems to absorb her culture by osmosis, by imperceptible degrees picking up what the adults talk about, what they do, how they think, what they know.” (...) “In many rural land-based societies, learning is not coerced; children are expected to voluntarily observe, absorb, practice, and master the knowledge and skills they will need as adults - and they do. In these societies which exist in every inhabited continent - even every young children are free to choose their own actions, to play, to explore, to participate, to take on a meaningful responsability.” 4 Carol Black4 1. An english class in Nuwakot. These are only some examples of how the education system in Nepal is not linked with their culture, not only at the program level, but also from an anthropologic and architectural point of view. However, in the same way that we want to change our westerns schools into a more free and natural environment, these children also seek for more technology and globalization. And the question arises: who are we to say that one education system is better than the other? Who are we to dictate what is better for the future of this culture? Of these villages, of these children? 4. Carol Black. (2017). On the Wildness of Children. [online] Available at: http://carolblack.org/on-thewildness-of-children/
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A foreign architect building for a foreign education system _________________
After learning about this piece of history, acknowledging the fact that we are, once again, foreign architects designing a school in Nepal is both ironic and scary. No matter how good our intentions can be, we all are aware of how different this culture is from ours, and we’re all very certain that one week on site and 1 month travelling around Nepal are not enough to fully grasp it. Nevertheless, we made some experiments with the children of Nuwakot in the few day we were there. We tryed different group arrangements and settings, inside and outside the classrooms, mixing different grades and changing papers: asking them to present their ideas towards the group, instead of passively assist to the teachers’ classes.
The result was extremely positive, expecially on the circle outside: a gender and age diverse group that was having fun and actively participating on the activities. They were asked to present their drawings of an ideal school to all their classmates of all different grades on the center of the circle. The outcome was that even the most introvert kids were very happy to show their ideas to the others, which shows that this set of arragements and exercise pushed them to think for themselves, and gave them confidence enough to defend their ideals in front of everyone else. On the other hand, it also showed that the students can trully engage an exercise even though they are outside, seated on the floor and vulnerable to all the “distractions” around them - which means that the premisses of a conventional closed classroom that tries to focus their attention by detaching them from the outside world is proven wrong. Of course this is no exact science and there were a lot of fluctuations on each individual behaviour; but once again, every kid is different, and the only solution for the architect to tackle this differences is to offer different possibilities.
1. Scheme of the initial arrangement of the classrooms
1. Triangular arragement
1. Circular arragement
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Based on all the experiences, observations and research, I defined some basic rules that the project should follow: - Allow the mix of different classes (be it different subjects or ages); - Stimulate the relation to nature and to the other living beings around; - The “outside” must be bigger than the “inside”; - The “inside” must stimulate the connection to the “outside” (with oppenings and viewpoints); - The space must be confortable enough for kids to seat and lay down, or to place themselves in any position that helps them concentrate better.
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In the eyes of a flower - the mission _________________
“Learning is not conceived as a special activity at all, but as a natural by-product of being alive.” Carol Black5 As professionals, we are told by the system that our designs should fulfill our clients requests, in the most smart and efficient way possible. As students, we are thaught to question every single request and propose something innovative. And as people, we all have our own backgrounds and beliefs, that will always influence everything we do. But in the end, this project won’t be used by the client that proposed the project, nor by our teachers, not even by us. It will belong to the children of Nuwakot, who will spend at least 5 years inside that space, constantly absorbing its influence in a way that no one can predict the good or bad consequences that will come from it. But we all know that their opinion is at last, as important as every other member on this process. It’s again up to us to decide how to balance all these factors. More than in any other project, the responsability is overwhelming. In the end, the solution is somewhere in between traditional culture and innovative technology. And as an architect, the best way to translate this idea is to provide possibilities. To shape the space in such a way that it allows different gradients between tradition and modernity. To show that there is a choice, and that everyone is entitled to think their own way and follow their unique path. This is, for me, the deepest purpose of a school; and in the same way that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, it’s the way we deal with the information that we absorbed that determines our futures. The architect can only try to give a good example of the importance of things through subtle gestures on the design. And it’s with this conclusion in mind that I will design the ideal school project.
5. Web article “On the Wildness of Children - The Revolution will not take place in a classroom”. Source: http://carolblack.org/ on-the-wildness-of-children/
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The School Project
First ideas and drawings _________________ The first concept consisted in a “reuse wall” that would show all the existing materials reinvented on the school facade. Plastic and glass colorful bottles, the old woven mats patched with plastic yarn, the rubble and wood from the old school - all integrated in a very thick wall that would be fun and inspiring, It should also include nature and spaces for animals, to re-establish the bond between school and the daily life of the Nuwakot children. The classrooms were circular and comfortable, playing with the light passing through the colorful bottles. There wouldn’t be spaces designed for specific functions, giving freedom to the kids and teachers to organize the classes according to their needs. Another important element since the begining was a community space near the main tree next to the school site, by adding some steps that would be covered by the tree shadow in hot afternoons.
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First ideas and drawings _________________ After understanding the logics of a temple, this idea was adapted to the initial wall in order to adapt it to the Nepalese context and, at the same time, bring a higher status to the school facade. However, the classrooms should relate to the concept of home-schooling that still happens in Nuwakot, bringing the home feeling to the classrooms by changing into a more intimate scale. The masterplan was evolving towards a very organic shape, that started to envision a balance between inside and outside classrooms, and including a communal kitchen and toilets.
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Foundations, benches, wood beams _________________ However, after the research about the existing materials on site and how to reuse them, a very important factor influenced the masterplan: the opportunity to reuse the existing foundations, which would save lots of hand labour and time to the people in the village. Besides, the displacement of the previous buildings was very favorable to the context: the classrooms would have sun light during the school time schedule, and heat up the buildings during the cool season. It also garanteed the playground area, and established a relation with the big tree on the West and the temple on the South. Besides the foundations, I started to explore other elements on site, such as the old benches that were bent by the earthquake and not used anymore, and the wood beams that were still inside the structure of the old school. The combination of these elements had the purpose of creating an in-between space, that would bring the traditional “Phalayecha” feeling into the school, and also creating a shaded covered area for kds to play whenever the sun was too high or during the moonsoon season.
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The seating area _________________ The old benches filled with rubble and covered by wood boards and woven mats is an essential part of the project. The extra line of foundations added created the “Palayecha” area in the school, creating an in-between interior and exterior space that had no specific function and, therefore, allowed its free use (the same way it happens in the children houses). At the same time, this element also incorporated the idea of a seating area before entering a building, resembling the Nepali temples and bringing status to the school. And lastely, the backrest was used as plants vases, integrating nature in the school building.
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Reused Materials _________________
Corrugated steel roofs
Rubble
Wood beams
Damaged benches
Woven mats
Plastic bags
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Oustide classrooms and community spaces _________________ The idea of using the school faciilities as community spaces was very appealing for the inhabitants, which prompted the concept of having outside spaces that had no specific function, but could be used as outside classrooms, covered playgrounds, and also as spaces for the villagers’ gatherings. In the end, a Phalayecha was placed in each corner of the school pavilions: the top one in relation with the kitchen and the big tree, and the bottom one closing the school playground and providing a panoramic view of the landscape around the school site. The integration of these between outside and inside spaces also played a big role in the education system, that is trying to integrate both the local traditions and the usual connection with nature that the kids are used to have in their daily lives.
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Earthquake resistant strategies _________________ Nepal is well known by the earthquake of 2015, and it is still recovering from it. One of the essential aspects on designing the school building had to be people’s safety - beyond that, to make people feel safe. As previously mentioned, the idea of safety is now related to the use of concrete, that is seen as the strongest material due to its rough appearence. However, concrete is not a flexible material, which makes it weak against vibrations and movements in horizontal directions, which is the typical effect of an earthquake. On the other hand, wood is a very flexible material, and if properly designed becomes extremely safe against earthquakes, The best way is to provide the building with shear walls, consisting of several diagonal beams all around the building that reinforce the main structure, which was achieved by the use of a tree-shaped wood structure to hold the ceiling (pic. x) and several diagonal reinforcements integrated in the school walls. In order to reuse the most material possible, I experimented some designs using smaller wood pieces that break down the wall space into small triangles and garantee the flexibility against horizontal movements. These triagles could be filled in with rubble and mud, or be left empty, which was an opportunity to combine it with the bottles’ ventilation system and create a beautiful light effect, providing a fun environment inside the classrooms. In order to facilitate the labour work, I opted for the second option, that would always have the same type of connections and still give the school a playful look.
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School program _________________
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Final master plan _________________
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Final classrooms plan _________________
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Reused materials _________________
In the end, what was reused?
. 85% of the total wood . 60% of the metal roof . All the benches, woven mats, bottles, windows and doors . 100% of the rubble is reused - and there still remains another extra half to be reused!
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Final section and facade _________________
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Scale model 1:20
_________________
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Conclusion
IN THE EYES OF A FLOWER THE IMPORTANCE OF REUSE _________________
The common definition of “reuse” is simply to use something again. However, there’s a lot more behind this usual meaning. Reuse is the process of giving something a new life - to acknowledge that a certain element isn’t useful anymore on the context where it currently belongs, understand deeply its good and bad characteristics, to grasp its pure essence - and figure out how it can be applied to correspond the present needs. This concept can be applied to physical elements, such as day-to-life objects, construction materials or disposable waste. And we analyse their physical composition: the durability, their elasticity or strenght, their shape, and how we can change it, their smell and their aesthetic quality - and how we can use all these characteristics. But as I learnt from this project, it can also be applied to imaterial elements, such as traditions, life habits or education systems. All systems were thought to respond to the needs or the mindset of a certain period of time, and they should also be continuasly questioned and adapted to present needs - or reused. By reusing the local materials and bringing the concept of Palayecha to the school, this project intended to inspire the children and the people from Nuwakot to look at what they have and use their imagination to make the most out of it. In a time when every Nepali person is still recovering from the trauma of an earthquake, this project shows how beautiful things can flourish from a bad situation - and even use this opportunity to evolve to a better one.
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REUSE!
Thank you for reading. Namasté!
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