Recently, a beautiful circular structure, UNESCO heritage site, Kasubi tomb tragically burned down in Kampala, Uganda. It was built by Bantu speaking people whose civilization date back to 13th century AD. Muzibu-Azaala-Mpanga is a very impressive dome supported by huge wooden poles that supports beautiful 52 rings made of spare grass on which lies majestically covered thatch that elegantly flows all the way to the ground like a bridal goan. Rebuilt in 1882 by Kabaka Mutesa, its external diameter is 31 meters and height of 7.5 meters making it one of the biggest thatched structure in the world. Please click on following pictures for more information.

 

Man bhadur with his tool to flatten bamboo

Rows of three to four story brick houses juxtaposed into one another, smell of  hay, golden crops spread in the pavement, men and women sorting out their grains , children running after their cattle, screaming, laughing and uttering their incomprehensible language takes one into another dimension of reality. Technically Pyangaon is just 10 kms south of Kathmandu yet culturally it is very far. Entry to this ancient village through an alley paved with brick and stone is like walking down the alley of time.

Pyangaons is inhabited predominantly  by Maharjans. They are self-sufficient community, that has not only developed a unique custom and architecture but also produced their own variation of newari language that even Newars of Kathmandu don’t understand. They have built a beautiful adobe settlement on top of a hill. Around the hills where it is hard to farm or often called ‘degraded’ land they grow medicinal or utilitarian trees and bamboo. Below the hills are huge fields called khets they farm rice, wheat, vegetables etc depending on the seasons. [Read more..]

Our bamboo treatment plant has been selected for the prestigious International Design Development Summit founded by Amy Smith- this year’s Time 100 most influential people. We will keep a blog of how the Summit proceeds, and if you have any advice please do let us know. We are hoping to improve 2 aspects of our treatment system 1) to find a self sealing nozzle that connects bamboo to boucherie plant and 2) to find an easy way to figure out if our bamboo is treated.

Photo: K. Tamang

NEPALI WOMEN HELP REVIVE A DISAPPEARING ARCHITECTURAL ART FORM

By: Mokha master artists Shanti Chaudhari and Khedni Chaudhari, Rotary Club of Itahari Past-President Ramesh Tamraker and Canadian architect Stanley Britton

THE ART

Tharu is the indigenous culture of the Terai plains east of the Koshi River between the Himalaya foothills and Nepal’s southeast border with India. Many families are farmers and labourers. Houses are often built of bamboo-lattice with mud-plaster walls. Mokha art is their architectural heritage.

Mokha art’s sculpted bas-relief designs aim to attract visitors and welcome guests. During Tihar, the annual Festival of Lights, Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of Wealth, is said to enter these houses and bless the inhabitants. In anticipation the art is revitalised annually.

The wall plasters are layered mixes of mud, cow dung and straw. Read more

INBAR with its architect Nripal Adhikary and Juan Carlos Jaramillo just built this 80 sq. meter multipurpose hall in Kisumu Kenya. They trained unskilled village youths, who had no prior construction expereince to built this beautiful structure. The project was very well received in the community. This project is joint initiative of INBAR and IDRC to introduce bamboo as a modern construction material in East African region.

We have made a small video on earth and bamboo construction for Dell Competition, please take a look.

Its been months since we have updated you. Not that we have abandoned our pursuit to spread the glory of mud and bamboo, its just that we have too busy expanding our resources. In our latest repertoire of natural materials we have added 17th century wood construction tecnique from Germany! Our Abarian Sulava Piya recently got back from Germany after a three month long restoration of a 17th century museum in Schliersee, Germay led by legendary skier/restorer Markus Wasmeir and his carpenters team. She was funded by Dekeyser and Friends Foundation.

The restoration primarily used the techniques and tools from the 17th century like wooden nails, dove tail joints, hanging floors, moss mortar, wooden shingels held with stones. Here are some of the pictures of the restoration. Please note the foundation techniques, where they used huge boulders that were just placed on the ground.

Here is another demonstration of ours- a bamboo truss. The building is combination of compressed earth block that are reinforced with bamboo. Bamboo are connected using cement and metal rebars. The roof is insulated from inside with flattened bamboo. And if you notice a bond beam, its round bamboo culms which are plastered with earth, vegetable fiber and stablized with cement.