Bamboo Gate

Posted on | October 29, 2008 | No Comments

Gate in many cultures symbolize invitation. Gates were (are) built on seas, mountains, rivers and streets to welcome the gods. In festivals seasons, Nepalis still build large structured gates, which almost look like bridges. Here is an example of a large bamboo temporary gate, built for the harvest season. Notwithstanding the cultural value, its an engineering feat in itself: connected with simple ropes and built without any foundation, they withstand heavy loads and fierce winds.  Moreover, these massive structures are built with no more than four people.

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Category: Bamboo, Culture, Design

democratic pavilion

Posted on | October 29, 2008 | No Comments

 

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It is sometimes strange how design can reinforce or dismantle hierarchy. We weaved a traditional khatiya in our recently built pavilion, and this has been a center of attraction in the whole village. People sit on it irrespective of their caste, class or gender distinction. In a village like harsar, which is still mired in traditional caste system, for everyone to sit on one bench is indeed an achievment. Had we put a normal “modern” chair the reaction would have been totally different; as chairs, interestingly enough, connotate hierarchy.

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Category: Bamboo, Culture, Design

Posted on | October 26, 2008 | No Comments

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The spring is here, and so is our work. Here is our studio in Janakpur. We will churning our more trusses this spring and winter. People interested in learning about (or with) please write to us.

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Category: News

Stone masonary

Posted on | October 18, 2008 | No Comments

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There are two kinds of stones- river bed stone and quary stones. Quary stones can be chiseled into any shape and sizes. It is a living tradition and there still are multi-story houses that are earthquake resistant which are built using this technique.

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Category: stone

COB

Posted on | October 18, 2008 | No Comments

The unevenness of bamboo can be compensated by using cob. Cob is mixture of cowdung, wheat husk and clay which are left to ferment for atleast 24 hours. Fermentation is known to produce lactic acid, (a polymer base) which also makes it . We have used cob with adobe which enables us to place bamboo vertically and/or horizontally without any problem in addition of having beautiful plastered surfaces.

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Category: News

Handigaunko Jatra

Posted on | October 17, 2008 | No Comments

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This is what the structure mentioned in the previous post looks like.

The legend tells that the old lichhavi king in order to impress the gods challenged himself to build a noble kind movable structure that no one has every dared! He inverted the traditional temple (which usually has shrines on the bottom) and rotated it on its axis. This structure is somewhat of a magnified version of a buddhist prayer wheel. It is also rotated only on a clock wise direction. The rotating wheel will spread the words of wisdom to all the places where the wind blows. The wheel is accompanied by music, and every neighborhood has a peculiar tune. In a particular intersection, no music is played and no wheel is rotated. The wheels and the music (which also can contain silence) are supposed to provoke certain mood and spirit which are different in every neighborhood.

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Category: Culture, Lifestyle

Bamboo and hinduism

Posted on | October 11, 2008 | No Comments

Bamboo and hinduism has a very interesting connection. It is said that bamboo shoot should not be harvested by a brahmin, as it is compared to a killing child of the family. Similarly brahmins should not plant bamboo or a banana, they usually hire a people of  other caste to do so. But on the other hand, on all brahmin wedding, bamboo and a banana are mandatory, and the deads are always carried on a bamboo stretcher.

In kathmandu, bamboo should not be harvested on Sundays or wednesdays and on  a new moon night or a full moon night, while in the eastern nepal bamboo are not harvested on mondays.

On the other hand, bamboo and a banana are mandatory in a hindu wedding. One should always carry a dead body on a bamboo stretcher.

It is believed that whereever buddhism went, bamboo went along. Bamboo and buddhism were intrically associated.  As the buddhism spread, it is believed that hindus got scared and started attacking buddhist beliefs. And since buddhism was intricately tied to bamboo, they started by attacking bamboo. Perhaps that is why, the traditional skilled craftsmen of nepal are not the brahmins but of other groups.

But in the modern days, things are changing, as the caste system is being replaced by the class. Now there is a class bias against bamboo, as it is considered sign of poverty and backwardness to live in a bamboo house.

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Category: News

Handigaunko Jatra

Posted on | October 8, 2008 | 1 Comment

There is so much indigenous construction knowledge out there with the people, which unfortunately is not documented or even explored by the academic or the professional world. We just “discovered” a very interesting bamboo connection and structural technique, practiced by the newars of Kathmandu. Please take a look at the pictures. These lightweight structures are used to rotate heavy structures during the famous ritual of handigaun ko jatra. If we can properly study these structure, we think, they can be appropriated in modern designs. At an initial observation, it looks like these structures can be adapted to make structures likes domes, bridges, roofs etc..

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Category: Bamboo, connection

Architecture as an anthorpological study

Posted on | September 24, 2008 | No Comments

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We believe architecture is not about imposing ideas. It’s an organic process, its a transfusion.  We believe that the essense of building in a culture, comes from living in a culture. Its not a technical process, it involves anthropological study. We have been living, farming, eating with the farmers in Harsar, so that our architecture blends in and gets accepted to the people. How many times have we seen technically superior and “contemporary” architecture that failes to get appropriated by the intended user?

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Category: Bamboo

Bamboo in Budget 2008

Posted on | September 19, 2008 | No Comments

Here is what our Hon’ Finance Minister Dr. Baburam Bhattarai had to offer to the bamboo sector:

216.. An extensive plantation in public and private lands will be carried out in the form of a campaign with the objective of expanding the forest area and reducing the excessive pressure on public forest area as well as to increase income generating opportunities through strengthening of local supply. For this, 11.5 million plants including fodder grass,cane, bamboos and herbs will be produced and planted and provision of care will also be made. The policy of “One Place One Species” will be adopted in such plantation programmes.

217. At least 75000 families from poor class Dalits, Janjatis and other marginalized people will be provided with the opportunity of income generation through forest based industries and occupations and leasehold and community forests.

We need to congratulate our Finance Minister for encouraging marginalized people to use their sophisticated traditional skills as a source of livelihood. Perhaps we just need to encourage some designs as well, so that the traditional products get the competitive edge. “Design”, is always perceived to be somewhat of a decadent activity, so it hardly invokes a policy level debate. There are always budgets for the “development” of traditional skills, but yet this sector tend not to get the expected result as these product fail to entertain the modern market because they dont have the designs. People have realized that the market is essential; but not the design. Its a catch 22 situation- you dont have the market if dont have the design and vice versa. It’s clear that a design institution need to be established, so that people can use their traditional skills to make products that cater to the modern sensibility

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Category: Bamboo, Design
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