The Kaule Prototype
April - May 2015
Recce visit
In May 2015 Sujoy Das, and
Sharan Lal, both from Kolkata, visited Kaule and Bhangeri - villages in Nuwakot
District and home to South Col’s friends, porters and guides – Santaman, Shyam,
Sushil – among others.
In this trip, corrugated Zinc
Sheets donated by the trekking community from South Col Expeditions and
Sujoy’s friends and contacts were distributed among the villagers. The sheets
provided temporary relief to the villagers and has seen them through the
monsoon season.
A report filed by Sujoy on the
May 2015 recce visit can be found here: http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/05/nepal-earthquake-support-report-on.html
and another one here: http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.in/2015/06/nepal-earthquake-rebuilding-villages.html
June 2015
Design of a House
On their return from Kaule and
Bhangeri, realizing the need for design intervention, Sharan Lal set up a small
group of email friends and worked on a design of a prototype house with the
intention of helping the villages to re-construct their village in a an
appropriate manner. The design would seek to resist inappropriate construction
materials and technologies - like Reinforced Concrete – that threaten to
obliterate the invaluable vernacular building traditions and community wisdom
that the villages of Kaule and Bhangeri possess, and have take generations to
acquire, nurture, and preserve.
The draft concept design
(video) developed with this brief after the May 2015 recce visit can be seen
here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggYpcH0APXk
July 2015
Prototype for
re-construction
The draft design received a good response, and we decided to:
The draft design received a good response, and we decided to:
a. build a prototype for a house in Kaule that is
built using traditional building materials and techniques, and caters to
requirements of a seismically secure structure as per the Nepal Building
Codes.
b. Conduct a Training
Workshop for the villages' masons,
carpenters, and other artisans to empower them with necessary skills for making
the prototype, and by extension their own houses in the future under our
guidance.
September 26 – Oct 5, 2015
Pre-training recce and
village survey
A pre-training recce trip was
carried out in September 2015 – soon after the monsoon - when the villages of
Kaule and Bhangeri were observed more closely, and some basic measurements.
Apart from this, the villagers were photographed, and their basic family data
studied. A report on the September trip can be viewed here: http://thekauleprototype.blogspot.in/
October 26 – November 3 ,2015
Skills training
A six day hands-on training and
workshop for the villages of Kaule and Bhangeri is planned from Oct 26 onwards
in the Kaule School compound. The training aims to make villagers aware of the
properties of traditional materials and techniques used in construction -
bamboo, stone, mud, and timber - and to empower them to use these in ways that
would make their structures seismically less vulnerable.
December 2015 Onwards
Construction of the
Prototype
The prototype for a typical
house will be constructed by the villagers under our supervision over a period
of 2-3 months. The exact dates for these are yet to be finalized depending on
availability of funds and resources for the same.
2016
Reconstruction and
rehabilitation of Kaule and Bhangeri
The lessons learnt in the
construction of the prototype will be used to prepare a detailed plan for the
reconstruction and rehabilitation of the villages of Kaule and Bhangeri. The plan includes incorporation of concepts
like Community Forestry, Solar Micro grids for electricity generation,
ulitisation of Boi-mass for energy and long-term, sustainable income generation
schemes utilizing the natural and tourism potential of the villages. A
consortium of professionals will be formed as an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle)
to take this stage forward. A report on the Prototype process and village
planning and design is being prepared by Sharan and the same will be presented
to an international agency for funding support.
The Kaule Protoype Team
The people who have been
working on the project till now are:
Ashish Sharan Lal, Architect, Alleya
and Associates, Kolkata, India
Team leader
Sujoy Das, South Col Expeditions,
Kolkata, India
Group mentor
Santaman Tamang, Tour operator, Kaule, Nepal
Village Representative and
Local Support
Ajmal Shoban, Retired edical professional, Virginia, U.S.A.
Donor Representative
Hanif Barma, Finance Professional, London UK
Donor Representative
Archana Hande, Artist, Mumbai, India
Photographic documentation,
Administration and Accounts
Vivek Rawal, Architect, Ahmedabad, india
Technical Mentor and resource
person
Areen Attari, Architect,
Mumbai, India
Training and Workshop resource
person Manu Narendran, Engineer,
Ahmedabad Training and Workshop resource
person
Excellent! Great update.
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