HOPE & RESISTANCE

Earthquake Resistant Strategies

Through A Prototype School

EDA URAZ
Master Dissertation Project:
HOPE & RESISTANCE
Earthquake Resistant Strategies
Through A Prototype School
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in writing from the publisher or specific copy
wright owners. Work and publication made
during the course of a personal master disser-
tation project.
© 2018 EDA URAZ
Contact: urazeda@gmail.com
Academic Promotor: Ignaas Back
Contributors: Klaas Vanslembrouck, Dr. Hilde
Bouchez, Drs. Tom Callebaut, Wart Thys and
Lin Seminck
Academic Year: 2017/2018
Publication: 18.06.201
International Master of Science in
Architecture’ and Campus: Ghent
KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Campus
Sint-Lucas Ghent.
www.arch.kuleuven.be
www.internationalmasterofarchitecture.be
Sincere gratitude to;
-My academic promotor Ignaas Back for al-
ways being positive and helpful with his pre-
cious lead on my project. His motivation and
support provided me with the confidence and
freedom to choose my way in all stages of my
work. Thanks for his enthusiasm for teaching
me how to design and how to deal with archi-
tecture as a particular form for every distinc-
tive culture in different contexts.
-My family for their infinite love, support, and
understanding in every step I take. In all hon-
esty, I couldn’t finalise this challenging period
properly without them, without feeling their
presence always with me. Many thanks for be-
ing my family and very special to me.
-Francesco for his belief in me, love and sup-
port. His presence and life energy is always
a source of happiness and motivation to me.
Many thanks for being very thoughtful, help-
ful, and positive in this period.
-My friends for always caring, and cheering me
up. Thanks to their true friendship, I always
felt their presence with me either for sharing
our happiness or surviving difficulties. Many
thanks for their support and contribution to
my life.
Centre for Educational
Policies and Practices
The Joy of Making, Learning
and Teaching a Sustainable
School and Community
Abstract

This master’s dissertation is about developing Consequently, this architectural proposal is

a series of systems and strategies for a completed by research based approaches
prototype school which can be adaptable to within environmental and spatial strategies
different climate regions and buildable with in order to design a prototype, a home as a
different material options based on local community space, a flexible design, a proven
availabilities and limited resources in Nepal. earthquake-resistant building and a safe
shelter.
This master’s dissertation addresses the
lack of educational facilities in Nepal, where
8.000 schools were lost in the devastating
Gorkha earthquake in 2015. There is a need
to complete the educational facilities as fast
as possible. This project aims to develop an
ideal school, which must be flexible and easily
applicable with its special strategies to any
climate region.

The vision was to develop a school project

that is safe, earthquake resistant, and which
represents local identity. Recently, the
confidence in the local structural quality has
been diminishing among the local cultures,
as the desire for stronger structure is
popularised with concrete buildings. However,
most studies prove that the local structural
quality is very stable and still standing after
3 big earthquakes rocked Nepal in the last
century. Hence, the aim of this master’s
dissertation is to complete a school project
with earthquake resistant techniques by
combining local architectural footprints and
contemporary ones within a participatory
design process: by including local communities
in order to teach them new interpretations, to
build an educational building from scratch, to
establish confidence in the safety of the new
building, and to incentivise the local people
to carry out new techniques in the future.
This way, Nepal would be stronger against
possible earthquakes that may happen in the
future and protect its indigenous cultures by
following local characteristics.
Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 2

1. Nepal in general 1

1.1. Reasons, aim and importance 3

1.2. A Prototype School 5

1.3. Geography and climatology 7

1.4. Characteristics and guidelines 9

1.4.1. Kali devi, Makwanpur 9

1.4.2. Ghandruk, Pokhara 11

1.5. Conclusion 13

Chapter 2: Experience 16

2. What i experienced? 17

2.1. Landed in Kathmandu 17

2.2. Research in Kali Devi 17

2.3. Discovering Jungles 19

2.4. Trekking in Himalayas 19

2.5. Final Thoughts 20

Chapter 3: Earthquake 22

3.1. Earthquake in Nepal 23

3.1.1. Urgent Needs 23

3.2. Earthquake in Turkey 25

3.2.1. After the Earthquake 25

3.3. Earthquake Resistant Design Criteria 27

3.4. TRADITIONAL EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT TECHNIQUES & NATIONAL BUILDING CODES 29

3.5. New Solutions For Masonry 31

3.6. Earthquake Resistant Contemporary Techniques 33

3.7. Earthquake Resistant Traditions, Nepal 35

 3.8. Traditional Building Types 37
3.8.1. Weaknesses 37
3.8.2. Strengths 37
3.8.3. Concrete Reality 39
3.9. Earthquake Resistant Traditions, 39
Safranbolu, Turkey 39
3.10. Final Thoughts 41
Chapter 4: Research Based Design 44
4. Introduction to Strategy and Approach, Design to be a prototype 45
4.1. Environmental Strategies 45
4.1.1. Low Tech To Build Safe 45
4.1.2. Cross Ventilation 45
4.1.3. Rain Protection 45
4.1.4. Sun Protection 45
4.1.5. Acoustic Quality 46
4.1.6. Heating System 46
4.1.7. Rain water & Disposal Proposal 46
4.2. Spatial Strategies 47
4.2.1. Simplicity 47
4.2.2. Low Techniques with new interpretations 48
4.2.3. Design To Be Educational 49
4.2.3.1. Reasons To Collapse 49
4.2.3.2. Learn The Material 50
4.2.3.3. Learn how to build for testing on wall samples 51
4.2.4. Design To Be Home 55
4.2.5. Design To Be Flexible 57
4.2.6. Program 59
4.2.7. Research Based Design Brief 61
Chapter 5: DESIGN PROPOSAL: A PROTOTYPE 64
5.1. Current Situation In Sites 65
5.1.1. Kali Devi 65
5.2. Intervention 65
5.2.1. Kali Devi 65
5.3. Design Process 67
5.4. Participatory Design, How Does It Work For a Prototype? 69
5.4.1. Kali Devi, Logic of The System 69
5.4.1.1. Ground Floor Plan, Kali Devi 71
5.4.1.2. Summer, Kali Devi 73
5.4.1.3. Fall, Kali Devi 75
5.4.1.4. Interior Life, Kali Devi 77
5.4.1.5. Safe School, Kali Devi 79
5.4.2. Ghandruk, Logic of The System 81
5.4.2.1. Ground Floor Plan 81
5.4.2.2. Ground Floor Plan 83
5.4.2.3. Winter, Ghandruk 85
5.4.2.4. Summer, Ghandruk 87
5.4.2.5. Interior Life, Ghandruk 89
5.4.2.6. Safe School, Ghandruk 91
5.4.2.7. Materiality 93
5.4.2.8. Structural System 95
5.4.3. Hand crafted contributions 97
Chapter 6: bibliography 106
Chapter 1: Introduction
Hope and Resistance
1. Nepal in general

Nepal is a country with diverse cultures,
traditions, ethnic groups, religions, and
languages. It is located in Asia, on the south
side of Himalayan ranges and surrounded by
India from the south, east and west side, and
China from the north side.
Nepal is also a country that lies on very active
fault lines and had been through very severe
earthquakes throughout its history. Especially
in the last century, there were 3 devastating
earthquakes that rocked the country and
caused thousands of people to die, and
thousand of buildings to collapse.
“If any region would seem to have a reason for
the emergence of a “seismic
culture,” one would think that Nepal would
be close to the top of the list, along with
neighboring Bhutan, Tibet, Indian and Pakistani
Kashmir, and Afghanistan” (Langenbach,
2015). So, it can be said that Nepal is very
vulnerable because of its geographical position
in the world. The most important thing in
this situation is to learn how to deal with the
reality with more resistant building solutions
and approaches.
On the other hand, the altitude is another
interesting feature of Nepal that varies
enormously. Throughout the country, the
altitude starts from 65 meter above sea level
and reaches up to 8848 meter above sea
level at the highest peak of the world, Mount
Everest. In parallel to this, there are 5 different
climate regions in the country, starting from
the south through to the north peaks.
Additionally, Nepal has great numbers of
indigenous groups and each of them has
very special characteristics. As it is written in
the Census of 2011, Nepal has 126 different is to develop a proposal which protects local
ethnic groups and 123 languages. Also, the life characteristics of indigenous cultures and
style according to the local availabilities shows combines them with new interpretations in
diversity. order to supply them a modern look as they
In Nepal the current population is 29,577,978, desire.
while the population density is 207 per km². The aim of my dissertation is to design a
Also, the population density in urbanized areas school project which can be built within
seems to be very high, unusually, just 19,6% of limited resources and possibilities in order to
the population lives in big cities. And the rest respect and protect the cultural continuity
of the population is spread around the country and local identity. Also after the earthquake
within small villages and varied characteristics. happened in 2015, 8.000 schools are ruined
The conditions of accessibility and down throughout the country. School is one
infrastructure between those small rural of the most important entities for a country.
villages or between villages and big cities are So their aim is to rebuild 8.000 schools in
very harsh. a very short period in order to bring back
As it was experienced in our study trip, there education facilities properly. That’s why
was a huge amount of construction work going another important thing is that the school
on across the country. proposal should be a prototype and flexible
Because of the movement of the land as as possible to be finalized as fast as possible
a result of the landslides, especially in the across the country, by the same rules and
monsoon seasons, the investments for the strategies which can adapt to another climate
development of better quality and safe travel region or material solutions ,according to the
might fail. local resources of hosting village.
Hence, as an introduction, according to
the research and experiences on the site,
the country has both very special cultural
values and tough life conditions as a result of
geographical characteristics. Also according to
my observations, what contributes to them
keeping their unique culture untouched is being
more isolated from the global movements.
Although, for them, these special values
that they have, doesn’t make them feel very
special. They would like to have a shift in time,
and have more modernized environments.
So, the main and most important issue that
should be dealt with my dissertation project

Left: Image 1_Local people

from Kali Devi, Makwanpur,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz).
Right: Image 2_View of
Himalayan range from
Poonhill, Nepal (by Eda Uraz).
Above: Image 3_Kali Devi
Primary school classroom in
current situation, Makwanpur,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz).

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Hope and Resistance
1.1. Reasons, aim and importance
In Turkey I experienced what is an earthquake
is and how strong it could be. The similar
stories that I have in my memory and what
the Nepalese people experienced in the
last earthquake in 2015, convinced me to
study further on earthquake resistance,
because i know how important it is to have
a safe and strong roof to live under with the
feeling of being safe. So, the main reason
behind my objective is to develop a proposal
in Nepal as a Turkish architect and with an
international approach, while keeping their
indigenous cultural style by combining it with
contemporary techniques in order to give
them a modern look as they want. In addition
to that, proposing an earthquake resistant
building under the basic frameworks of
cultural requirements would be the start point
of my project to keep a regard for to their
existence and indigenous footprints.
My focus and main interest to study in Nepal
is because I would have a proposal which
completes a very real need of the community
there. A real design to help them to get rid of
the main fear of the earthquake, and provide
them to face the next one without any anxiety,
by having stronger resilient techniques.
Especially after the earthquake in 2015, they
lost their belief to their building techniques
and started to invest in concrete, which is risk
of losing their special identity.
So, my aim is to develop earthquake resistant
techniques for local architecture in order to
keep their indigenous identity and supply them
a public building which is both strong and looks
safe. The building should look safe, because
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
the community, that will use the building after
the construction is completed, should totally
believe the structure of the building is really
safe. Otherwise, bringing a new earthquake
resistant building technique by just saying that
it is safe wouldn’t be satisfactory for the local
community. So, another significant issue arises
at this moment, which is including the local
community in the process ,from the beginning
until the end of the project. In order to supply
the continuity of the new building techniques,
integrating the local community to the process
is very crucial step. So in my proposal, the
social aspect covers the education for adults
for both the physical and social strength of
the village. In this way, they would learn the
earthquake resistant techniques by building
the school together with the professionals
and after that they would carry on these
special techniques in new constructions in the
village, in order to have stronger infrastructure
for new buildings. Also, the process would be
a very big opportunity for the sociocultural
development by the education process itself.
Moreover, the proposal is prototype which
should complete multiple requirements of
different climate zones of Nepal, since after
the earthquake of 2015 they urgently need
to complete the school buildings for the
fundamental education of the society.
Left: Image 4_Construction
work of a new school project
with local people from the
village, architects and students
from Belgium, Kali Devi, Mak-
wanpur, Nepal (by Eda Uraz).
Above: Image 6_Ongoing
Right: Image 5_Cutting a construction of the new school
bamboo into its fibres for the and collaboration of local com-
foundation work, Kali Devi, munity with professionals,Kali
Makwanpur, Nepal (by Eda Devi, Makwanpur, Nepal (by
Uraz). Eda Uraz).
3 4 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
1.2. A Prototype School

The dictionary meaning of ‘prototype’ is; “the
first example of something, such as a machine
or other industrial product, from which all later
forms are developed”The theme of my master
dissertation is to design a prototype school
for Nepal that can be adaptable and flexible
enough for any climate condition that can
happen within the borders of Nepal. In order
to let mass production of defined strategy or a
new system as a school to be applied as fast as
possible throughout the country, the logic and
operation of the school should be clear. The
design and final volume may differ according to
the topographical or climatological conditions,
but the logic, program and the system of the
school should be consistent. The operation
of building process and theme of the school
should have the same outcomes in the end of
the process.
So, while I was in Nepal for the site visit
and investigating local typologies, routines,
characteristics, and materials, I selected
another site for applying the logic of prototype.
In general, the main site is Kali Devi,
Makwanpur. The village is located in (N27.
426708, E085144662) Tarai region, 90 km from
the southwest side of Kathmandu, capital city
of Nepal. According to the road conditions, it
takes approximately 10 hours to complete a
travel in between Kali Devi and Kathmandu.
This village is a Tamang village, very hidden
from the main road and has stunning views of
landscape of the agricultural terraces. Local
people speak the Tamang language which
is different from the main language. The
settlement pattern is rather loose. Houses
have big gardens and mostly, a second or third
floor for sleeping and storage. located a bit distant to the village. The village
For them the ground floor is generally is on one side of the mountain, the houses as
welcoming place and main living zone. close as possible to each other, and there is a
There is a primary school and a small library in small valley separating the village and school
the village. The school is currently in use, but from each other.
the library is locked down to avoid robbery. As a construction material, natural stone for
Sal wood, bamboo, natural stones from the walls, wood for the structure, and slates
the river bed, and earth are the main and for roofing are the solutions in that region,
local construction materials, but imported according to the local resources.
steel, baked bricks and concrete can be seen Consequently, these 2 villages shows many
as construction materials also. Recently, differences in the settlement structure,
especially after the earthquake, corrugated density, climate, materiality, and culture. But
metal sheet roofs are their basic solution for there are some common points also. They
roofing. But in the summer season, it doubles both need a school as a community place, a
the heat of the indoors, and in the monsoon safe place to trust, a fundamental education.
season, because of the heavy rains, it causes a They need economic and sustainable solutions
lot of unwanted noise indoors. with the combination of contemporary ones.
The second site for developing the prototype Thus, all of the entities that are explained
is located in Ghandruk, Pokhara, the second above can be designed under one logic and
big city of Nepal. The village is located in system, that must end up as a prototype.
(N28.376231, E083811445) in the middle
mountains, approximately 250 km away from
Kathmandu and 45 km away from Pokhara. It
is located on the northwest side of the capital
city and the travel distance is approximately 10
hours because of the harsh road conditions.
The village is occupied by Gurung people that
also speak Gurung language which is another
dialect in Nepal.
The village is a passage for a trekking route, so,
this village is much more crowded and touristic
one compare to the first one. The settlement
structure in the village is more compact
because of the climatic reasons. Houses
have gardens, but are more introverted and
protected from the weather conditions.
There is one big secondary school in the village,

Left: Image 7_Settlement

Pattern, Kali Devi, Makwanpur,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz)
Right: Image 8_Settlement
Pattern, Ghandruk, Pokhara,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz).
Above: Image 9_Handmade
crafts with the students in Kali
Devi, Makwanpur, Nepal (by
Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 5 6 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
1.3. Geography and climatology

Nepal has 5 different landscapes and provide solar heat gains in winter (when the Warm Temperate Climate Alpine Climate
accordingly 5 different climate regions sun angle is low) and reduce overheating in
(Habitation continues in four of the climate summer” (Bodach S., Lang, W., Hamhaber, J.,
zones. The fifth one is called Tundra climate 2014). °C Temperature °C °C Temperature °C
and since it is above 5000m, there is not a In the hills region, the prevalent climate is 40 40 40 40
proper town structure), as can be seen in cool temperate climate. And in the middle 35 35 35 35
30 30 30 30
the map below. The 5 different regions are mountains, the dominant climate is alpine 25 25 25 25
ordered below respectively; climate as it was seen in Ghandruk (the 20 20 20 20
Middle mountains, (Tarai region), between second project site). Alpine climate is much 15 15 15 15
10 10 10 10
60m-300m above sea level, Churia Hills, colder than both warm temperate and cool 5 5 5 5
between 300m-700m above sea level, Hills, temperate climate as Bodach mentioned 0 0 0 0
-5 -5 -5 -5
between 700m-2000m above sea level, “Protection from the cold is necessary from
% Humidity % % Humidity %
Middle Mountains, between 2000m-2500m October to April. Therefore, compact building 100 100 100 100
above sea level, And High Mountains, between layout and small openings (15–25% of outer 90 90 90 90
2500m -8848m above sea level. wall area) are recommended” (Bodach S., 80 80 80 80
70 70 70 70
In the Tarai region, sub-tropical climate is Lang, W., Hamhaber, J., 2014). 60 60 60 60
dominant. In Churia Hills region, the prevailing 50 50 50 50
40 40 40 40
climate is the warm temperate climate as 30 30 30 30
it was seen in Kali Devi, Makwanpur Valley mm Precipitation mm mm Precipitation mm
(the first project site). In the winter period, 600 600 600 600
the maximum drop of temperature would 500 500 500 500
be around 10°C. The solar energy would 400 400 400 400
300 300 300 300
heat up the building and bring up the indoor 200 200 200 200
temperature to a comfortable degree. The 100 100 100 100
building orientation in this climate is quite 0 0 0 0

May

May
Mar

Mar
Nov

Nov
Aug

Aug
Dec

Dec
Sep

Sep
Feb

Feb
Apr

Apr
Oct

Oct
important, as mentioned “Buildings should be

Jun

Jun
Jan

Jan
Jul

Jul
oriented with the longer facade toward south
and have medium sized openings; by this way
solar penetration of the south facade could

High Mountains, 2500-8848m

Middle Mountains, 2000-2500m

Hills, 700-2000m

Churia Hills, 300-700m

Middle Mountains, Tarai, 60-300m

Left: Figure 1_Climate Regions
and Location of Villages for
Ghandruk
Prototypes (drawn by Eda
Uraz)
Kathmandu
Kali Devi Source: Bodach S., Lang, W.,
Hamhaber, J. (2014) Climate
Responsive Building Design
Strategies of Vernacular Archi-
1 2 3 5
tecture in Nepal, Energy and
Buildings 81, pp 227–242.
Above: Figure 2_Character-
istics of Warm Temperate
Climate (drawn by Eda Uraz).
Below: Figure 3_Characteris-
tics of Alpine Climate (drawn
by Eda Uraz)
Source: Bodach S., Lang, W.,
Hamhaber, J. (2014) Climate
Responsive Building Design
Strategies of Vernacular Archi-
tecture in Nepal, Energy and
Buildings 81, pp 227–242.

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Hope and Resistance
1.4. Characteristics and guidelines
1.4.1. Kali devi, Makwanpur

Kali Devi is a village that is located in a very are thatch or mud bricks for the roofing, Sal is the place where the family comes together, paralel to hill
paralel to hill

changing topography, in between hills wood or bamboo for the structure, sun dried where they talk, live, eat, and drink. It is the paralel to hill
long facade to south
long facade to south
long facade to south

and valleys. And according to its climatic brick, baked brick or locally available stones furthest zone from the entrance door of the long facade to south paralel to hill

for the wall infill, again locally available stones house in order to keep it cleaner and more
long facade to south

characteristics, the settlement structure in the

village is loose. The houses are separate and for the foundation, and mud plaster for the intimate. They have a special fire pit or oven
long facade to south

far from each other, they have big gardens, finishing of the wall. with a chimney for cooking. All the cooking
a porch for outside house activities with an In general the wall thickness may change and eating activities happen on the ground, Longer facade: parallel to hill

over hanged roof above. The house starts between 50cm and 70 cm according to the with special tools for cooking on the fire, and Longer facade: south

with a living area and a kitchen behind in local conditions. The reason for keeping the just basic tools for eating.
paralel to hill
most cases on the ground floor. On the first wall thickness at least around 50 cm is because So, with all the respect to their special culture, long facade to south

floor, life becomes more intimate. Bedrooms,
and storage are upstairs, which are reached
by a staircase located outside of the house.
Average number of stories can be 2 or 3 for
of the necessity of thermal mass. Thanks to i discovered, experienced and learnt more and
the thicker walls that they use, the interior air more there. And, in the light of the basic local
quality becomes more livable. characteristics, and guidelines, the design of
paralel t
For the purpose comfort of interior the school would become more sustainable 50 cm

this region. Water connection does not reach temperature, they keep the height of one and environmental friendly, because if the first long facade to south

in the house, and the toilets are always outside floor between 160cm or 190cm. By having step of the design would start depending on
180 cm
of the house as another small unit. the lower ceiling, the volume of the house the natural, and sociocultural requirements,
The houses are generally facing to the south gets smaller and heating the house or keeping it would achieve the fundamental goals of the General house organization Average: max 2 or 3 storeys
side with their longer facade and absorb sun the warm air heated by sunlight in the house school design. That’s why, I started to lead my
Newari: 3 storeys Newari: 3 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
light more for the winter period. Also there are becomes easier. Likewise, in most cases they design average:
based on research related their actual
2 storeys
indo nepalese
average: 2 storeys
and hil house
Newari: 3 storeys
average:Newari:
2 storeys
3 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys average: 2 storeys
average: 2 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
indo nepalese and
indo nepalese and hil house hil hous
big openings through the south side in order prefer over hanged roofs for protecting the life style. average: 2 storeys
indo nepalese and hil house
Newari: 3
Newari: 3 sto

to allow natural ventilation to cool down the house from the rain, and supplying shadow bigger openings
bigger openings
just on longer facade

under it for outside activities in monsoon

just on longer facade
bigger openings
interior temperature of the house.
bigger openings
bigger openings
just on longer facade
bigger openings just on longer facade
just on longer facade

In general, the longer facade is placed parallel season and in summer season, respectively. just on longer facade closed courtyards

to the topography for the strength of the Another special characteristic is their wooden
building foundation that can stay on the doors and windows. The doors and windows 1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
overhanged roofv
min 50cm-protect from rain and sun

stabilized ground. are always with double leaves. There is no 1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
1.6 to 1.9 m high
overhanged for heating
roofv
1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
overhanged roofv
min 50cm-protect min 50cm-protect from rain and su
roofv from rain and sun
need of glass for them, the door and window
overhanged

Materiality is another significant feature for

min 50cm-protect from rain and sun
long facade to south

this special village. They use mostly locally
available materials and techniques for building
their homes. The reason for using locally
available materials are not only for continuity
themselves functions both for separating
indoor from outside area, and as solar shades.
Also, the house starts with a small step, that
both draws the border of privacy and keeps average: 2 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
Settlement structure: loose Longer facade: big openings

of these vernacular techniques, but also for it a bit elevated from the garden level for indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 store

economic reasons. There are some imported hygiene reasons. bigger openings

materials such as corrugated sheet for roofing On the other hand, the kitchen is a very just on longer facade

bigger openings
or concrete for foundation or structure of the special facility for the family. I can say that it just on longer facade

building. But in general, the building materials is a very sacred and clean place for them. It

1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating

Above: Figure 6_Guidelines 50 cm
50cm
50 cm overhanged roofv
min 50cm-protect from rain50-70 cm
and sun
28 to 70cm
for Warm Temperate Climate for thermal mass
hil house
mud plaster
locally available stone mud plaster
for thermal mass
newari
inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
outer wall: burnt adobe brick

Left: Image 10_Construction (drawn by Eda Uraz) Interior: mud plaster

mud plaster

Interior: mud plaster

mud wall
mud plaster
Interior
Newari:wall: sun dried brick
3 storeys
average: 2 storeys
site, Kali Devi, Makwanpur, Wall: stone Wall: mud/timber cane/thatch Exterior wall: burnt brick ind

Nepal (by Eda Uraz) Source: Bodach S., Lang, W., Exterior: mud plaster Exterior: mud plaster
50cm
for thermal mass
mud plaster
Hamhaber, J. (2014) Climate 28 to 70cm
for thermal mass inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
Responsive Building Design outer wall: burnt adobe brick bigger openings
Right: Image 11_Elevation of hil house locally available stone
mud plaster
mud plaster
mud wall
newari
just on longer facade

a Traditional House, Kali Devi, Strategies of Vernacular Archi-

mud plaster
50cm 28 to 70cm

Makwanpur, Nepal (by Eda tecture in Nepal, Energy and for thermal mass
50cm hil house
mud plaster
50cm
locally available stone 50cm
mud plaster
for thermal mass
28 to 70cm
newari
inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
outer wall: burnt
28 to 70cmadobe brick 28 to 70cm

Uraz) Buildings 81, pp 227–242. for thermal mass mudforplaster

mud plaster thermal mass
mud plaster formud thermal
mud
wall mass
plaster
for thermal mass
mud plaster
inner wall:for
sunthermal mass brick inner wall: sun
dried adobe
outer wall: burnt adobe brick
fordried
thermal mass
adobe
outer wall: burnt adobe brick
brick inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
outer wall: burnt adobe brick
Newari: 3 storeys
hil house locally available stone
hil house mud
hilplaster
locally available stone
house newariavailable
locally mud plaster
stone newari mud plaster newari
mud plaster mud plastermud wall mud wall
mud plaster mud wall 1.6
mud plaster ove
mud plaster mud plaster
average: 2 storeys
min

indo nepale

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 9 10 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ

bigger openings
 paralel to hill paralel to hill

long facade to south long facade to south

long facade to south long facade to south

Hope and Resistance

1.4. Characteristics and guidelines
1.4.2. Ghandruk, Pokhara

Ghandruk is a village that is located in the this climate. paralel to hill

mountain region, on a side of a mountain in In this village as Kali Devi, they also use the
long facade to south

Himalayan range. It is also located on very local resources and techniques. Generally the
busy touristic routes for going Annapurna building materials are locally available stones
Base Camp or Poonhill. for the foundation, locally available timber
According to its climatic conditions, the for the structure of the building, again stone paralel to hill

settlement structure in the town is very or sun dried bricks are the solutions for wall
paralel to hill
long facade to south Longer facade: parallel to hill
long facade to south long facade to south
long facade to south

compact. The housing pattern in the village infill, mud is used as a wall finish and lastly the Longer facade: south

are rather close to each other with mostly a doors and windows draws the attention by paralel to hill
courtyard surrounded by walls in order to their special wood carvings. long facade to south

keep it protected from exterior temperature The wall thicknesses may change between
and direct wind. The longer facade of the 40cm and 50cm in order to supply enough flat roof
houses also seem in this climate region thermal mass for the comfort temperature flat roof flat roof
paralel
rotated towards the south side and parallel to in the house. In relation to that, for keeping
the topography.
Newari: 3 storeys This longer side of the facade
the warm air inside the house or for heating
Newari: 3 storeys
long facade to south
toreys
is the side of the house where preferably the house
average: 2 storeys
indo nepalese and hil house easier, the height of the each floor
Newari: 3 storeys indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 storeys
reaches up to 200cm maximum.
Newari: 3 storeys
the openings are located. But the openings average: 2 storeys
indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 storeys

are quite small compared to the ones in Another important thing is that there is a 180cm - 200 cm
bigger openings
just Kathmandu.
on longer facade
very big gap between the day and night bigger openings

For outside activities, the courtyard is under temperature. So, in order to keep the house
just on longer facade

closed courtyards average: min 2 storeys

closed courtyards Space arrangement: vertical average:
Average:min 2 storeys
2 storeys
use, and the porch in front of the house under away from the outside temperature, the
closed courtyards
Closed courtyards

the over hanged roof. heavy roof with a high thermal performance, flat roof flat roof
Garden usage in Ghandruk shows similarities 1.6 to 1.9 m high for active
heating sun heating during the day and artificial 1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
overhanged roofv
min 50cm-protect from rain and sun
overhanged roofv overhanged roofv
with other typologies in Kali Devi. heating
min 50cm-protect from rain and sun
as a support are needed in this region. min 50cm-protect from rain and sun

Newari: 3 storeys
In general, the average number of storeys are As a conclusion, Ghandruk shows veryaverage: special
2 storeys
average: 2 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
indo nepalese indo
and hil house and hil house Newari: 3 storeys
2 in Ghandruk, and the space arrangement characteristics as much as Kali Devi. It is very
nepalese Newari: 3 storeys

seems vertical. The organization of the house recognizable that, in materiality, design of a
starts from more public to private from ground house or even the whole village demonstrates
bigger openings
bigger openings
just on longer facade
just on longer facade

floor through upper floors. In a Gurung house, very distinctive specialities depending on the closed courtyards
closed courtyards
average: min 2 storeys
average: min 2 storeys
the ground floor is used generally as an climate, altitude and topographic conditions.
entrance space, storage or place for animals, So, developing a proposal in accordance with paralel to hill long facade to south
paralel to hill

Newari: 3 storeys
the first floor is main living, food storage, the general guidelines and characteristics
1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating long facade to south
1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
long facade to south overhanged roofv
overhanged
min 50cm-protect from rain androofv
sun average: 2 storeys long facade to south
min 50cm-protect from rain and sun

cooking and praying zone, while the second that are explained above, is very crucial for
indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 store

floor is just separated for sleeping. achieving a successful and really functional
Settlement structure: compact Longer facade: small openings
Materials differs in this region. The most prototype school design project. bigger openings
remarkable ones are slates which are used as just on longer facade

roofing material. Also, the roof is rather flat in

50cm 28 to 70cm
for thermal mass for thermal mass inner wall: sun dried adobe brick 1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating
Above:mud Figure 7_Guidelines
mud plaster
outer wall: burnt adobe brick overhanged roofv
hil house locally available stone plaster newari
mud plaster mud wall min 50cm-protect from rain and sun
for Alpine Climate (drawn by
mud plaster

Eda Uraz)
Left: Image 12_Traditional
wood carved window frames Source: Bodachnatural S., Lang,
stone W.,
wall natural stone wall
sun dried mud bricks sun dried mud bricks
in Ghandruk (by Eda Uraz) Hamhaber, J. (2014) rammedClimate
earth rammed earth 50 cm
45 cm flat roof
28 to 70cm 50cm 28 to 70cm Responsive Building Design
for thermal mass for thermal
inner wall: sun dried adobemass
brick for thermal mass inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
aster newari
outer wall: burnt adobe brick
hil house
mud plaster
locally available stone mud plaster newari
outer wall: burnt adobe brick Right: Image 13_Slates as Strategies of Vernacular Archi- Interior: mud plaster Sun dried brick
all
aster
mud plaster mud wall
mud plaster
aroof material in Ghandruk Newari: 3 storeys
tecture in Nepal, Energy and Wall: locally available stone flat roof
(by Eda Uraz)
average: 2 storeys Buildings 81, pp 227–242. Exterior: mud plaster
indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
average: 2 storeys
Newari: 3 storeys
average: 2 storeys
bigger openings
just on longer facade
indo nepalese and hil house Newari: 3 storeys natural stone wall
natural stone wall
indo nepale
sun dried mud sun
bricks
dried mud bricks
rammed earth rammed earth
closed courtyards average: min 2 storeys
50cm 28 to 70cm
50cm 28 to 70cm
bigger openings for thermal mass for thermal mass inner wall: sun dried adobe brick
LIMITED RESOURCES ON
just onCONTINUITY
longer facade AND IDENTITY 11
hil house
mud plaster
for thermal mass
mud plaster
locally available stone
hil house locally available stone
mud plaster newari
mud plaster
for thermal mass inner brick
outer wall: burnt adobe
newari
wall: sun dried adobe brick
outer wall: burnt adobe brick 12 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
mud plaster mud wall
mud plaster mud wall
mud plaster
mud plaster
1.6 to 1.9 m high for heating closed courtyards average: min 2 storeys
overhanged roofv
bigger openings min 50cm-protect from rain and sun
Hope and Resistance
1.5. Conclusion

As a summary of this chapter, Nepal is a very

special country by being the intersection point
of diverse cultures, religions, languages and
much more unique characteristics. In other
word, this country is being a host for centuries
to very special formations. Aside from that, it
has also very special geographic and geologic
situations such as having five different climate
zones within one border, it also has very
unique mountain ranges and is on a very active
tectonic region which makes everything in the
country very fragile. Very severe earthquakes
happened in Nepal in recent years and rocked
the country by taking the lives, or homes of
thousands unfortunately.
Today, their reality is the earthquake and how
to confront to it properly.
To do that, earthquake resistance in buildings
is the most crucial thing. There is a very
thin line between designing a structure
within earthquake resistant frameworks
and at the same time making it a traditional
representation. At this point my mission
starts by coming up with a design which
completes both the dreams of the community
and achieving an earthquake resistance
proven structure by means of combination
of local techniques and contemporary ones
as a community centre, as a prototype, as
a landmark of the villages where applied,
and as a primary school for delivering the
fundamental education facility throughout the
country.

Left: Image 14_Traditional fire

pit for cooking (by Eda Uraz)
Left Above: Image 18_
Ghandruk, Pokhara, Nepal (by
Right Above: Image 15
Eda Uraz)
17_Memories from Kali Devi,
Makwanpur, Nepal (by Eda
Left Middle: Image 19_A
Uraz)
house in Ghandruk, Pokhara,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz)
Right Middle: Image 16
_Memories from Kali Devi,
Left Middle: Image 20_
Makwanpur, Nepal (by Eda
Silhouette, Ghandruk, Pokhara,
Uraz)
Nepal (by Eda Uraz)
Right Below: Image 17_Tra-
Above: Image 21_The Dinner
ditional kitchen organization
Time (by Eda Uraz)
with an oven (by Eda Uraz)

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 13 14 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Chapter 2: Experience
Hope and Resistance
2. What i experienced?
February 2018, an unforgettable memory
in Nepal. The main aim of the visit was for
research of my dissertation project. But since
I was going there, to the other side of the
world, to a completely different culture, I really
wanted to discover more in order to widen my
knowledge, experience and understanding of
their rich culture and history.
2.1. Landed in Kathmandu
My unique experience started by landing
in Kathmandu. The city looked quite unlike
the ones I have been to before. The traffic,
buildings, restaurants, food, temples, squares,
the architecture, the architecture after
earthquake, street life and people were all
new. Spending five days here taught me many
things. The research for my dissertation project
was not started yet, but I already started to
collect information, and tried to observe as
much as I could. Walking through Thamel
-the touristic center and where we stayed,
visiting Monkey Temple (Swyambhu) - very
peaceful and sacred by its atmosphere and
people, andalso a joyful place with monkeys
running around; The Great Baudha Stupa
- a magical, gorgeous, spiritual and religious
place; Pashupatinath - the place where they
burn the dead bodies and send the ashes to
the river, and Durbar Square-representation
of traditional Nepalese architecture were
enough to stun my head.
Bhaktapur was another beautiful corner to
visit. Durbar square in this place drew my eyes
away from everything else. And then a sunset
in Nagarkot, in a piece of nature with a view
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
of the Himalayas with the sun setting behind.
After a small dose of getting more informed
about Nepal and its culture, we were ready to
start for the trip to Kali Devi and the research
there.
2.2. Research in Kali Devi
My research and experience about this
village started from the first moment I got
off the bus there and until the last moment
that I was leaving. Everything around me was
teaching me. It was not easy experience, some
moments were even very tough indeed.
After getting off the bus, there was a small
forest path to walk for an hour with our
backpacks, and headlamps on. For the first
Dal Bhat, their traditional food, we were super
ready after a long and tiring 10 hours of bus
travel and 1 hour of forest walk in the dark.
The dinner was ready after we settled down.
Our family was waiting us to meet us. It was
another experience and learning for me to
have a seat on the ground on their special
handmade carpets, and to eat by hand all
the food in my dish. Also we were trying to
understand and get to know each other with
all curiosity. Another experience after dinner
was the sleeping arrangement. We were
sleeping on the ground, on our mats, in our
sleeping bags, in the same room with the other
members of the family and some roosters in
the basket. We slept in a few seconds after
very tiring travel during the day. And here
woken up by the singing roosters, and curious
kids in the house watching us.
It was hard to get ready, change the clothes
Left: Image 22_A woman
making handmade pots,
Bhaktapur, Nepal (by Eda Uraz)
Right: Image 22_Just Arrived
to the Village, Kali Devi,
Makwanpur, Nepal (by Eda
Uraz)
17
in the same room with other family members,
go to the toilet outside of the house, and
have breakfast with the same food again in
the early morning. Afterwards we were at the
school site for the research. Some of us were
going for social research, some of us going for
architectural research, and the rest was on
the site, helping the construction work for the
new school design by our tutors for the village
or teaching something joyful and interesting
to the students in the primary school.
Every day started as a new experience. The
meals, sleeping and experience related to life
in the house were getting interesting, while
the practice in the site related to our research
during the day was different for everybody
day by day. If one does social research in
one day, other day he/she should change the
work and do the digging of the foundation or
exploration of the local typologies. The whole
week was just learning, learning and learning
in any moment and in any atmosphere in the
village. On the last day, there was a community
day for the families in the village. We invited
them one by one to come to the school site in
order to introduce the new school design to
them. Some of them were curious and tried
to understand the varied physical model with
different material proposals, and some didn’t
show up, unfortunately. But it was a really
interesting day to see the interaction between
local community, students from Belgium,
from Kali Devi and the teachers together
both working on the construction together,
delivering a bucket of cement hand to hand to
pour into the foundation pit or just observing
whats going on there. That day was a really
interactive day by seeing the motivation and
cooperation of the people.
Above: Image 23_The Great
Baudha Stupa, Kathmandu,
Nepal (by Eda Uraz)
18 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
2. What i experienced?
A week passed as fast as the twinkling of an eye
with lots of experience, information, analysis,
and beautiful memories of the families. When
I left Kali Devi, I felt more grown up, I started
to appreciate life more, learn to be happy
from very small things. I loved being there,
although the life conditions were sometimes
super difficult for us.
With the day of closure and presentations by
us about our experience there, we were getting
ready to continue our Nepal exploration.
2.3. Discovering Jungles
We headed through the southern part of the
country, to the tropical climate regions, to
the jungles, to the elephants, to the rhinos
and to the many things that we hadn’t
expected before arriving there. The weather
was amazing, the nature, vegetation, village
structure was totally different from what I
saw in Kathmandu. Elephants were walking in
the streets, having bath in the creek passing
by next to our hotel, crocodiles were chilling
under the sun, deers were blinking their
very shy eyes behind the bushes and so on.
The following day passed by discovering the
jungles and visiting the animal species in the
jungle, in their home. Monkeys, birds, bears,
lizards, leopards, deers and much more to see
took my breath away. This trip was another
learning, and another memorable experience
for me with its very special nature and
village structure that would definitely affect
my approach in further studies about my
dissertation.
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
back to Kathmandu to fly back to Belgium.
2.4. Trekking in Himalayas
2.5. Final Thoughts
Time to travel from jungles to mountains.
Through to the end of the experience in Nepal, In a few words, every breath and every step I
we were still in our exploration, having a day took there, taught me so many things that are
long bus trip under the sun, sometimes long definitely classified as part of my research by
hours of waiting in the mountain road nearby knowing more about the cultures of country
the cliff because of the construction work. This throughout my travel. And it would absolutely
was much more tiring than the other activities. reflect in my design process for an ideal school
Finally we were in Pokhara without knowing for Nepal.
which day of the week or which date of
the month we are in. I was really under the
effect of the beauty of the variety of cultures,
climates and natures in Nepal. Pokhara was
a really nice coastal city thanks to the Phewa
lake surrounded by mountains. After all the
sightseeing through the city, exploring the
new foods, visiting Peace Stupa and Tal Barahi
Temple, we were ready to trek.
Four days long trekking with walking of
approximately 20 km per day, climbing
thousands of stairs to reach up to Poonhill
for the breathtaking view of Annapurna
range and the 7th highest peak of the world
Dhaulagiri during the sunrise within a clear
sky was definitely worth it. The level of
oxygen, the fresh air, the tones of green in
the forest, the very small mountain villages,
the gradual change in altitude up to 3260m
were sometimes undescribable both in
beauty or difficulty, but it was really a life time
experience.
With all the happiness, appreciation, and
memories blowing in my brain, we competed
the last chapter of our Nepal trip and went
Left: Image 24_Trekking in
Himalayas, Day 2, walking from
Ulleri to Ghorepani, Nepal (by
Eda Uraz)
Right: Image 25_The Peace Above: Image 26_Elephants in
Stupa, Pokhara, Nepal (by Eda the Jungle, Chitwan, Nepal (by
Uraz) Eda Uraz)
19 20 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Chapter 3: Earthquake
Hope and Resistance
3.1. Earthquake in Nepal

“Nepal is characterized by frequent disaster
events like floods and earthquakes where
substantial loss of lives, infrastructures and
properties is occurred every year. In the period
of 1900-2005, as 1674 flood events were
reported in Terai region of Nepal causing
2856193 casualties (Aryal, 2012). The great
Bihar Nepal earthquake of magnitude 8.1
claimed lives of 8519 people along with more
than 200000 houses damaged across the
country (Dixit et al. 2013). In addition to these
earthquakes , the magnitude 6.9, 2011 Sikkim
Nepal Border Earthquake caused extensive
damage on rural houses of eastern Nepal.
The severe impact of 2015 Gorkha earthquake
(magnitude 7.8) is reflected in terms of 8790
casualties, 22300 injuries and 498852 houses
completely or partially collapsed and other
256697 houses partly damaged (NPC 2015)”
(Gautam et al., 2016)
Earthquake is a sudden movement of two
piece of earth that causes seismic waves on the
earth’s surface. According to the estimations
that is said in the documentary ‘Earthquake
101’ by National Geographic, there are
500.000 earthquakes happens in each year in
the world, 100.000 of them are strong enough
to be felt, and 100 of them cause very severe
damages and the effect could be devastating.
The most violent earthquake is the one that
happens in subduction zone. The subduction
zone is the junction point of two plates of
earth. In this type of earthquake, one plate
goes under the other one and the second
plate goes above the first plate. This is the
type of earthquake was the one that rocked
Nepal in 2015, unfortunately. As Langenbach
mentions in ‘The Earthquake Resistant
Vernacular Architecture in the Himalayas’;
“The Himalayan chain was created by the
collision of continental plates, creating the
highest mountains in the world, along with
one of the world’s most active earthquake
hazard areas” (Langenbach, R., 2015).
Also the building stock in the country was not
ready for this powerful earthquake, so that the
effect was very destructive both in the cities
an in the rural regions.
3.1.1. Urgent Needs
In Nepal, almost one third of the country
inhabits the houses which were built by local
resources, such as natural stone, bamboo,
wood brick, rammed earth or wattle and
daub. According to Adhikary’s, ‘Vernacular
architecture in post-earthquake Nepal’, “Nepal
has a rich tradition of vernacular architecture,
but in the last 30 years owing to government
policies the vernacular has not been able to
thrive in the modern context. The government’s
restriction on harvesting and usage of wood
adversely affected the traditional practices of
making earthquake resistant wooden bands
over the years. In the April 2015 earthquake,
many buildings of relatively recent vernacular
construction, especially stone with mud mortar
typology, collapsed. On the other hand, both
traditional and contemporary buildings that
incorporated earthquake-resistant features
survived” (Adhikary, N., 2016)
So, according to the informations given
above, the real and urgent need for the
Nepalese is to have a right to live, right to
have a safe house, right to properly integrated
earthquake resistant techniques, and right
to have to be educated and equipped how
to deal with the earthquake properly with
the special earthquake resistant building
techniques. These techniques does not
have to be contemporary ones. It is really
possible to improve earthquake resistance
by locally available materials. If the building’s
construction materials and structural elements
were tied up to each other thoroughly, most
of the destruction could have been prevented.
Unfortunately, due to the collapse of the
vernacular buildings, the people became
disillusioned with their values.

Above: Image 27_After Gorkha

Earthquake in 2015, Nepal (by
Rory McKeown and Matthew
Ghandruk Young, 2015).
Left: Figure 8_Active faults in
Source: www.dailystar.co.uk
Kathmandu Nepal (drawn by Eda Uraz)
Kali Devi Below: Image 28_After Gorkha
Source: Upreti, Bishal & Ku-
Earthquake in 2015, Nepal (by
mahara, Y & Nakata, T. (2007).
by Carl Whetham, IFRC, PA
Paleoseismological study in
Wire).
the Nepal Himalaya—Present
status, https://www.research-
Source:www.lonelyplanet.com
gate.net

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 23 24 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.2. Earthquake in Turkey
We woke up in the morning, there was a
big silence around the neighbourhood. And
no electricity, no television or radio signal
were receiving. We were the lucky ones,
away from the origin of the earthquake. But
unfortunately, thousands of us weren’t that
lucky. Some of them lost their lives, families,
or their homes.
According to NTV News, the earthquake
magnitude of 7.6 continued 45 seconds,
claimed almost 18.000 of people, injured
around 23.000 of people, ruined 28.000
of houses and 43.000 of offices. After
the earthquake, 600.000 people became
homeless.
“Thank God, we weren’t home then; we’d
gone to my aunt’s house for a meal”. “When
we came back into town, we couldn’t find our
bearings—all of the buildings in the city centre
were laying in the streets. You could step on
top of the five-story building we’d lived in. It
was completely flattened.” says Serdar Yalay
in an interview (www.citylab.com). Maybe
he was the lucky one for not being there at
that moment. But he became an earthquake
victim and homeless at that time. Turkey was
not ready to face such a violent earthquake as
Nepal. So many earthquakes happened before
1999 or after, but none of them ended up with
a devastating impact as this one.
The reason that I am sharing this experience
from Turkey is because of the similarities
between both countries. Both didn’t have
Istanbul
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
a strong structural qualities, people were
unconscious about what to do or how to
evacuate properly, the quality of building
materials or the reinforcements were not as
required. So, the impact and the experiences
after the earthquake were similar for the
earthquake victims.
3.2.1. After the Earthquake
After the earthquake, socially responsible
projects were started by some volunteer
groups, and nongovernmental organizations
with the collaboration of earthquake victims
in order to give their home back as soon as
possible.
One of them is explained further in this
chapter which is ‘Düzce Disaster-affected
Homeless People’s Housing Cooperative’. This
cooperative was “set-up to fight for the right
to housing to be extended to tenants – victims
of earthquakes in 1999 – who did not receive
post-disaster support from the government”
as explained in the Housing International
Cooperative’s website. And they received
‘World Habitat Awards’ in 2017 thanks to their
humanitarian project. First, they made a call
in order to provide bright ideas for the social
housing project in Duzce for 234 members.
Also, their aim is to involve the local victims in
the design process to be able to end up with
an operative project for “low income citizens
in a post-disaster context.” as it is explained in
Left: Figure 9_The Active
Faults In Turkey (Magnitude
7.6) in 1999 (drawn by Eda
Uraz)
Source: mta.gov.tr
25
detail in Duzce Umut Atolyesi’s (Duzce Hope
Homes) blog. Dursun Teper, a member of the
cooperative “Until fifteen years ago I had lived
hopelessly. The reason for my hopelessness
was the fact that I could not own a home. It was
at this time when the 1999 earthquake hit. We
were devastated. Following the earthquake
the state built houses and provided property
owners with apartments. We were living in
prefabricated houses when we discovered
that we, tenant victims, also have rights.”“Our
hope started to grow. The cooperative was set
up and the legal process began. We started to
fight for our rights. We have achieved things
that we never believed we would.” as it is
written in ‘beyond.istanbul’ further.
As a result, the main reason behind all of
the explanation of the participatory design
process is to give a great example for the social
aspect for my design proposal. So, in order
to achieve the continuity of local identities
within earthquake resistant techniques by
combination of local and contemporary
solutions for the ideal school proposal, the
local community must be the part of the design
process, and must be present and helpful at
the construction site in order to learn how to
build their community building. By this way,
they really can learn, carry out and teach the
specific techniques, for the resilience of the
community.
Above: Image 29_After the
17 August 1999 Gölcük Earth-
quake (by www.ntv.com.tr)
Below: Image 30_After the
17 August 1999 Gölcük Earth-
quake (by www.ntv.com.tr)
Source: https://www.ntv.com.
tr/galeri/turkiye/17-agustos-
1999-depreminin-18-yili-gol-
cuk-depremi
26 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.3. Earthquake Resistant Design Criteria

For designing an earthquake resistant building
technique, there are some important steps
to consider. According to the Indian Institute
of Technology, in Earthquake Tips 5 (What
are the Seismic Effects on Structures?), when
earthquake occurs, ground and building
moves in the opposite direction. The ground
are Horizontal Bands necessary in Masonry
Buildings?), another very crucial step is
to take into account the horizontal bands,
because the openings are the weakest part
of the buildings. So, in order to avoid them Ground
becoming a danger for the structure, lintel Movement Building
Twist
beams must be located above and below each Inertia force

moves with acceleration, and the building
reflects it with an inertia force that causes
change of location as big as ‘u’. So, it is very
important that, the weight of the building
should be in balance. Otherwise, if one part
of the building was built by another material
or the foundation of the building is not in
opening, all around the building. Plinth bands,
and ring beams have another important role Acceleration
for keeping the building as one piece for
earthquake resistance. These bands can differ
in materials such as wooden bands or steel
bands, but the most important thing is to craft Ground Building
Movement
these crucial bands on the building correctly Twist

the same level on the ground because of the for stability.

slope, the building mass might twist itself and
this movement may cause damage or collapse
of the building as it is explained by Indian
Institute of Technology, in Earthquake Tips 7 Inertia force
(How Buildings twist during Earthquakes?).
Another very significant step is to design the
building by tying up the walls to each other
strongly, because when an earthquake hits
the building from one side, the walls that
Lintel Band
are perpendicular to the acceleration would
become weaker and the ones parallel to
the acceleration behave stronger. So that, Plinth Band

if the walls are connected to each other

properly, the walls that acts stronger thanks
to its position, holds the weaker ones in its
Ground
position and prevents the building collapse Movement
as it is mentioned in Earthquake Tips 12,
(How do Brick Masonry Houses behave
during Earthquakes?) by Indian Institute of
Technology.
With reference to the Indian Institute of Roof Band
Technology, in Earthquake Tips 14 (Why
Left: Image 31_150 years old Lintel Band
round building remained alive
during the last earthquakes Plinth Band
(by Gautam et al.)
Source: Gautam et al., (2016), Right Above: Figure
Disaster Resilient Vernacular 10_Schemes of Earthquake Ground
Housing. Resistant Design Criteria Movement
(Drawn by Eda Uraz).
Right: Image 32_Welded
Steel Framed Stone Building, Source: Earthquake Tips,
University of Nepal, Putchowk Indian Institute of Technology,
Campus, Kathmandu, Nepal Building Materials and
(by Eda Uraz). Technology Promotion Council,
New Delhi, India.

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 27 28 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.4. TRADITIONAL EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT
TECHNIQUES & NATIONAL BUILDING CODES

‘Nepal National Building Codes NBC 204,

Guidelines for earthquake resistant building
construction reveals some very important
earthquake resistant techniques and
frameworks.
For earthquake resistance, the geometric form
of the building is the first step to consider, as it
is mentioned in the ‘National Building Codes’,
Opening
as “creating a box effect”. The symmetry of the Sizes
Bamboo
Reinforcement
plan, equal proportions, and storey height are
other important values that are recommended
about the building mass.
In masonry units, strong bonds make a big
difference for stiffness of the building. Also,
the maximum length of the wall should not be
longer than 10 meters, because the longer the
wall gets, the weaker it would be. Otherwise,
if the wall must be longer than 10 meter, than
it has to be supported by buttresses. Likewise,
the point of junction of walls of the building Secondary Structure Secondary Structure
must be reinforced by bamboo or wooden
supports.
On the other hand, the walls that are made Ground Movement
out of mud must have vertical reinforcement
and strongly connected joints. Besides,
timber bands are another important criteria
for earthquake resistant design. While taking Secondary Structure
care of the stability of the wall, the openings
shouldn’t be forgotten, because they might
be dangerous during the earthquake. By this
way, according to the ‘Nepal National building
Codes’ the horizontal and the vertical distance
between the openings should not be shorter
than 120cm and 60cm, respectively.

Left: Figure 11_Corner Rein- Right: Figure 13_Building

forcement Detail (Drawn by
Eda Uraz).
Right: Figure 12_Beam and
Coloumn Connection Rein-
forcement Detail, (Drawn by
Eda Uraz).
Source:
Nepal National Building Codes
NBC 204, Guidelines for
earthquake resistant building
construction: Earthen Building.
Structure, External Wall Sup-
ports, Ceiling Configuration,
Horizontal Bands (Drawn by
Eda Uraz).
Source: Ortega et al., (2017),
Traditional earthquake resist-
ant techniques for vernacular
architecture and local seismic
cultures: A literature review,
2017, Journal of Cultural Herit-
age 27 (2017), pp 181–196.

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 29 30 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.5. New Solutions For Masonry

"The buildings with regular structural layout, a masonry unit, a structurally earthquake
with the walls properly connected together resistant one.
at the floor levels, have often performed well, Miha Tomazevic mentions that "Seismic actions
even when they are not designed to resist are accidental actions which, depending on
earthquakes. Adequate seismic behaviour of the seismicity of the location, rarely occur in
Bonding
those buildings proved that it is possible to the building's lifetime. However, because of Bonding
Arrangements
Arrangements of
Reinforced
Hollow Unit
improve the seismic resistance by considering the destructive power of the earthquakes the Hollow Masonry

simple principles of architectural and structural stability and safety of buildings located in
planning, and meeting the requirements for earthquake prone areas should be verified for
the quality of materials and construction at the seismic loads" (Tomazevic M., 1999).
same time" (Tomazevic M., 1999) says Miha So, especially the regions where there are
Tomazevic in Earthquake-Resistant Design of active earth plates that cause a destructive
Masonry Buildings. According to his research earthquake, need proven structural ability.
and what he mentioned about structural
stability above, it can be said that highest
priority at first for earthquake resistance is
designing a well constructed building body.
There are some new solutions for masonry
structures that can also be adapted for sun
dried bricks or compressed blocks, within Single Leaf Wall Single Leaf Wall Double Leaf Wall Cavity Wall

local possibilities. First of all, for a masonry

unit, the position, and dimension of the brick
are crucial. Also, if the bricks are hollow core
for some kind of reinforcement, the size of
the holes should be limited, in another way,
the brick volume around the holes should
be strong enough for its durability. Another
important thing is the bonding system for a
brick masonry unit. The alterations in each
horizontal layer form a straight head structure.
Confined masonry with vertical and horizontal
reinforced elements surrounding the building,
reinforced hollow core brick masonry unit with
Confined
steel or concrete reinforcement in the cores, Reinforced Masonry
ladder or truss type horizontal reinforcements Hollow Unit Structural Walls

in the wall, cast in place reinforced slabs with

bonding beam are the solutions for making

Left: Image 33_Mud Brick

Process (by Paul Downton)
Above: Figure 14_New
Right: Image 34_Building with Masonry Techiques (Drawn by
Mud Bricks (by Paul Downton) Eda Uraz)

Source: http://www. Source: Tomazevic M., (1999),

yourhome.gov.au/materials/ Earthquake-Resistant Design
mud-brick of Masonry Building.

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 31 32 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.6. Earthquake Resistant Contemporary
Techniques
Apart from traditional construction techniques
for earthquake resistance, there are some
recently improved contemporary construction
techniques for bigger and taller buildings
through the last century. First of all, the newer
foundation systems were designed to be as
flexible as possible to absorb and wipe out
the earthquake force before it affects the
building system. This is possible with ‘Sliding
bearing: friction pendulum system’ or ‘Lead
rubber bearing system’ under the columns.
By this methods, the foundation slides during
the earthquake and prevent the fractures or
twists that might cause damage in the building
structure. Also for the flexibility of the building
itself, lightweight partitions play an important
role and thanks to the space between the
partitions , the building movement becomes
harmless, because the structural elements
would not be crashing into each other.
There are other structural solutions for the
steel buildings and concrete buildings as
they can be seen on the next page in detail.
In steel buildings, the earthquake resistant
systems are; lateral force resisting system that
is special with its strong junctions as nodes,
braced frame system that becomes strong
by its diagonal continuous connections in
different configurations, outrigger system that
has a central core and this core has stable
connections to the structure surrounding the
building, framed tube system which is a 3D
system which enables the building to dissipate
and absorb all the lateral forces and the last
one is seen as trussed tube system that has
the high efficiency of the framed tube system
for a much taller building’s stability.
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
In concrete buildings, the earthquake resistant
systems are; moment resisting frame that
has large beams and columns to get rid of
the lateral forces, braced frame that has
strong connection of horizontal, vertical and
diagonals which carries the lateral forces, rigid
frame system that resists both gravity and
lateral pressures by its rigid structure well, and
the last one is called shear wall system that can
Regular Foundation System Sliding Foundation System
supply efficient power against lateral loads.
There are also some improvements for column
or wall systems. For instance, the concrete
encased composite column systems, and steel
jacketing can be examples of strengthening
the reinforced concrete columns. External
steel shear walls or steel infill application for
the concrete walls would be the solutions
for stability of the contemporary structure
solutions.
Under the light of new interpretations,
the possibility of combining these to the
Moment Resisting Frame Braced Frame Shear Wall System
traditional Nepalese and Turkish earthquake
resistant structural techniques, within limited
resources, would reflect the logic of the
structural capacity such as including bracing,
strong cores, properly tied column beam
systems in order to let the building stand
against lateral forces as solidly as possible.
Above: Figure 15_Resistance
to Earthquake with Sliding
Foundation System (Drawn by
Eda Uraz). Coloumn
Beam
Lateral force
Outrigger System Outrigger System
Middle: Figure 16_Resistance Rigid Joint
resisting system
to Earthquake in Concrete
Buildings (Drawn by Eda Uraz).
Middle: Figure 17_Resistance
to Earthquake in Concrete
Buildings (Drawn by Eda Uraz).
Below: Figure 18_Isolated
Foundation Systems (by
Left: Image 35_Infill Wall
Bungale S.), (Drawn by Eda
Application (by Hasan Kaplan & Uraz)
Salih Yilmaz)
Source: Coburn, A., (2002),
Right Below: Image 36_External Earthquake Protection.
Steel Shear Walls (by Dr. Yavuz
Selim Tama)
Source: Bungale S., (2003),
Framed tube system Trussed Tube System Braced frame system
Wind and Earthquake Resist-
Source: Kaplan H. et al, 2012,
Seismic Strengthening of ant Buildings: Structural
Reinforced Concrete Buildings Analysis and Design.
33 34 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
3.7. Earthquake Resistant Traditions,
Nepal
In Nepal, vernacular architecture is one of
the most common way of building. In recent
years, these special techniques were left
behind because of the loss of the belief in the
strength of local resources. Although, there are
some earthquake proven local construction
techniques that survived through 3 very big
earthquakes in the last century.
"Past earthquake events from 1255, 1260,
1408, 1681, 1767, 1810, 1823, 1833, 1834,
1837, 1869, 1917, 1934, 1936, 1954, 1965,
1966, 1980, 1988,2011 and 2015 have depicted
severe damage scenarios in Nepal in terms of
structural collapse, life and property damage
(Dixit et al. 2013; NPC 2015). Beside several
detrimental cases of structural collapses in
other types of houses, timber framed houses
are the resilient ones in every earthquake
event in Nepal (Rana 1935; JSCE 1989; Gautam
et al. 2015) and also timber frames are
justified as seismic resistant features globally
(e.g., Poletti et al. 2015)" (Gautam et al.,
2016). Also, again based on ‘Disaster resilient
vernacular housing technology in Nepal’
(Gautam et al, 2016) there are two districts
in southern Nepal called Jhapa and Kaski. In
Jhapa district, their structural quality depends
on wooden structured houses. Likewise,
in Kaski district, the speciality of vernacular
architecture and strength of structure are
originated from mud bonded bricks or stones
in a round shape. “These two districts have
unique architecture and performance of these
particular types of houses has been justified in
three strong earthquakes of 1934, 1988 and
2015” (Gautam et al., 2016). The research
claims that after the earthquake in Udaypur
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
in 1988, the local community from that village
started to build their houses with the similar
local structural techniques. “The construction
technology is not sophisticated and doesn’t
require specialized manpower; however a
simple rectangular construction technology
with four to six wooden pillars running from
foundation to roof is prevalent in case study
area. Such simple and symmetric construction
is also efficient in terms of balancing the
torsional effects during earthquakes” (Gautam
et al., 2016).
On the other hand, there is another special
technique called ‘Taq’ for earthquake
resistance. Its speciality is very strong timber
lacings in the masonry buildings. “In this
construction large pieces of wood are used
as horizontal runners embedded in the heavy
masonry walls, adding to the lateral load-
resisting ability of the structure…Masonry
laced with timber performed satisfactorily as
expected, as it arrests destructive cracking,
evenly distributes the deformation which
adds to the energy dissipation capacity of the
system, without jeopardizing its structural
integrity and vertical load-carrying capacity,
(Rai and Murty, 2005)” (Langenbach, R.,
2015). According to ‘The earthquake resistant
vernacular architecture in the Himalayas’, taq
technique is the best earthquake resistant
Saraswati EQ Resistant Secondary
School
technique with the local materials within
the last century. “The city of Srinagar looks
tumbledown and dilapidated to a degree; very
many of the houses are out of the perpendicular,
and others, semi-ruinous, but the general
construction in the city of Srinagar is suitable
Mountains
Hills
Tarai
Kaski
Jhapa
0 100 200 500
35
Saraswati EQ Resistant Secondary
School
Left: Image 37_Taq Technique,
Bhaktapur, Nepal (by Randolph
Langenbach).
Source: Langenbach, R., (2015)
The Earthquake Resistant
Vernacular Architecture in the
Himalayas.
Right: Figure 19_Kaski and
Jhapa, Nepal (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).
Source: Gautam et al., (2016),
Disaster resilient vernacular
housing technology in
Nepal, (original: http://www.
johntyman.com/nepal/01.
html)
Section Section
for an earthquake country; wood is freely used,
and well jointed; clay is employed instead of
mortar, and gives a somewhat elastic bonding
to the bricks, which are often arranged in
thick square pillars, with thinner filling in. If
well built in this style the whole house, even
if three or four storeys high, sways together,
whereas more heavy rigid buildings would split
and fall” (Neve, 1913)” (Langenbach, R.2015).
So, it can be summarized that the material
choices with the correct combinations would
survive very strong earthquakes. Also, it can Plan Plan
be said that, the real solution lies back in Earthquake resistant 'Taq' Technique, Bhaktapur
their history which also enables them to keep
their pure and special vernacular architecture Bamboo Roof
untouched. In part of Langenbach’s research,
there are 42 very important historical
Bhaktapur EQ Res House-Another detailin
Lintel Beam
buildings that are under conservation and are
located in Bhaktapur. They were built by the
Taq technique and managed to survive during
Bhaktapur EQ Res House-Ano
Decorative
the devastating earthquakes. He mentions; Band
“I re-inspected [the 42 buildings and] I am Plinth Band
really excited with their performance… The
timber bands, double boxing of openings,
struts, subsequent load reduction mechanism
are genius. The smaller openings, building
symmetry and others are also excellent… Inside
many of the houses …there were only minor
diagonal cracks… Till date, I haven’t found any
collapsed house [with] timber bands.”
Saraswati Earthquake Resistant Secondary School, ABARI
(Langenbach, R.2015).
Above: Figure 20, 21, 22_Taq
Construction Technique
(Drawn by Eda Uraz)
Left Below: Image 38_Saras-
wati Secondary School, Nepal
Saraswati EQ Resistant Secondary
School
(by ABARI)
Right Below: Image 38_Saras-
wati Secondary School, Nepal
(by ABARI)
Source: http://abari.earth/
saraswati
36 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
 Plan
Plan Type 1: Type House
Gurung 1: Gurung House Typology
Typology

Hope and Resistance

3.8. Traditional Building Types

Another earthquake resistant traditional that none of the earthquake resistant building
3.8.1. Weaknesses could resist, at least it could fulfil its mission
Toilet Porch Balcony

technique was found recently, (see the Reinforced

image 32, on the right below) as it was which would be just to remain standing for Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom Bedroom
Concrete
The reflection of the local culture is evacuation of people in short time. Hence,
Structure

explained in University of Nepal, Engineering really visible in the house configuration. Wood Wood
Faculty, Putchowk Campus, Department of both the design and the structural strength Partition Partition
Unfortunately, the place that they call ‘home’ of the building are very crucial steps to take
Architecture. This technique was developed which should mean the safest, the most
in order to prevent stone delamination. The into consideration for a proper earthquake Kitchen Bedroom Bedroom Stone
secure place for a family, might have some resistant design. Another important thing is to Wood Wood
Wall with
difference in this technique from the regular weaknesses in the construction logic that Pillar Pillar
Plaster
stone building is that, the stones were covered make people believe in their local strength PlaninPlan
TypeType
2: Gurung
2: Gurung
House House Typology
Typology
could be really vulnerable under the impact of order to not lose the local characteristics while
and framed by the welded steels. So that, it the earthquake and may result in very tragic
becomes more stiff and stable against the designing an earthquake resistant structure. Balcony
situations. Gurung House Typology Ground Floor First Floor
earthquake. The weaknesses show up because of the lack
In rural Nepal, the traditional building types of quality structure, or lack of horizontal or Plan
Plan Type 2: Type House
Gurung 2: Gurung House Typology
Typology
could be similar according to their materiality,
because in rural Nepal mostly they use locally
vertical
Plansupporters
Typeof1: theGurung
building. House
Plan Typology
Type 1: Gurung House Typology Plan Plan
TypeType
3: Tamang
3: TamangHouse Typology
House Typology Reinforced
Concrete
Living Room Kitchen Attic
available materials as I observed in Kali Devi Structure

and in Ghandruk. In the traditional housing 3.8.2. Strengths Wood Stone

Chimney
Pillar Wall with
from the Tamang and Gurung culture from Shaft
Plaster
different districts in Nepal, the houses have Unlike the explanation above, Nepalese
generally 2 storeys. In the plot, there is an traditional architecture shows very special
open garden area for outside activities, for structural qualities in some local or historical Tamang House Typology Ground Floor First Floor

buildings which were built just with local

washing, and a small room for a toilet far from PlanPlan
TypeType
5: Tamang
5: Tamang
House
House
Typology
Typology
the entrance of the house. Then the entrance resources. But unfortunately, after a while,
of the house shows very typical feature in especially after the local community saw Reinforced Concrete Structure Stone Wall with Plaster

that their homes were collapsed during the Plan

Plan Type 5: Type 5:
Tamang Tamang
House House Typology
Typology
each cases with its 20-50 cm elevated porch.
This porch both defines the border of the earthquake, they thought that it is because Kitchen Bedroom Living Room

house and creates a shade place under the of the weakness of the local materials. As a
roof for the household. On the ground floor, result, they started to invest in imported or Wood
Pillar Water Wood
the kitchen is the furthest facility from the unsustainable materials for new constructions Storage Partition

entrance, since it needs intimacy and hygiene like corrugated steel or concrete. Actually,
for the food. Upstairs belongs to the bedrooms some studies proved that the local resources Entrance

and storage zone and it is reached by a stair that they have in this climate could be
which is located outside of the house. Thus, more than enough to build strong and stiff Toilet Balcony

it can be said that, house typology starts from buildings to be able to stand during the strong Porch

earthquake. On the other hand, nobody would Plan Type 2: Gurung House Typology
more public to more private through the Plan Type 4:Ground
Tamang House Typology Tamang
Floor House Typology First Floor
kitchen zone and bedroom zone. know what may occur. If the earthquake would
be the strongest earthquake ever in the world

Left: Image 38_Weak Structur- Reinforced Concrete Structure Stone Wall with Plaster

Plan Type 2: Gurung House Typology al Connections, Kali Devi, Mak-

wanpur, Nepal (by Eda Uraz). Plan
Back Type
Kitchen4: Tamang
Back House Typology
Balcony Bedroom Balcony
Above: Figure 23, Traditional Porch Porch

Right: Image 39_Earthquake Tamang and Gurung House Ty- Wood Wood
Resistant Traditional Taq Tech- pologies, (Drawn by Eda Uraz) Pillar Pillar
nique, Srinagar, Nepal (by Ran-
dolph Langenbach). Source: Emergent Architects,
Foundation of Public Interest,
Source: Langenbach, R., (2015) Study of habitat typologies and Tamang House Typology Ground Floor First Floor
The Earthquake Resistant Ver- Solutions for their seismic rein-

Plan nacular Architecture in the

Type 5: Tamang House Typology
forcement Nepal, 2016, www. Plan Type 6: Tamang House Typology
Himalayas. archi-urgent.com

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 37 38 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ

Plan Type 6: Tamang House Typology

Hope and Resistance
3.8. Traditional Building Types
3.8.3. Concrete Reality

“There is a general perception among the diagonal and/or vertical bands. As Adhikary Reinforced

villagers that mud mortar is not very strong asserts in ‘Vernacular architecture in post- Front Porch Bedroom Kitchen Wood Attic
Concrete
Structure

and there is a general aspiration to build with earthquake Nepal’, “Most of these failures Wood
Partition Stone Wall
With Plaster
cement” (Adhikary, N., 2016) could have been avoided if horizontal and Pillar

“Although there was significant damage to vertical ties had been present” (Adhikary, N., A A

buildings made of stone with mud mortar 2016).

Gurung House Typology Ground Floor First Floor
compared to concrete framed buildings, one
should realize that the latter exists in relatively 3.9. Earthquake Resistant Traditions, Plan Type 1: Gurung House Typology
small numbers (as low as 3.5%)” (Adhikary, N., Safranbolu, Turkey
2016). Corrugated

“Secondly, in people’s perception, collapse Turkey, my home, hosts many beautiful Stone Wall
With Plaster
Sheet
Wood
of concrete buildings is correlated to the traditions, cultures and different lifestyles as Partition

flaws in the engineering technique and poor much as Nepal has. Reinforced Rammed

craftsmanship whereas in vernacular buildings My aim is to compare Turkish traditional Concrete Earth
Structure
the materials are blamed” (Adhikary, N., 2016). building with the Nepalese ones, to contribute Binding
Concrete
According to the Adhikary’s research, the to my dissertation by showing similarities Gurung House Typology Section AA

increase in number of concrete buildings
shouldn’t be surprising. Since the construction
technique with seismic bands was abandoned
in the past , the local materials became weaker.
Although if concrete hadn’t been reinforced, it
and differences between two cultures, also
by showing some very special earthquake Plan Type 1: Gurung House Typology Plan Type
resilient local technique as an inspiration. In
A A
this chapter, I will first explain the traditional
Turkish house typologies. And the local Bedroom

would also have been as weak as their local earthquake resistant technique will follow it
Reinforced
materials. The important thing here is that with the further explanation. Concrete Bedroom

is not the material, but following the correct In a Turkish house, the main living area is really Structure
Wood

technique with these materials in order to important too, as has been seen in Nepalese Wood Partition
Kitchen, Pillar
provide earthquake resistance. house typologies. The main living area is the Living Room

The importance of materiality starts to be central or more public zone for the family, Stone Wall Bedroom Bedroom
and the rooms become more private zones Plan Type 2: GurungWithHouse
Plaster Typology
taken into account when the problem is the
risk of losing local identity. So that the main by surrounding the central living room. The Front Porch Balcony

insistence about usage of local resources entrance is generally used as space for animals A A

originates from this reason that is mentioned or storage, and the life begins from upstairs as Tamang House Typology Ground Floor First Floor

above. can be seen in the section on the next page.

These traditional houses still exist in some Plan Plan
TypeType
1: Gurung
1: Gurung
House
House
Typology
Typology Plan Plan
TypeType
3: Tamang
3: Tamang
House
House
Typology
Typology
The main reasons for building collapses are
mostly the roof collapsing, lack of structural rural parts of Turkey, such as Safranbolu.
Bracing
unity, delamination of the stone infill walls, Corrugated Sheet

bad quality of structure and lack of horizontal, Stone Wall Wood

Plan Type 2: Gurung House Typology With Plaster Partition

Plan Type
Wooden Balcony

Plan Type 5: Tamang House Typology

Rammed
Above: Figure 24, Traditional Earth
Reinforced
Tamang and Gurung House Ty- Concrete
pologies, (drawn by Eda Uraz) Structure

Tamang House Typology Section AA

Left: Image 40_House in Gu-
rung Village (by Eda Uraz).
Plan Type 1: Gurung House Typology
Right: Image 41_House in Ta-
mang Village (by Eda Uraz).
Source: Emergent Architects,
Foundation of Public Interest,
Study of habitat typologies and
Plan Type 3: Tamang
Solutions for theirHouse Typology
seismic rein-
forcement Nepal, 2016, www.
archi-urgent.com

Plan Type 5: Tamang House Typology Plan Type 6: Ta

Plan Plan
TypeType
2: Gurung
2: Gurung
House
House
Typology
Typology Plan Plan
TypeType
4: Tamang
4: Tamang
House
House
Typology
Typology
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 39 40 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
 Traditional Turkish House

Hope and Resistance

3.9. Earthquake Resistant Traditions,
Safranbolu, Turkey
Wall Plate
In Safranbolu, this typology is followed by enough to it after understanding Nepal in
special earthquake resistant technique. “Hımış general, project sites, climatic conditions, Room Room Upper
is a composite construction system, where the topographic difficulties, local characteristics, Window Sill

ground floor is mostly composed of masonry guidelines, prototype phenomenon, the Traditional Turkish House

(rubble stone or alternating layers of stone possibilities or impossibilities within the local A House Without Living Room Diagonal
Supports
and brick, or adobe with timber posts) with resources, cultural footprints, dreams about General Type of Section
Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room

timber tie-beams (hatıls) built on continuous modernization, hope for safety, fears about Kitchen Toilet
Lower
Room Room
or discontinuous stone foundations, and the the earthquake, and necessities about the Window Sill

upper-storeys and roof of timber” (Aktas, Y., proper public education should end up to a
2017). Also according to the article ‘Seismic new start as a design strategy which originates Room Room Tie Beam,
Foot Plate Section
Resistance of Traditional Timber-frame Hımış by research, and turns into a body as a whole Living Room

Structures in Turkey: A Brief Overview’ by with unity, togetherness, congruity and A House With Exterior Living Room Plan

Aktas, this special structure either performed harmony. Earthquake resistant 'Hımış' Technique, Safranbolu
Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room
well or survived with small cracks (which The body of the school proposal must be General Type of Section

is repairable) during the earthquakes that derived from details to the whole with a Room Room

rocked Safranbolu throughout last 50 years. logical system.

The speciality of this technique is composed Apart from all the technical information, Kitchen

of primary wooden structure, secondary there is a huge social aspect lying behind Living Room
Room
horizontal and vertical structure, and the my proposal, because, in order to achieve a Room
Masonary
diagonal structures which are especially for strategy which results in a school organism, Primary Filling,
Plaster
preventing the opening collapses with an the proposal must be inclusive of the local APlan
House
TypeWith Interior
2: with interiorLiving Room
living room
Structural Element
Plan Type 3: with central living room

earthquake force. In this way, the special community. The more the design welcomes Secondary
Structural Element
‘hımıs’ can contribute my design proposal the community with an important role in the
Diagonal
by its structural quality and thanks to the process, the more real and successful the Room Room Structural Element

combination of both traditional techniques, school project. That’s why for my proposal,
the earthquake resistant ideal school would explanation of how to build, how to originate Living Room

Safranbolu EQ Res House

become a representation of togetherness of a school form from a mergence of local
two beautiful vernacular architectures. material combinations by teaching the new Room Room

interpretations and testing them with the

3.10. Final Thoughts people from the village, by listening their ideas Traditional Turkish House
Plan Type 2: with interior living room PlanWith
House TypeCentralized
3: with central living
Living room
Room
and implementing them to their reality would Supporter
for extension Hatıl

Safranbolu EQ Res House-Another detailing: hım

In Nepal, as the local resources suffice for make a school a real school for everybody (Ayi Bacagi)
Stone Filling,

new technologies and applications, the which they will really actively use, and which Mud Mortar
Main Living
school proposal should include both local they will always be part of it and proud of it Area

and contemporary initiatives. All the research
about earthquake, and how to be resistant
after the construction will be completed. Entrance,
Storage
Traditional Turkish House Section Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room
General Type of Section

Left: Image 42_ Safranbolu (by Safranbolu earthquake resistant traditional house
Umut Özdemir) Left: Figure 25_Traditional
Turkish House Plan Typologies,
Source: https://whc.unesco. (Drawn by Eda Uraz)
org
Source: Eldem, H., (1954), Turk
Right: Image 43_Traditional Evi Plan Tipleri. Safranbolu EQ Res House
Safranbolu House (by www.
safranboluevleri.org) Right: Figure 26_Traditional
Seismic Hımış Structures , Safranbolu EQ Res House-Another detailing: hı
Source: http://www.safranbol- Safranbolu, Turkey, (Drawn by
uevleri.org Eda Uraz)

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 41 42 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Chapter 4: Research Based Design

Hope and Resistance
4. Introduction to Strategy and
Approach, Design to be a prototype
As all the research shows that, my master
dissertation is going to be a prototype school
project with earthquake resistant techniques.
And my theme is ‘Hope and Resistance’. To me,
the meaning of ‘Hope and Resistance’ carries
two great meanings. The first one is related to
increasing the structural capacity and quality.
The second one is defining a belief in the
local community’s heart by symbolising the
school as a centre of hope for the resilience.
Also, in order to finalise a proposal to be a
prototype for Nepal, I defined some rules and
strategies for the building which also forms
the school program itself for different climate
zones. So, my strategies are originated from
environmental and spatial requirements.
4.1. Environmental Strategies
4.1.1. Low Tech To Build Safe
The proposal must be designed in order
to enable the building process with low
techniques and limited resources to be a safe
building for earthquake resistance.
4.1.2. Cross Ventilation
The cross ventilation must be supplied in
different layouts for different climate zones.
For instance, the school in Kali Devi must have
a well designed cross ventilation system in
order to let the fresh air pass throughout the
building from one side to another, whereas
in Ghandruk, keeping the inner temperature
warm is the most important value. So, the
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
env str_1_ventilation
env str_1_ventilation
env str_1_ventilation
env str_1_ventilation
env
env str_1_ventilation
str_2_raim protection
env str_3_sun shading
cross ventilation system should be limited in 4.1.5. Acoustic Quality Air Change
Air Change
env str_2_raim protection
colder climate zone and ventilate the interiors
Air Change Air Change
from one side of the building clusters. For the acoustic quality, the strategy is same
for both sites. In this proposal, the second roof
env str_2_raim env str_2_raim protection
4.1.3. Rain Protection layer as a ceiling of each interior space works as protection
Kali Devi, Cross Ventilation Ghandruk, Cross Ventilation
a sound insulation and keeps the outside noise env str_2_raim protection
away from the classrooms. Also the bamboo env str_2_raim protection
Rain protection is the third strategy and the
sunshades on windows and doors plays an
same for both climate zones. The school
important role with its sound insulation ability
building must have an over hanging roof to Annual precipitation:
Annual precipitation:
to support the acoustic quality of the facilities. env str_4_acoustic quality 2750 mm (kg/m²)
keep the monsoon rain away from the school 2210 mm (kg/m²)
env str_3_sun shading
building.
4.1.6. Heating System Kali Devi, Rain Protection env str_3_sunGhandruk,
shading Rain Protection
4.1.4. Sun Protection
A heating system is another strategy that is Summer Sun: 86°
Summer Sun: 86°
The fourth strategy is for sun protection. The necessary for Ghandruk. In Ghandruk, the most Winter Sun: 38° Winter Sun: 38°
env str_3_sun shading
env str_3_sun shading
sun shines with 38 ° in winter and with 86 ° in used heating systems are firewood, kerosene,
the summer for both sites. The solution for sun electricity, solar and gas, respectively. The 31 °C 20 °C 25 °C 20 °C
protection and overheating for warmer climate most common one which heats the water env str_3_sun shading
in pipes with a special system integrated to env str_3_sun shading
is to provide a second roof as a ceiling, so that env
Kali str_4_RAIN
Devi, Sun Protection AND DISPOSAL Ghandruk, Sun Protection
the air passing in between two roof layers firewood is proposad for heating system of the
env str_4_acoustic quality
would be an isolation for keeping the interior new school in Ghandruk. So, the water pipes
temperature cooler and away from the heat are heated and distributed to the classrooms.
env str_4_acoustic quality
under the first layer of roof. In colder climates,
while the second roof layer plays an important 4.1.7. Rain water & Disposal Proposal >55 dB <35 dB >55 dB <35 dB
role for keeping the interior temperature at a env str_4_acoustic quality env str_4_acoustic quality
comfortable level in the summer periods, it The last environmental strategy is about Kali Devi, Acoustic Quality Ghandruk, Acoustic Quality
would work as an insulation in the winter time sustainability of the new program. It is about
in order to keep the interiors warmer. Also, In rain water collection and waste disposal for env str_4_HEATING
env str_4_acoustic quality
both climate regions, the traditional material both climate zones.
for openings is wood. For this reason, wooden First of all, for the rainwater collection, an env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL
env str_4_acoustic quality
framed doors and windows are proposed underground water collection tank is proposed -10 °C 20 °C 20 °C
in order to keep the local characteristics. for collecting the rainwater to use in gardening env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL
And bamboo sticks are proposed to place in activities or in toilets.
Ghandruk, Heating System
between the frames as an insulation.
env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL
env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL
144 m³ 20 m³
env str_4_HEATING
env
Ghandruk, Rainstr_4_HEATING
Water Collection & Disposal
Left: Figure 27_Figure env str_4_RAIN AND DISPOSAL
24_School Site, Kali Devi,
Makwanpur, Nepal (drawn by
Eda Uraz) env str_4_HEATING env str_4_HEATING
Right: Figure 28_School Site, Above: Figure 29_Environ- 144 m³ 20 m³
Ghandruk, Pokhara, Nepal mental Strategies (Drawn by
(drawn by Eda Uraz) env str_4_HEATING
Eda Uraz)
Kali Devi, Rain Water Collection & Disposal
45 46 env str_4_HEATING
HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4. Introduction to Strategy and Approach,
Design to be a prototype

In Kali Devi; nated from the simple geometric forms such

In Kali Devi and Ghandruk; -Occupancy of
-Total roof surface (RS): 326 m² as circles, rectangles, and squares.
school: ~ 100 people
-Annual precipitation (AP): 2210 mm (kg/m²) In Nepal, most of the school buildings have
(C)= 150 x 100+ 2000 liter; 20 m³
-Annual Tank Capacity (m³)= (RS)x(AP)/1000 linear plan organization which causes weaker
- (326 m²)x(2210 kg/m²)=720.460 liter structural ability against earthquake, because
Hence, for both school sites, the annual need
-720.460lt/1.000= 720,4 m³ the longer and more linear the building, the
of septic tank capacity must be at least 20
-Rainy season in 1 year: 4-5 months weaker it gets. That’s why, defined, well bond-
m³ under the ground. Furthermore, in order
- (720,4):(5 months)= 144 m³ tank capacity for ed, simple characteristics for the building vol-
to keep rainwater and tap water connections
each month. ume is the first important step to take.
safe from the septic system, the location
choice is important and must be distant from
In Ghandruk: 4.2.2. Low Techniques with new
each other.
-Total roof surface (RS): 262 m² interpretations Local Availability
-Annual precipitation (AP): 2750 mm (kg/m²)
4.2. Spatial Strategies
+
-Annual Tank Capacity (m³)= (RS)x(AP)/1000 Some similar references in developing coun-
- (262 m²)x(2750 kg/m²)=720.500 liter tries lead my way during the pursuit of my
Spatial strategies for a prototype take root
-720.500lt/1.000= 720,5 m³ proposal.
from 5 main rules which will be explained in
-Rainy season in 1 year: 4-5 months Rufisque Women’s Centre inspired me with
detail below as simplicity, low techniques with
- (720,5):(5 months)= 145 m³ tank capacity for the contrast between its entrance and court-
new interpretations, design to be educational,
each month. yard. It is visible that, the facility is there, and
design to be home and design to be flexible,
where it begins is clear. On the other hand,
respectively.
So as a rainwater collection, a 145 m³ tank that door draws a border for keeping a very
These strategies must be applicable in both
capacity is required in order to store all the special outside place for the users modesty.
school sites, maybe in another form but with
rainwater that touches to the roof surface. Another project is a secondary school pro-
the same logic and system, because the other
For the drinking water supply, the existing tap ject from Nepal. The speciality of the project
important thing for the proposal is to propose
water connections is considered. comes from the details of the solutions. The
a prototype for easy and fast production of a
Secondly, each site needs a proper waste ‘Taq’ technique, which was an earthquake
school building too. In the current situation,
disposal for a healthy and hygienic school proven technique from their ancestors, was
the country needs to build 8.000 school as
environment. In order to do that, there must applied in the secondary school’s construction
quickly as possible in order to complete a very
be an underground septic tank in order to system in a very modern way.
fundamental necessity of the country.
collect the disposals from the toilets and the Also, the material choices for the lower walls,
Sun dried hollow bricks
kitchen. For the calculations of the septic tank, upper walls and roofing shows that, the build-

=
4.2.1. Simplicity
the formula is taken from BS6297 per year. ing starts with an heavy material for stability,
-(C): (150liter)x(P)+(2000liter) and through the upper parts it changes and
For earthquake resistance, simplicity of the
-(C): size of the tank gets much lighter in order to prevent heavy
building structure is very crucial. So that the
-(P): population loads during the disastrous earthquake.
structural body of the building should be origi-
The third one, an Educational Building in Mo-

Above: Image 44__Con-

struction Site with Local
Resources(by Eda Uraz)

Middle: Image_45: Sun Dried

Left: Figure 30_Sun Azimuth,
Kali Devi, Makwanpur, Nepal
(drawn by Eda Uraz)
Right: Figure 31_Sun Azimuth,
Ghandruk, Pokhara, Nepal
(drawn by Eda Uraz)
Hollow Core Brick (Made by
Eda Uraz)
Below: Image_46: Bamboo
Bamboo reinforced earthquake
Reinforced Earthquake
resistant wall system
Resistant Wall System (by Eda
Uraz)

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 47 48 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4. Introduction to Strategy and
Approach, Design to be a prototype
zambique, is an example with its construction
process. Their ideology is building a simple
structural forms with a functional and playful
atmosphere inside. During the construction of
the school building, the team works with the
local people. Firstly, they build up the struc-
ture, Secondly, they fill up the sandbag walls
in between the structure, and then they cover
the building with a special roof that also ena-
bles collection of rainwater. So the building be-
comes educational itself by the collaboration
of the construction team and the local people
(see the images 50, and 51 in the next pages).
The following reference is Bamboo Primary
School in Vietnam. To me, for my proposal, the
charming aspect of this project is a design with
detached classrooms, and an outside space in
between them under the big canopy roof. So
that the roof makes the school facility a whole,
but under the roof the clusters of education,
and outside activity becomes diverse (see the
images 52, 53 in the next pages).
Another example comes from Burkino Faso,
Afrika. This school is a special reference for my
proposal with its double roof solution. It has
a big over hanged corrugated sheet roof and
in order to supply cross ventilation and cooler
interior temperature, the secondary ceiling
underneath.
Also, The Preschool in Ouled Merzoug in
Morocco played a very important role for the
opening designs, with its playful organization,
colours and textures.
As a last reference for the materiality and de-
tailing, the experiment on bamboo fibres by
Prof. Dirk Hebel from Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, Zurich enlightened me to proof
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
the strength of the material structurally. without having a prejudice about the weak-
Eventually, by these comprehensive projects, ness of local materials, they would really un-
I would be able to widen my design approach, derstand that earthquake resistant design is
and enrich the meaning of my ideal school. possible within their cultural identity. Roof Collapsing Tie Beams
4.2.3. Design To Be Educational 4.2.3.2. Learn The Material
This step explains how I combined the After the lecture or series of lectures about Delamination Woven Infill
traditional techniques with the new the weaknesses and strengths of building
approaches by an inclusive design criteria. with their resources, the material possibilities
So that the whole school building would should be introduced and materials should be
be educational by its existence for the local prepared together.
community. As a sample, I continued with brick for my Poor Quality of
proposal, since the sun dried bricks are really Construction Braced Frames
4.2.3.1. Reasons To Collapse possible and easy to create. The material is the
earth itself, with a special craft, the frames for
As I explained in my strategy, the ideal school bricks can be prepared and practiced together
should be built with the collaboration of the for experiencing all the correct bonding alter-
local community with the design team. In this natives in order to show the stability of their
Lack of Structural Proper Structural
Integrity Body
way, the process must start by giving lectures soil and let them test and have contact with
about what an earthquake is, Why were most the naked material.
of the buildings collapsed during the Gorkha So the community should really understand
earthquake with all the reasons. The main all the logic about brick masonry properly, as Weak Corners Corner
reasons of collapses of buildings during the explained below, respectively. Reinforcement
earthquake were roof breakdown that could The specialty of brick work is the system of its
have been avoided by stronger tie beams and bonding. To bring two bricks together horizon-
proper roof structure, delamination of stone tally, we need a bond in-between them that is
buildings that could have been avoided by called ‘perpend’. And to bring two bricks to-
better bondings in-between stones or welded gether vertically we again need a bond which
steel structure covering them, poor construc- is called ‘bed joint’. The aggregation of bricks
L W
Bed Joints Perpend Header Strecher
tion quality that could have been avoided by by bonding between longer sides of the brick
properly constructed braced frames, low qual- is called header, and by bonding between
ity of structural integrity that could have been shorter sides of the brick is called stretcher. In
avoided by building up a proper structural the regular arrangement of the brick masonry, Wrong bonding
Regular arrangement of masonary unit Bonding should not come across.
body and weak corner joints that could have bond are never encountered.
been avoided by corner reinforcements. If the
local community would listen to the reasons
-Perpends must continue
Left: Image 47_Experiment on straight from beginning
Bamboo Fibres by Prof. Dirk -Stretchers and headers must alternate of a brick, till the end.
regularly on elevation. -Horizontal courses must be aligned.
Hebel from Swiss Federal Insti-
tute of Technology, Zurich
Image 48_A Prototype of
Bamboo Reinforced Concrete
by Prof. Dirk Hebel from Swiss Above: Figure 32_How to Deal
Federal Institute of Technol- with the Wrong Structural Ap-
ogy, Zurich plications (drawn by Eda Uraz)
Source: https://www.dezeen. Below: Figure 33_Learn to
com Built (drawn by Eda Uraz)
49 50 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4. Introduction to Strategy and Ap-
proach, Design to be a prototype
Wrong bondings without alterations of bricks
creates a weak wall system. As can be seen
in the drawings on the right side of the page,
stretchers and headers have to alternate on
the elevation of the wall, so the connection of
the bricks by having once the shorter side of a
brick and once the longer side of a brick ena-
bles the wall unit to work as a whole. Another
important thing is that, the perpend must con-
tinue from the beginning of the brick, until the
end. The bonding material shouldn’t be under
used.
4.2.3.3. Learn how to build for testing on
wall samples
After the introduction lectures about the
materiality, different wall system can be pre-
pared, and tested.
Here, according to my research, I will go in
depth about new exploration of brick masonry
by new interpretations, such as reinforcing the
wall systems of brick masonry with other ma-
terial alternatives.
The first technique that can be tested by the
design team and community is ‘Reinforced
Cavity Wall’ with concrete infill. This system is
proven as an earthquake resistant technique
according to my research. But the negative
side of it is usage of concrete. In this step,
while testing this system with the community
in the construction site, the side effects of us-
age of concrete should be explained patiently.
Because, concrete is a material which cannot
be reused, and recycled. It is not sustainable
for the earth and it releases carbon dioxide
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
emission and causes pollution. The second This system requires steel for reinforcement
technique is similar to the Nepalese ‘Taq’ and and cement for the stability of the steel in
Turkish ‘Himis’ technique. the hollows. Even if the system requires less
It is brick masonry with tying horizontal, concrete than the first one, it is still not a dry
vertical and diagonal beams in order to support solution. Therefore steel is a material which
primary structural elements. The community must be imported out of the country. So the
can build a sample and place it next to the solution becomes less sustainable. Reinforced Cavity Wall
with Concrete Infill
first sample to understand the similarities and
differences in appearance and in strength.
This solution is an environmentally friendly
solution. It uses possible local resources such
as the soil, and timber from the Sal wood. The
system is sustainable, thanks to its materiality.
In the case of demolishing the building, the
materials in good state can still be used or
recycled.
The third testing technique is the stone wall
system with steel welding around. To do that,
first the team and the local people should learn
the handcraft of welding the steel in order to
bring it in a state of strength for covering the Timber Structure with Brick Infill
stones. Then natural stones supplied from the
river bed is used for the filling. So, after the
community and the team makes a sample of
this system, they can place it next to the other
samples for comparison. Similarly, this system
is also sustainable in the way that the materials
are local, recyclable and reusable.
The fourth technique is another solution by
brick masonry. This method ‘Hollow Core
Masonry’ with steel reinforcements. This
system requires hollow core bricks. So, the
team should teach how to prepare a brick with
a hollow inside. This step will be explained in
the fifth wall system.
Hollow Core Masonry with Steel
Reinforcement and Concrete Infill
Left: Image 49_The Entrance
of Rufisque Women’s Center,
Senegal (Hollmen Reuter Sand-
man Architects)
Right: Image 50_The Garden
of Rufisque Women’s Center,
Senegal (Hollmen Reuter Sand-
man Architects)
Above: Figure 34_Earthquake
Welded Steel Structure
Source: http://www.hollmen- Resistant Wall Samples (drawn with Stone Infill
reutersandman.com by Eda Uraz)
51 52 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4. Introduction to Strategy and Ap-
proach, Design to be a prototype

The fifth and the last wall alternative is the
one that I developed according to my research
and by consideration of local availabilities as
much as possible. Bamboo is a material that
can be used as a reinforcement as a local
earth quake resistance. And instead of usage
of cement, gravel would be a dry solution
for the infill of the hollows. For this method,
the brick sizes are really important for the
particular stability. The hollow sizes must be
8cm for the bamboo placement inside which
is 6cm in diameter. And the dimensions of the
brick must be 30cmx30cmx12cm. The width
of the solid part of the brick provides stability,
so it should at least be 10cm for the stiffness.
So the trial of this sample can also be tested
with the community in order to compare the 5
solutions all together and select one of them
as a system of the ideal school. First the hollow
core bricks must be prepared for this system. It
is possible to prepare compressed bricks with
a machine, but the size of the bricks made by
this machine is limited. And for having a hollow
inside the brick with the necessity of durability,
the biggest size of compressed blocks would
remain small and weak. So by avoiding the
baked brick, since it is not sustainable and it
is a main pollution problem of Nepal, the sun
dried adobe bricks should be prepared. To do
that, they need a handcrafted wooden frame
to placing the mixture of brick inside the
frame. After the required amount of the sun
dried bricks are ready for the construction of
the sample, the system can be tested like the
other alternatives. The bamboos should be
placed and the infill work should be completed
after the brickwork masonry is completed
properly.
On the other hand, for the seismic active
areas, the foundation quality matters. For
the stability of the bamboo in the foundation
system (which will be explained in the next
chapter in detail) the steel bars must be
anchored in the ground. And then, the
bamboo sticks will be placed after the brick
masonry is completed on the correct location
which is compatible with the steel anchors. For
providing the togetherness of bamboo and the
steel bars, a very little amount of cement must
be poured at the bottom level of bamboo, so
that the wall system is reinforced, stable, and
well connected with the foundation.
In addition to this, the system would became
totally sustainable and possible within local
resources (except the anchoring steel).
As a consequence of five earthquake resistant
method trials, one method can be selected,
together by the local community and the
team. It is really important to make them
decide for the system of the school, because
definitely they would choose what they would
believe in and what they would feel looks
contemporary. So, this process makes the
whole project meaningful and educational for
everybody. Furthermore, they also carry out
these special five techniques for the further
constructions in the village. In this way, both
the society becomes more educated and
the village becomes stronger against seismic
activities.

Below: Image 51_1/20 Hollow Above: Figure_35_Hollow

Core Masonry with Bamboo Core Masonry with Bamboo
Reinforcement and Gravel In- Reinforcement and Gravel
fill Model (Made by Eda Uraz). Infill (Drawn by Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 53 54 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4.2.4. Design To Be Home

Another important characteristics of the housing facility.

village is their house typology and life style. As a consequence, the general tendency of
So that, if the school resembles the house housing design in the village shows similarities
character of the village, it would become more in most of the cases. Moreover, the houses also
like a place that they can call ‘home’. take their organization according to the habit
According to the house typologies (that is of the local community. So it really reflects the
explained in further detail in the 3rd chapter) identity. That’s why, I aimed to study the local
there are some very special characteristics typologies for describing them in my school
that influenced my school proposal. proposal in order to design a place which feels
The typical Nepalese house typology in the like home, which fills people with enthusiasm,
village has a big garden, a porch in front of and which really exists thanks to the continuity
it, and the interior facilities. The main garden of their special identity and daily life habits.
is reached by a small path in most cases. Traditional Nepalese House Typologies

The garden does not limit the visibility from

outside, but also does not allow direct access
from the main road. There is a small path which
branches out of the main road and comes to
Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room Plan Type 2: with interior living room Plan Type 3: with central living room Plan Type 1: Gurung House Typology Plan Type 3: Tamang House Typology Plan Type 2: Gurung House Typology Pla
the more private place, to the garden. So even kitchen + living

if the garden is just an outside space, it is still porch

behind invisible borders. The porch is another
garden
place that defines border of the family’s
property. Also it is for outside activities under room

the over hanged roof of the house. After the

porch, the ground floors remain for the main
living activities and the kitchen. The kitchen Spatial Organization of a House

has a special location which is far away from

the entrance of the house in order to keep
the privacy level high and the kitchen itself
clean. In addition to that, toilets are always
outside the house facility. There
Plan Type
Plan Type 1: is
1: without aroom
living small
without living Plan
roomhut
Type
Plan
2: with
Typeexterior
2: with living
exterior
room
living room Plan Type
Plan
2: with
Typeinterior
2: withliving
interior
room
living room Plan Type
Plan
3: with
Typecentral
3: withliving
central
room
living room Plan Type
Plan
1: Gurung
Type 1: House
GurungTypology
House Typology Plan Type
Plan
3: Tamang
Type 3: Tamang
House Typology
House Typology Plan Type
Plan
2: Gurung
Type 2: House
GurungTypology
House Typology
Plan Type
Plan
4: Tamang
Type 4: Tamang
House Typology
House Typology
Plan Type
Plan
5: Tamang
Type 5: Tamang
House Typology
House Typology
Plan Type
Plan
6: Tamang
Type 6: Tamang
House Typology
House Typology

for the toilet which is away from the house for

keeping the dirt away from the clean interior
zone. And bedrooms become the most private
zone by their location, which is upstairs of the

Spatial Organization of a Plot A school in a House Typology

Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room Plan Type 2: with interior living room Plan Type 3: with central living room Plan Type 1: Gurung House Typology Plan Type 3: Tamang House Typology Plan Type 2: Gurung House Typology Plan Type 4: Tamang House Typology Plan Type 5: Tamang House Typology Plan Type 6: Tamang House Typology

Above: Figure 36_Character-

Left: Image 52_Playful Space istics of Traditional Tamang
of Preschool of Ouled Mer- and Gurung House Typologies
zoug, Morocco (Drawn by Eda Uraz)

Right: Image 53_Life in the Source: Emergent Architects,

courtyard of Preschool of Foundation of Public Interest,
Ouled Merzoug, Morocco. Study of habitat typologies
and Solutions for their seismic
Source: BC Architects (http:// reinforcement Nepal, 2016,
architects.bc-as.org) www.archi-urgent.com
Traditional Turkish House Typologies

Plan
PlanType
Type1:1:without
withoutliving
livingroom
room Plan
PlanType
Type2:2:with
withexterior
exteriorliving
livingroom
room Plan
PlanType
Type2:2:with
withinterior
interiorliving
livingroom
room Plan
PlanType
Type3:3:with
withcentral
centralliving
livingroom
room Plan
PlanType
Typ

Plan Type 1: without living room Plan Type 2: with exterior living room Plan Type 2: with interior living room Plan Type 3: with central living room
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 55 56 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4.2.5. Design To Be Flexible

In my proposal flexibility of the school

design is very crucial. Because, in order
to propose a prototype design and
participation by the local community, the
design must be very responsive for any
possibilities. Firstly it must be adaptable for
different climate zones, which might result
in different plan layouts or requirements.
On the other hand, in order to make the
local people believe in the design quality
and a design which is really special to them,
they must be included the design process
by listening them and interchanging the
ideas. To be able do that, I defined a grid
of 5m by 5m and some geometric forms
as the representation of school facilities.
So, on a scaled model, the local people
can test any alternatives that reflects their
cultural spatial organization and climatic
requirements. Then by this way they
really can design their school building by
learning how to build and then inclusive
design process.

Above: Image Series_Flexibility

of Design (Made by Eda Uraz)

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 57 58 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4.2.6. Program

a place to meet. At the same time, it becomes part of the design. In Ghandruk, the school has
The program of the school will not interrupt
public for the family members. It has borders more compact plan and a court yard, in this
the ongoing primary school education. The
on the outside. The location of the kitchen, case, the proposal becomes a completion part
new school will be in a location that would Practical
according to the local house typologies, is the with its additional classrooms, community
complete the existing school as if its the other
furthest point from the entrance. It is hidden, centre, kitchen and a hygienic sanitary zone.
half for both project sites. And it will include
but in a way it is public. That’s why I defined While safety has a meaning for children’s state Communal
secondary school education (for Kali Devi),
the kitchen as a sacred place for them. in the school, it is also a requirement for the
community education, a sacred place-kitchen,
In the current situation, in the school, there is building itself. As it was explained in ‘Strate- Educational
safety, privacy, practice, playfulness and joy.
no food and no dining hall. The children are gy’ chapter, the building must be safe against
The reason for placing secondary school edu-
there from the early morning, until the after- earthquake, and must arouse curiosity of the
cation in Kali Devi is because the nearest exist- School In Nepal Within
noon and they become hungry. This would ef- users by its safe look. Limited Resources
ing secondary school is 2,5 hour walking dis-
fect both the energy level and the motivation The last content of the program is playfulness,
tance. So that the number of students going
of a kid to come to the school. So the kitchen which is a very important and basic charac-
to the secondary school from this village dra-
must be included in the new school program. teristic for a school. Firstly, the school must
matically decreases due to the weather condi-
At the school, the kitchen turns into a more be playful enough for children, because the
tions or lack of motivation of the student. And
public place than in a house. It becomes a school should not only be a place for educa-
education level remains very low.
place for all the children, their families and tion but also a place where the children would
The community education and practical edu-
the teachers. In this way, the students would like to go with passion and have fun. Playful
cation come into existence, because the com-
not continue the second part of the day with a On the other hand, playfulness means flex-
munity must learn how to build, must contrib-
hungry belly. Also, the operation of the kitch- ibility in design for a prototype school. In this
ute, and carry out the techniques for the other
en would be managed by one or two mother way the volumes of the school buildings will
future buildings of the village. Only by this way,
per day, so that they can cook for the school become a place that inspires interest, enter-
the safer structures can be defined within their
community and at the same time they can taining by its in between spaces and spatial Safe
indigenous identity. And only by this way they
make their bonds with this education facility quality.
would believe in the new defined structure
stronger.
that is really safe. That’s why, inclusive design, Private
By the existence of the new school in the same
the interaction of international opinions with
site as the existing schools, privacy, and the
local ones are really important to persuade
joy which is a really big expectation for a kid,
the local community that they can believe in
must be supplied in the program. In Kali Devi,
the project which is safe, which is educational,
in the current situation, there is not a specified
which is really made for them and which fulfils
school garden. Instead, there is a huge space
their dreams, and cultural footprints.
in front of the school that can be used for any
The kitchen is a very special place for Nepa-
kind of activity. Also, the classes face the out-
lese people, at least for Kali Devi, as far as I
side directly. In this case, the education facil-
experienced there. In the kitchen, the family
ity might be interrupted easily by the noise
comes together 3 times a day, spends time
coming from outside. That’s why, a defined,
together,and eats together. So the kitchen is
private, safe and joyful school garden must be

Left: Image 54_Overhanged

Roof of Gando Primary School,
Burkino Faso, Afrika.

Right: Image 55_Double Ceil-

ing of Gando Primary School,
Burkino Faso, Afrika.
Source: http://www.afritec-
ture.org
Above: Figure 37_Program of
the New School (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 59 60 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
4.2.7. Research Based Design Brief
This chapter is a bridge between design and
research. It shows the relations, origins and
reasons of the school design. It defines the
system and the strategy to be a prototype for
different locations under the social and techni-
cal frameworks.
For my proposal to be real, it definitely needs
the social aspect, an inclusive design, because
if the people feel that they are given impor-
tance and taught proper solutions, they would
understand the importance of their role in the
continuity of their vulnerable culture.
Firstly, the strategy and the program are de-
fined according to the social and physical de-
mands. Social demands are an education facil-
ity both for the community and the children
which includes participation, learning by build-
ing, protecting local culture, and feeling safe.
The physical demands are providing a school
building which is completely earthquake re-
sistant, which has a new structural technique
and appearance, which is adaptable to be a
prototype, and which is integrated to the ex-
isting site conditions. Having said that, the
location decision follows the demands. The
building should be in relation with the existing
school and should define a private school gar-
den. It should be on land which is not steeper
than 20% for the stability of the foundation.
The school building should define ways of
relating for the integrity of the school facility
to the surrounding nature. And it should be a
landmark of the village, a community centre,
a school and an entrance for a better future by
being educational as a whole by its body and
its facility there.
The school facility, should include, primary
school classrooms which are already there, the tions. And they can even attend the process
secondary school classrooms, a practical room of school construction that would make the
for workshops, an outside workshop space as school a reality for everybody which they will
well, a defined school garden, a kitchen, a din- really actively use, and which they will always
ing hall, clean toilets, and sanitized drinking be part of and proud of after the construc-
water connection. tion is completed. Furthermore, with the flex-
Secondly, my proposal will be a prototype ible plan proposal, the last planned layout of
school which can adapt to different climate school facility becomes just representative on
zones and material types with the same strate- paper. It means, there would not be just one
gies. It will be a design which remains sustain- plan layout, the plan of the school can be in
able with the local resources and techniques any shape. By this way, the locals can partici-
and that is combined with the contemporary pate with the ideas, can change the design,
ones in order to realize a feasible, modern and play with the volumes for their school
looking and a safe structure. proposal from beginning.
The design of the school should carry all the In conclusion of this chapter, the new school
cultural footprints for reflecting the real daily proposal as a design should include and rep-
life style to the school life and provide the stu- resent all the strategies and the inclusive pro-
dents a place that feels like home. And lastly gram, so that it can reach to a level of being
the design of the school should reflect accus- a comprehensive reference for the further fu-
tomed typologies in the village with well inte- ture of the rural Nepal.
grated of special structural techniques.
Secondly, the environmental strategies bring
an important value to the school facility. By
the proposals for cross ventilation, rain water
collection, acoustic quality and sun protection,
the school activities would climb up to a com-
fort level. On the other hand, spatial strate-
gies plays another significant role in my school
proposal. For the structural quality and earth-
quake resistance, proposing a simple structur-
al body is important. Also, in order to achieve
a strategy which results in a school organism,
the proposal must be inclusive of the local
community. The more the design welcomes
the community with an important role in the
process, the more the school project will be
real and successful. So that, the local com-
munity learn the material and how to build
with it by the explanations of how to originate
a school form from a mergence of local ma-
terial combinations through new interpreta-

Left: Image 56_Educational

Building, Mozambique, (by
Tord Knapstad)

Right: Image 57_Educational

Building, Mozambique, (by
Bror Hansen)
Source: https://www.archdaily.
com
Above: Image 58: Community
Day at School for the Introduc-
tion of New School Building,
Kali Devi, Makwanpur, Nepal
(by Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 61 62 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Chapter 5: DESIGN PROPOSAL: A PROTOTYPE
Hope and Resistance
5.1. Current Situation In Sites
5.1.1. Kali Devi
In Kali Devi, the primary school building is
located on a hill which is in the central point
of the village. The school site is approached
by pathways from north east and south west
that end up in a junction in front of the library
building. On the east side of the library, the
school building is located and surrounded by
the natural landscape. Since it is on top of a
small hill, It has clear visibility from different
parts of the village. The current school site
does not have a defined school garden, but just
an open space in front of the classrooms. This
situation decreases the quality of education
by the other activities happening outside of
the school or noises reaching the classrooms
easily.
Library on the west side of the school site is
not in use for preventing robbery.
5.1.2. Ghandruk
In Ghandruk, the secondary school building
is located on a plain land in between the
Annapurna mountain range. Village is located
on the west side of the school, on a hill, and
there is a small valley keeps the village and
the school facility apart from each other. The
school building is surrounded by the local
landscape and also visible from village in this
site too. The school facility is much bigger than
the one in Kali Devi, it has a specified courtyard
both for the school activities and the climatic
requirements. For the sport facilities, there is
a basketball field on the west site of the school
building and an open space for other purposes
related to school.
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
5.2. Intervention
5.2.1. Kali Devi
In Kali Devi, the new school cluster is based
on environmental and spatial strategies that
are defined according to the research that is
explained in the 3rd chapter and proposed to
be a reflection of the existing school in order
to catch similarities between the new and old
by its volume. By this way the new design is
not only a completion of the current building
but also defines the school property and
boundary. So, in the new situation, there will
be a courtyard just for the school activities
for the children and the classrooms become
more intimate and silent with this layout.
With the new facilities such as the community
centre, game room, new classrooms and
proper sanitary zone, the whole school facility
becomes complete.
5.2.2. Ghandruk
In Ghandruk, the new school cluster is also
based on environmental and spatial strategies
that are defined according to the research and
located place instead of the current sanitary
zone of the existing facility. This zone is
replaced by the new classrooms, a game room,
community centre and a newer sanitary zone
as a supplement of the ongoing education. In
this way, the school would have a welcoming
entrance, a community zone and then
classrooms respectively. Also in this site, the
school design is based on environmental and
spatial strategies that are defined according to
the research.
Above: Image 61_ 1/1000
Master Plan Kali Devi, Mak-
wanpur, Nepal (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).
Above: Image 59_ Kali Devi
Existing School (y Eda Uraz). Below: Image 62_ 1/1000
Master Plan Ghandruk,
Below: Image 60_Ghandruk Pokhara, Nepal (Drawn by Eda
Existing School (by Eda Uraz). Uraz).
65 66 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.3. Design Process

In the design process both for Ghandruk and

Kali Devi, different plan layouts with the same
approach were studied. On the right side of
the page, there are some plan trials showing
the idea of having one whole roof and cluster
of facilities from more public to private
underneath. While some examples are more
rigid or loose, the others are more playful
or compact. The main reason of studying
different plan layouts during the design
process is to find the correct layout for both
climate zones and cultures. With the support
of physical models, I could have chance to feel
the new atmosphere between my proposal
and the existing. That process also lead me to
complete the process with the most feasible,
flexible and adaptable ones to be a prototype.
Also, small samples of the wall system
lightened me to solve the particular details of
the new proposal for the earthquake resistant
wall system.

Left Above: Image Series_

1/1000 Model Process (Made
by Eda Uraz).

Above: Image Series_ Right Above: Image Series_

1/100Ground Floor Plan Pro- Varied Scaled Models in Pro-
cess (Drawn by Eda Uraz). cess (Made by Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 67 68 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4. Participatory Design, How Does It
Work For a Prototype?

Prototype as a school means a series of defined

strategies that can end up with different plan
layouts with different materials or different
spatial configurations according to the need of
a specific village, culture, local resources and
identity. For every different proposal in Nepal,
the layout and required facilities may change,
but the strategy and approach to construction
of the school building must be the same. In this
way, 8.000 schools which were demolished
because of the Gorkha earthquake in 2015 can
be replaced faster with the same earthquake
resistant strategies.

5.4.1. Kali Devi, Logic of The System

The logic of the school system in Kali Devi
is based on the experience and research in
the site, the guidelines and characteristics,
environmental requirements and spatial
strategies. Moreover, the plan layout of the
school takes its origin from flexibility and
typical house typologies in order to resemble
their habits in the school atmosphere and let
them be part of all the process of their new
school.

5.4.1.1. Ground Floor Plan

In the master plan on the right side, the
attempt of locating the new school against
the junction of roads is to define a welcoming
entrance zone by the porch, the kitchen and
the community centre which are the most
public facilities in the school. After that, the
game room, amphitheatre and 2 classrooms
follows each other in a loose pattern under
a whole over hanged roof. In the spaces
between buildings under the roof, all the
community activities can happen such as
eating, gathering together, story telling,
learning, and experiencing. In the garden
between two school buildings, children can
play or community can practice the new
construction techniques. Also the new school
building perform as a bridge between the new
school garden and the wooden playground on
Above: Image 63_ 1/200
the southern hill of the site. Ground Floor Plan Kali Devi,
Makwanpur, Nepal (Drawn by
Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 69 70 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.1.1. Ground Floor Plan, Kali Devi

18.00 15.20
1.85 5.50 2.00 5.50 2.00 6.60 3.40 5.50
2.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00

3.00
2.80
3.30
A

2.20
1.70
8.20
5.00
5.50
A

0 1 2 3 4 5

Above: Image 64_ 1/100

Ground Floor Plan Kali Devi,
Makwanpur, Nepal (Drawn by
Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 71 72 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.1.2. Summer, Kali Devi

Above: Image 65_ 1/50 Sec-

tion AA, Kali Devi in a Sunny
Day (Drawn by Eda Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 73 74 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.1.3. Fall, Kali Devi

Above: Image 66_ 1/50 Sec-

tion AA, Kali Devi in a Sunny
Day (Drawn by Eda Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 75 76 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.1.4. Interior Life, Kali Devi

Above: Image 67_ Life in the

School, Kali Devi (Drawn by
Eda Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 77 78 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.1.5. Safe School, Kali Devi

Above: Image 68_ Safe School,

Kali Devi (Drawn by Eda Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 79 80 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2. Ghandruk, Logic of The System

5.4.2.1. Ground Floor Plan

In the master plan on the right side, the
proposal of the new school design shows
that there is a welcoming entrance with the
community centre as a kitchen, common
public space under the roof, and then the
classrooms as a more private space. The plan
layout is more compact here in order to share
walls and interior warmth in between spaces,
and prevent strong wind circulation between
the buildings. Also the kitchen and sanitary
zone come together in this plan layout. The
interior garden is a space for the children to
play, for the school activities, or as the practice
place for the community members who want
to take place in the design process.
In short, there are 2 different plan layouts
within same strategies in my proposal. And
those are not the only two as it was explained
in detail in the research based design chapter.
The plan layouts seem finished, but actually,
the logic of the system shows the varied
possibilities under defined rules and flexibility
strategies.

Above: Image 69_ 1/200

Ground Floor Plan Ghandruk,
Pokhara, Nepal (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 81 82 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
 Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.2. Ground Floor Plan

In the master plan on the right side, the B

16.20
proposal of the new school design shows 5.50 2.00 5.50 2.50
that there is a welcoming entrance with the 5.00 5.00 5.00

community centre as a kitchen, common

public space under the roof, and then the
classrooms as a more private space. The plan
layout is more compact here in order to share

2.40
walls and interior warmth in between spaces,
and prevent strong wind circulation between
the buildings. Also the kitchen and sanitary
zone come together in this plan layout. The

5.00
interior garden is a space for the children to
play, for the school activities, or as the practice
place for the community members who want 15.20
00 6.60 3.40 5.50
to take place in the
5.00design process. 5.00 5.00
In short, there are 2 different plan layouts

5.50
within same strategies in my proposal. And
those are not the only two as it was explained
in detail in the research based design chapter.

3.00
The plan layouts seem finished, but actually,

2.80
3.30
the logic of the system shows the varied
possibilities under defined rules and flexibility
strategies.

16.20
5.00
2.00
2.20
1.70
8.20

5.00
5.50
5.00
5.50

Left: 1/100 Physical Model,

B
Ghandruk (Made by Eda Uraz)
0 1 2 3 4 5
Right: Image 70_ 1/100
Ground Floor Plan Ghandruk,
Pokhara, Nepal (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 83 84 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.3. Winter, Ghandruk

Above: Image 71_ 1/50

Section BB, Ghandruk in a
Snowy Day (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 85 86 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.4. Summer, Ghandruk

Above: Image 72_ 1/50

Section BB, Ghandruk in a
Sunny Day (Drawn by Eda
Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 87 88 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.5. Interior Life, Ghandruk

Above: Image 73_ Life in the

School, Ghandruk (Drawn by
Eda Uraz) .

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 89 90 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.6. Safe School, Ghandruk

Above: Image 74_ Safe School,

Ghandruk (Drawn by Eda
Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 91 92 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.7. Materiality
In my proposal, material choices for the
school building depends on local resources,
and techniques within the new structural
interpretations for earthquake resistance.
For the wall material, earth is proposed to
make sun dried bricks with local craftsmanship,
since it is what they already have there on the
ground. Within a correct application, it can
work as a strong material for the structure
and as an insulation system for the interior
comfort temperatures. To be able to use
earth as a structural element, the mixture
and amount of materials are important. The
mixture should include sand, loam, clay, straw
and water in correct amounts.
For the reinforcement of the wall system, the
hollow core bricks are used in order to fill the
space with the bamboo and gravel for the
bonding of each horizontal brick layer. The
foundation is made by the locally available
stones from the river beds. And small steel bars
and small amounts of cement are necessary
for anchoring the bamboo sticks properly
in the foundation. In the image below; the
foundation process explained by numbers as
follows;
1-Firm and flat site
2-Borders of foundation
3
6
1
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
3-Steel bars attached to the ground
4-Bamboo positioning on steel bars for hollow
brick reinforcement
-A bit of cement infill for stabilising the junction
of steel and bamboo in the foundation plinth
5-Stone foundation
6-Stone soling
The structural elements such as ring beams,
plinth beams, lintel beams, horizontal, vertical
and diagonal secondary structural supports,
and corner reinforcements are locally available
woods and are designed for earthquake
resistance in order to prevent torsion and twist
of the building under the earthquake force.
The roof trusses, tie beams between columns,
the secondary ceiling structures are made out
of locally available wood as well.
The building starts with the heavy materials
from the foundation and gets lighter through
to the roof. At the roof level as a last layer of
the building, slates are proposed since they
are locally available, and very specific to their
culture as a roof material.
5
2
Above: Image 75_Foundation Above: Image 76_1/25 Section
Detail (Drawn by Eda Uraz). (Drawn by Eda Uraz).
93 94 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.2.8. Structural System

Locally Available Roof Slates Locally Available Roof Slates

Secondary Structure:
Third Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates Secondary Structure:
Third Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates

Secondary Structure:
Second Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates
Bamboo Sheet for Waterproofing
Secondary Structure:
Second Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates
Bamboo Sheet for Waterproofing

Secondary Structure:
First Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates
Primary Structure:
Wooden Truss Ststem
Secondary Structure:
First Bamboo Layer for Carrying Roof Slates
Second Ceiling: Primary Structure:
Wooden Ring beam Wooden Truss Ststem
Bamboo Sheet
Wooden Supports to Carry Bamboo Sheet

Wall:
Hollow Cored Sun Dried Brick Second Ceiling:
Bamboo and Gravel Reinforcement Wooden Ring beam
Bamboo Sheet
Wooden Supports to Carry Bamboo Sheet

Wall:
Hollow Cored Sun Dried Brick
Bamboo and Gravel Reinforcement

Ground and Foundation:

Stone Foundation
Stone Soling
Rammed Earth
Ground and Foundation: Mud Tiles
Stone Foundation
Stone Soling
Rammed Earth
Mud Tiles

Above: Image 77_Kali Devi Above: Image 78_Ghandruk

Northwest Axonometric View Northwest Axonometric View
(Drawn by Eda Uraz). (Drawn by Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 95 96 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.3. Hand crafted contributions

Above: Image 80_1_5000

Above: Image 79_1_5000 Kali Ghandruk Site Model (Group
Devi Site Model (Group Work). Work).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 97 98 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.5. Hand crafted contributions

Above: Image Series_

Above: Image Series_Kali Devi Ghandruk Proposal (Drawn by
Proposal (Made by Eda Uraz). Eda Uraz).

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 99 100 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.5. Hand crafted contributions
LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY
Above: Image 81_Kali Devi Top
View (Made by Eda Uraz).
Below: Image 82_Ghandruk
Top View (Made by Eda Uraz)
101
Above: Image 83_1/20
Earthquake Resistant Wall Wall
Sample (Made by Eda Uraz).
Below: Image 84_1/20
Structural Model (Made by
Eda Uraz)
102 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Hope and Resistance
5.4.5. Hand crafted contributions

Earth Water Clay Sand Straw

Above: Image 85_Materials for

Sun Dried Brick
(Made by Eda Uraz)
Below: Image 86_Brick Mix-
ture, Process of Drying in the
Mould (Made by Eda Uraz).
Above: Image 87_Sun Dried
Brick After 1 Week (Made by
Eda Uraz)
Below: Image 88_Brick Texture
(Made by Eda Uraz)

LIMITED RESOURCES ON CONTINUITY AND IDENTITY 103 104 HOPE AND RESISTANCE - EDA URAZ
Chapter 6: bibliography
Hope and Resistance Hope and Resistance
Books Articles & magazines

[1] Sinclair, C. (2006). Design Like You Give A Damn (1),
Architecture by Humanity.
[2] Sinclair, C. (2012). Design Like You Give A Damn (2),
Architecture by Humanity.
[3] Bouchez, H. (2017). A Wild Thing.
[4] Proulx, A. (2017). Barkskins.
[5] Khan, M. (2013). Earthquake Resistant Structures.
[6] Moustafa, A. (2012) Earthquake Resistant Structures,
Design,Assessment and Rehabilitation.
[1] Bodach, S., Lang, W., Hamhaber, J. (2014). Climate
responsive building design strategies of vernacular
architecture in Nepal, Energy and Buildings 81 (2014)
227–242
[2] Langenbach, R. (2015). The earthquake resistant
vernacular architecture in the Himalayas. Seismic
Retrofitting: Learning from Vernacular Architecture,
Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-1-138-02892-
0.
[3] Gautam et al. (2016). Geoenvironmental Disasters,
Disaster resilient vernacular housing technology in Nepal
3:1 DOI 10.1186/s40677-016-0036-y.
[13] Village Volunteers, Manual on Building Bamboo
Houses.
[14] Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning
and Works Department of Urban Development and
Building Construction, Nepal National Building Code.
(1994). NBC 206, Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant
Building Construction: Earthen Building.
[15] Government of Nepal Ministry of Physical Planning
and Works Department of Urban Development and
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