Home Search

Druk White school in Ladakh

Druk White school in Ladakh

http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/e2_videos/e2%20design%202/1%20druk%20white%20lotus%20school-ladakh.m4v

alternate link:

http://physics.hpa.edu/physics/apenvsci/videos/e2_videos/e2%20design%202/1%20druk%20white%20lotus%20school-ladakh-mov.mp4

  1. We’ve heard Brad Pitt ask “was it a conscious decision or a momentary lapse of reason”. What is the difference to you?
  2. Look up Ladakh here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladakh
  3. Why is it critical to educate youth about their culture?
  4. What is the message from His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa?
  5. Why is Ladakh “a fragile place”?
  6. Ladakh is on several borders. What impact does this have on the cultural diversity there?
  7. The lowest part of Ladakh is about the altitude of the Mauna Kea visitor center (9000 ft.) and the top is twice as high as the summit of Mauna Kea. Consider the biomes there, and what could possibly survive there?
  8. What impact did the airport have in Ladakh?
  9. What Buddhist principles are cited as coincident with sustainable design?
  10. Watching them build the school, did you see any heavy equipment or power tools? Why?
  11. What is the resonant feature of the circular building? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala
  12. Why is it useful to marry local resources and concepts to a modern design?
  13. What was the learning opportunity for the modern architects there?
  14. Compare the earthquake survival in the monasteries with other schools in asia that have not survived earthquakes. Why are they different?
  15. Why is frugality a key concept in sustainability? Where else do you see this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Building_Challenge
  16. How is passive solar used, and why is this critical there?
  17. What is a trombe wall system? Where else do you see this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trombe_wall
  18. How will climate change life there?
  19. How do they take water out of the waste cycle?
  20. Why is it useful for the kids to know how the building works? How does this contrast with a passive occupancy? What social impacts does this have? Where else do you see this?
  21. What is the impact of bringing in rural students? What does it preserve? What does it enable?
  22. What does Glancey think of the project? https://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/jun/20/communities.schools
  23. Why is the woman architect’s approach so different?
  24. Circle back to the vision of His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa. What is his vision for the future?