International Field Experience: Ladakh, India Design/Build
Please note: The program information here refers to the 08-09 academic year. This program may run again, however we have not yet received information from the faculty director. For more information, please contact Professor Sergio Palleroni at
This is an opportunity for students to participate in a service-learning, research/design/build program in the Himalayan mountains of Ladakh, India. The program is designed to teach students valuable skills including research, environmentally sensitive design, Ladakhi construction and materials, community outreach, passive solar techniques, and earthquake design among others, while challenging them to apply their education in the service of others. Students will design and build a small structure at the Druk White Lotus School (DWLS), based on the traditional nomadic tents of the region, along with interior fittings and furniture.
The Druk white Lotus School is a primary and secondary school under the patronage of the Dalai Lama, and founded by His Holiness the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa in 1992. It sits high in the Indian Himalaya among one of the last remaining mountain societies where a traditional Tibetan Buddhist way of life still thrives. The school was started at the request of the Ladakhi people who wanted a school that would help maintain their rich cultural traditions, based on Tibetan Buddhism, while equipping their children for life in the 21st Century. Designed by Arup Associates, the school serves children from ages 3 to 14 and continues to be expanded each summer during Ladakh’s short construction season. This beautiful school has won several international design awards, including the 2002 World Architecture Awards for Best Education Building, Best Buildings in Asia, and joint winner for Best Green Building. Its design combines traditional Ladakhi architecture with a focus on sustainability—incorporating ventilated Trombe walls, solar driven latrines, as well as unique thermal insulation and energy harvesting solutions on a remote and challenging site.
In recent years, Ladakhi culture and ancient traditions have been in danger of becoming lost with increasing outside influence and pressures to Westernize. The school has recently set up a Heritage Program which aims to collect and preserve Ladakhi cultural heritage. The program is designed to amass a collection of Ladakhi cultural items such as clothing, musical instruments, farming tools as well as oral traditions, and display them as an educational tool for both students and visitors. As a part of this program, the school would like to build a traditional nomadic tent with interior fittings for a Visitor Center. This will be a place where visitors are served tea while they browse donation materials, view student artwork and cultural artifacts, and perhaps purchase local handicrafts—providing income that will help pay for teacher salaries.
Participating students will first take part in a preparatory research seminar at PSU that will intensively study and research Ladakh and its culture, architectural traditions and environmental issues, as well as the Druk White Lotus School, and other relevant topics. Initial design explorations will form the background for research and collaboration with Arup and the School. In the summer, students will have the opportunity to travel to Ladakh, India to build this structure alongside local craftsmen, while learning about traditional Ladakhi construction and materials. Students will also design the interior, which includes possibilities for flooring, display cases for heritage items, shelves for school promotional publications and donation materials, a place for tea preparation, as well as handcrafted tables and chairs of the students’ design.
While in Ladakh, students will also participate in activities with DWLS students, and have the option to take part in fieldtrips to several nearby places of interest, including the world’s highest motorable pass and several important architectural sites. We will visit Hemis Monastery during the Hemis Festival, one of the most important Buddhist festivals in the region. It is marked by a 2 day celebration including mystic masked dances, Buddhist chanting, and the unrolling of a 2 story thanka or scroll-painting.
Program Faculty:
Professor Sergio Palleroni, PSU Department of Architecture
Prior to joining Portland State University as a professor and a Fellow of PSU’s new Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices, Sergio Palleroni, (B.Arch. University of Oregon, MSArchS MIT) was a tenured professor at the University of Washington and the Luce Foundation Visiting Professor in Sustainable Development at the University of Texas, Austin. Professor Palleroni’s research and fieldwork for the last two decades has been in the methods of integrating sustainable practices to improve the lives of traditionally underserved communities worldwide. In 1988 to serve the needs of these communities he founded an academic outreach program that would later become the Basic Initiative (http://www.basicinitiative.org), a service learning fieldwork program which each year challenges students from the US and abroad to apply their education in service of underserved communities throughout the globe. Today the Basic Initative is one of the most recognized outreach programs worldwide, with development projects in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In addition, Professor Palleroni has worked and been a consultant on sustainable architecture and development in the developing world since the 1970s both for not-for-profit agencies and for governmental and international agencies such as UNESCO, the World Bank, and the governments of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Taiwan.
Program Focus
Course Information:
ARCH 410 Special Projects: Sustainability in the Developing World 4 cr.
ARCH 510 Special Projects: Sustainability in the Developing World 4 cr.
Following completion of this program, students may take the following courses to build on the knowledge and concepts gained here: * Architecture Studio Sequence: ARCH 280, 281, 380, 381, 382, 480, 481 * Environmental Design: ARCH 410
Draft Itinerary:
The information offered below is provided to give students a general sense of the program structure and activities. Students should anticipate that the program itinerary will change regularly during the pre-departure period as specific arrangements are finalized. As with any international travel of this nature, participants should expect that program itineraries and activities will change during the course of the program in response to local conditions and needs.
Participants will spend the first week in India traveling to Leh and developing an understanding of Ladakhi culture, customs, environment and building traditions. This first week, students will become familiar with the school and its students, visiting local sites, while acclimatizing to the high altitude. We will also make a trip to Hemis Monastery to participate in the remarkable Hemis Festival.
The following three weeks will be spent working on the design and construction of a small structure. Students will spend their days at the DWLS alternating between researching, working with the local community and DWLS students, designing, and building with local craftsmen. Most evenings and some weekends will be left unscheduled for students to relax and enjoy Ladakh. Students will stay in Leh, the small capital of Ladakh, where there are many opportunities to arrange visits to local sites of interest.
Program Duration
Relevant Academic Disciplines
Architechture, Art, Asian Studies, Civil Engineering, Community Development, Culture, Environmental Sciences, Gender Studies, Globalization, Humanities, International Studies, Liberal Arts, Mechanical Engineering, Service Learning, Sustainability, Urban Studies and Planning, Women's Studies
Pre-Requisites
Accessibility:
* Portland State University welcomes applications from individuals with disabilities. * Students will be participating in physical labor during set construction days at the school. * Some optional fieldtrips require climbing small but steep temples. * Ladakh is located at high altitude with strong sun. Measures will be taken to acclimatize students to the altitude before beginning physical work, and to avoid excessive sun exposure.
Pre-requisites/Qualifications:
* This program is open to undergraduate and graduate students from all majors. Students should have at least sophomore standing or above at the time of participation * GPA 2.75 or above * The language of instruction for this program is English. There is no language pre-requisite. Translation will be provided as needed and available.
Language Skill: 1 term