Earth construction: traditional building techniques of Bhutan

NCREP – Consultancy in Rehabilitation of Built Heritage Ltd., surveyed the constructive features of Bhutan's vernacular rammed earth built heritage, as part of a project financed by the World Bank and commissioned by the Division for the Conservation of Heritage Sites (DCHS) of t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: João M. Guedes, Tiago Ilharco, Alexandre A. Costa, Bruno Quelhas, Valter Lopes, Joana Vasconcelos, Gabriela Vasconcelos
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Associação Profissional de Conservadores - Restauradores de Portugal 2018-01-01
Series:Conservar Património
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.14568/cp2017024
Description
Summary:NCREP – Consultancy in Rehabilitation of Built Heritage Ltd., surveyed the constructive features of Bhutan's vernacular rammed earth built heritage, as part of a project financed by the World Bank and commissioned by the Division for the Conservation of Heritage Sites (DCHS) of the Department of Culture - Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs of Bhutan. This work, which aimed at better understanding the structural behaviour of this heritage and, based on this information, proposing measures to mitigate its seismic risk, included the study of 18 traditional rammed earth buildings in two villages in the Punakha district. The surveys were conducted house-to-house, based on a DCHS script, and included surveys of artisans responsible for building these constructive typologies, supported by a questionnaire integrated within the project, to collect information on the procedures, rites and practices followed in these constructions. This article focuses only on the first part of the work; it presents the main constructive characteristics assessed from the survey carried out on this built heritage and compiles the results of the surveys of the artisans.
ISSN:1646-043X
2182-9942