Punakha Construction

Punakha Construction | Magic Thunderbolt of Wisdom | Harvest | Litter & Chores

Despite the Royal Decree that all new buildings in Bhutan should retain the appearance of traditional buildings, in most cases this is a superficial lip service to the external skin and scale of the building, although in Thimpu even this fails with mirror glass fronts to the cancerous shopping malls and Hyundai dealerships.

However, out in the countryside, lack of finance countered by the availability of local materials and low cost labour, mean that most people would naturally incline towards not only traditional appearance, but also traditional construction methods.

These pictures from Chimi in Punakha Dirstrict, show the traditional rammed earth construction using wooden formwork, heavy timber window and door surrounds together with split shingle roofs held in place by strategically placed rocks and without a single nail. The end result is very high thermal inertia which has the benefit of moderating climatic extremes, so neither too hot in summer nor too cold in winter. Low environmental impact in construction and use...

On the downside the availability of cheap labour also includes sad looking underclass children conscripted in to do all the dirty jobs, with many of the Nepalese immigrants spending their lives breaking rocks by the side of the road.