ACSA ZOOO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - HONG KONG CHINA 147

Bhutan: Its Architectural Heritage and Change

CHRISTOPHER L. YIP California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Technology is an active factor with respect to culture. Whether . There has been a tendency to view rather dramatic one desires it or not. the introduction of new technologies introductions of technologies and institutions as only iniprove- generate changes in society and culture. often in unexpected ments that would have minor cultural impacts. Jigme Dorji ways. These changes can be manifested in architecture and the Wangchuck (reigned 1952-72) created the National Assembly physical environment. The idea that one can have significant (the ) as a step towards a constitutional . transformations in technology without changing culture. val- sought to strengthen the role of the central government over ues and daily life is afaulty idea that has been held by many pre- economic and social programs, abolished slavery and serfdom industrial cultures under pressure from the impacts of techno- in con,junction with land reforni. and had an all weather road logical change.' Bhutan has accidentally remained at the fringes constructed between Thimpu (the capital) and India.' of industrialization. imperialism. and globalization until re- Gyalpo also initiated the process of cently. For centuries Bhutan had successfully maintained its creating national institutions such as the National Museum in independence and cultural integrity only to find itself wedged Paro, and the National Library. National Archives. and National in between two gargantuan neighbors. and threatened by the Stadium in Thimpu which became the year-round capital (an overwhelming pressures posed by the global economy. Until efficiency move). New buildings housed the High Court and the the 19th century, their contacts with the outside world were National Assembly. limited. During the twentieth century Bhutan has tried to Fearing Chinese military expansion. Bhutan decided to regulate and direct the importation of outside intluences to favor India. closed its borders with occupied (China). and protect its religion andculture. The (DrukGya1po)and moved to expand Bhutan's presence in the international coni- government seek a way of gaining some of the benefits to be had munity as a way of protecting the country's sovereignty, and to froni the outside world while wishing to keep their traditional gain foreign aid for development projects. Admission to the culture intact and vital. Theirs is an uphill struggle at best. At United Nations in 1971 was a major success of this policy. worst it has been a loosing battle as selected introductions froni The fourth and present ruler. Jigme Singye the outside world continually surprisc the government with Wangchuck (reign 1972-present). was educated in India and unexpected. and sometimes even unnoticed consequences. Great Britain. and continued to modernize the country whilc Bhutan was divided into small rival independent monar- attempting to maintain the country's religion. agrarian tradi- chies who struggled with one another until the 17th century tions. patterns ofdaily life. and traditions of building. As a part when a Buddhist theocratic government emerged.' In 16 16 of the defense of their culture. wearing traditional dress was Ngawang Nanigyal. aDrukpamonk.came toBhutan from Tibet. decreed. and television was banned until this year. and became the spiritual and secular leader of Bhutan. and had The protection of their heritage extends to thc landscape and himself proclaimed Shabdung (A1 Whose Feet One Submits). the government has set aside more than 25V of the country as Until 1907 the country was governed under the Shabdung national parkland. limited logging to less than 5% of the land system.' area. and banned the export of unfinishcd timber." Government In 1907 . (regional governor) of policies even limit villagers to gathering firewood from dead Tongsa took control of the whole country. ended the Shabdung and fallen material in a country in which only about 30% of the system. created a monarchy. and became the tirst King population has electricity in thcir homcs and most people use (Druk Gyalpo) of the Wangchuck Dynasty. woodas theirprimary fuel. Huntingis banned to protect wildlife. The I910 Chinese invasion of Tibet pushed Bhutan deeper Visas to Ibrcigners are strictly limited to minimize thcir into relations with the British for protection.' influence on the Bhutanese. Tourists were not allowed into the The last two Druk Gyalpos have been much more aggres- country until 1974. sively engaged in pushing the selective modernization of 138 CROSS CURRENTS TRANS-CULTURAL ARCHITECTURE. EDUCATION. AND URBANISM

In spite of these efforts. unforeseen change has come to The traditional farmhouse might stand alone or in a small Bhutan and policies to improve the living standards of the hamlet composed of up to 20 dwellings. Generally. The house population. though meant as technically neutral benefits. have is a three level structure set on a rubblc foundation. The accelerated the process of cultural transformation. Three ele- foundation trench to contain the rubble is usually about 80 to mentsare responsible formany ofthechangcs thatare occurring: 100 cm wide and about 120 cm deep.'" The stone foundation the construction of' a national road system. education, and may be raised as much as 80 cm to reduce dampness in the health care policies. None of these three policies were intended rammed earth walls which are constructed on it. At thc second to alter traditional architecture but they have. tloor level wide rectangular gaps are left in the rammed earth The road constructed with Indian financing. technical aid walls for window and wooden wall sections which often project and labor has opened the country to truck and auton~obile out slightly from the rammed earth wall. More windows are transportation for the first time. The all weather one lane road nonnally placed on the south side. An elaborate cornice sits on system runs west toeast through tlie inner Himalayan zoneof the top of the wall. and increases in depth and complexity depend- country and connccting together the largest towns with spurs ing upon the number of stories in the house. A pitched timber turning south to connect thc heartland of Bhutan to the southern roof rises above the ceiling of the floor below leaving a space border towns of India at four points. Before there was almost no between the top of the ceiling and the roof for an attic. The roof wheeled transportation in the ma.jority of the country due to the is commonly pitched about 15 degrees to allow the rains of the mountainous conditions. Essentially self-sufficient villages summer monsoons to run off while not being too steep since the were connected by footpaths to one another. religious institu- wooden shingles are traditionally held down with rows of tions. and the governmental centers. Even today about 95% of stones. the population resides in s~nallvillages. The road has made it Houses invariably have rectangular plans with the ground possible to travel to places by bus that once took many days to floor devoted to a barn. It has a trampled dirt surface. The walk. This hascreated agreatermobility,and made the introduc- entrance to the barn is usually a wooden door on the front facade tion of goods and ideas into areas once remote. This includes of the structure. The living quarters are on the floor above the concrete. glass. and sheet metal construction materials which barn which allowed the heat produced by the animals below to were viewed as culturally neutral introductions. warm the living quarters above. Here one would find a kitchen- An educated elitc has been created to fill the new govern- living rooni. Since there is no chimney in the traditional ment bureaucracy and manage the development policies initi- Sannhouse, this room is very dark and the ceiling an walls are ated by the Druk Gyalpo. This has meant sending young covered with soot. The kitchen fire is the source of heat. There Bhutanese to India for schooling at first and then the establish- will be a shrine rooni for worship. maybe one or more separate ment of schools in Bhutan. About two generations of western bedroonis. and other rooms are devoted to storage. In most trained people now occupy the important positions in govern- houses without bedroonis. people sleep in either the shrine room ment and business who intellectually have their feet in two very or the kitchen-living room. In a few houses the living quarters different worlds. As the government officials and the business are accessed by a steep staircase from the barn. but the more class attempting to modernize Bhutan while remaining true to common solution is to have a steep staircase to a south-facing their heritape, they constantly straddling the line that divides timber landinp or porch. Here members of the household will the nurturing of what they understand to be their heritage and work in the warmth of the winter sun. The attic under the timber its disruption by imported innovations. School facilities and the roof is used for food storage and drying. It has a floor of planks educated population keep increasing in numbers.' covered with mud. The open space between the walls and the Public health measures have inadvertently altered the ver- roof allows for breezes to dry cattle feed and hay. and peppers nacular building tradition. Major effbrts have been made to are often placed on top of the shingle roof to dry in the sun. support traditional medicine while introducing modern West- In visiting villages. such as Shingkar in Central Bhutan. ern medicine and public health practices. Inroads are being one's first iniprcssion is of unchanging traditional patterns of made into early mortality due to illness. and the life expectancy building and farmhouse use. This is not tliecasc. One ofthe most at birth for men has risen from 44 to 50 years from 1985 to 1995, dramatic changes came as a result of government health poli- and from 43 to 54 for women in the same period.'Coupled with cies. The use ol'ground floors as barns posed a health hazard and a high birth rate this laudable effort has created a rapid popula- was banned. As a result. new uses had to be found for the ground tion growth rate which the government is trying lo reduce with tloors. In some cases the ground tloors are paved and used Tor a birth control campaign. From 1985 to 1995 the population either more living quartcrs or more storage space although grevv from I .380.000 to 1.640.000. Many new houses havc been dampness and the limited ventilation make this space less built within the last decade increasing the use of iniportcd desirahlc for residential use or storage of hay and grain. Whilc materials and technologies." old houscs lack many openings at the ground tloor level. new These pressures are manifested in the changing nature of the houses now have windows at this level in response to changed vernacular farmhouses of the inner Himalayan valleys which usages of tlie ground floor spaces. Without animals for heat in represents the most densely settled portion of the country. The the Winter. new metal stoves with metal pipe chimneys have government does not always notice the changes that are occur- become more common. and chimneys on cooking stoves haw ring in vernacular building. reduced the amount of smoke in the kitchen-living space. In ACSA 2000 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE - HONG KONG. CHINA 119

some instances the kitchen has become aseparate room from the from common buildings." living room. Usually the chimneys do not go through the roof. From 1962 to 1969 Jigme Dorji Wangchuck had Tashichho but end in the attic. This practice and the tendency to leave the Dzongrebuiltas the centerpiece of his new capital. The building chimney uninsulated has created a serious fire hazard. expresses change using traditional construction techniques and It is now common to find a small stockade next to the house materials but at a scale that makes it the largest dzong in the or a stockade styled barn sirnilar in construction to the hut/barns country. Whereas other dzongs had undressed or roughly used by herders in the high country. dressed stone walls. Tashichho Dzong has neatly dressed gran- Newer houses also tend to haw more windows. and more ite masonry sct in mortar. It has rectangular and square cut window area letting in much more sunlight into the traditionally paving stories whereas thc courtyards of other drongs were rather dark dwelling. More traditional decoration is painted on usually paxd with randomly shaped stones. The very large the wood frames of the window surrounds. doors. and eaves and oblong courtyard is surrounded by a two story structure with cornices than one finds on older traditional houses. The training traditional verandas or arcades at the residential portions. The ofartisans in the royal school for the traditional arts to maintain corners of the drong have the unique features of corner towers." the artistic traditions of the country has made house painters With the construction of the new bus station in Thimpu there more plentiful and popular. was not traditional structural precedent available. In an attempt In new houses in towns or close to the few roads. one finds to merge with traditional forms, the bus station has merged the the use of concrete and concrete block replacing rammed earth elements of an enlarged house with that of a squat utse. and rubble stone walls. Plastered and white washed concrete Each new policy to selectively bring new technologies has walls donot looksignificantly different from the outside but the had impacts that were unexpected and unintended. Some of insulating properties of concrete are quite different from that of these changes can be read in the architecture. Even the most rammed earth, which along with the greater window area vigorous efforts by a monarchicallsemi-theocratic state to pro- increase the need for heating requiring a greater reliance upon tect its traditional culture against changes wrought by the fire wood. This adds more pressure on the forests and the selective introduction of technology has not been able to stop government's forest preservation efforts. significant social change from occurring with the adoption of The importation of corrugated metal has often led to the a limited range of technologies from the outside world. replacement of the wood shingle roof by the corrugated metal In spite of their noble efforts, Bhutan has not figured out how roof which lasts much longer than the two to five year life span to protect her traditional culture and architecture tiom the for untreated wood shingles. transformational power of technology and the globalized cul- All of these changes have occurred to the construction of ture. Maybe it cannot be done. Clearly. technology is an active farmhouses without either the introduction of running water, or force in the processes of globalization and cultural transfomia- electricity. tion. New materials brought to much of the country by the new road system. public health policies. and a modest increase in NOTES wealth have already led to a number of recognizable changes to I See: Benjamin Schwartz. In Search of Wealth and Power: Yen Fu and the traditional farmhouse. The overall form of the house and use the West. New York: Harper & Row. 1964. of traditional decorative motifs have continued. As moderniza- Much of the historical information is drawn from: U.S. Library of tion policiescontinue to increase in number and impact. one can Congessonlinecountly studiesihttp:l1lc\veb2.loc.g~1v/c...dy: @ti eld): expect more dramatic changes to occur to the culture and the LeoE. Rose.The PoliticsofBhutan (Ithaca:Comell University Press. 1977):ChristianSchicklgruber&FrancoisePommaret.eds..Bhutan: house in Bhutan. Electricity and running water will surely have Mountain Fortress of the Gods (New Delhi: Bookwise PVTLtd.. an impact not only on the house. but on the house's relationship 1997). to the village water sources and more. 'Leo E. Rose. pp. 26-28. The transformation is as impressive in government and Library of Congress online country studies. Bhutan. public buildings. The traditional dzong was a fortified admin- 'India had financed the road as a necessary part of its border defenses against China. The road was finished in 1962, the year that India istration and military center in combination with a Ibught and lost a border war with China. monastery. In former times the local population could take "Los Ancelec Times. Jan. 2 1. 1999. refuge in the dzong when under attack. As such. the dzong was -United Nations Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific. 1996. p. sited for defense. It was usually a roughly square or rectangular 86. enclosed courtyard or linked courtyards with government func- Wnited Nations Statistical Yearbook for Asiaand the Pacific 1996. pp. 80. 87. tions separated from the monastery. At the center of the main "United Nations Statistical Yearbook for Asiaand the Pacific 1996. pp. courtyard stood the utse, a tower that contained the main 80. tcmples and supporting spaces and divided the administrative "'Much ofthe ini'ormation on the traditional farmhouse is derived from from the monastic section. The khemar. a red horizontal strip direct observation.orAn Introduction toTraditional Architectureof near the top ofthe white exterior ndls. differentiated the dzong Bhutan (Timphu: Dept. of Works. Housing and Roads. Royal Govemrnent of Bhutan. 199.3). " ibid.. pp. 52-59. ':ibid.. pp. 81-89.