The architecture of Bhutan.

Bhutan's isolation, enforced by its government, has conserved its architectural heritage. Despite this, Western technology is beginning to appear and may threaten its continuity.

Bhutan's remarkable indigenous architecture has clear connections with that of Tibet. Traditional building and construction methods are still practised together with some use of modern materials and styles, though this is restrained by government policy. Until the late 1950s, Bhutan kept itself isolated from the rest of the world, but since the early '60s the country has undergone a cautious programme of modernisation. Gradually opening its doors to the outside world, it issues only 2500 tourists visas each year.

Buddhism, introduced from India to Bhutan(1) in the eighth century, has remained the principal religion and philosophy ever since. Buddhism is of such fundamental importance that all artistic endeavour has a religious significance and iconography(2). Every building in Bhutan has in one way or another some religious use or reference and even the most humble residence has space for a temple. New construction is accompanied at each stage by religious ceremonies,(3) and special presentations are made to the mason and carpenter (there is a superstitious belief that if these craftsmen are not given due honour, their retaliatory prayers can bring about collapse of the building(4)), and pujas offered for the prosperity of the inhabitants. Rituals are followed by general festivities.

The Bhutanese village

Bhutanese villages built along the sides of the mountains look over terraced rice fields and fast-flowing rivers, their isolation emphasised by the wild terrain and the absence of vehicles. In autumn, their roofs are covered with red chillis laid out to dry in the sunshine. The typical village contains several residential buildings, a lhakhang (or village temple), perhaps some small shops and a bar, all arranged in an arbitrary fashion. Around the lhakhang there are prayer wheels, and in strategic places about the village there are tall poles for the prayer flags. Each time the wheel turns or the flag flaps in the wind, a prayer is given to the gods.

The rural house

Farmhouses, sometimes rising three storeys, are often surprisingly large in extent. Traditionally, the ground floor, which is easily inundated during periods of heavy rain, is used to shelter the animals during the cold winter months. The first floor, reached by a stair cut from a tree trunk, is given over to the family's living quarters where there is a large smoky kitchen with a fireplace (but no chimney), up to five sparsely furnished rooms and an altar. The second floor is an open and ventilated space under the roof where the summer's harvest is laid out to dry.

In western Bhutan the typical structure has solid rammed-earth walls, about 600mm thick, that enclose the ground floor and part of the first floor. In central and eastern districts, rammed earth is replaced by solid stone walls. Remaining walls are composed of timber frame covered with mud render, or wattle and daub, and elaborately detailed windows. The building is capped with ornate eaves with the roof poised on timber stilts. Rural construction, unlike urban, is not subject to building regulations, though timber royalties are due to the government. Design and drawings are usually done by the carpenter or stonemason.

Tradition has been affected recently by a Swiss programme of aid, which has introduced domestic improvements such as the chimney and solar collectors for hot water and electricity. Show houses, which demonstrate these advantages, are being built in the bigger villages throughout Bhutan.

The capital

Construction in the capital, Thimphu, is subject to planning and building permission from the city corporation. Private firms of architects hardly exist, and plans and specifications are completed by the works and housing department architects.

Regulations demand strict adherence to existing limits on height and indigenous forms. (The present King, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, takes a personal interest in development proposals.) But although the government's cautious approach to modernisation has largely protected the capital's architecture from Western influence, it is beginning to be undermined by the introduction of concrete, which is being used by Indian contractors to replace stone and rammed earth.(5) The results are unfortunate. Attempts to imitate intricate timber window and eaves detailing in concreto is unsurprisingly awful, and poor quality control has resulted in cracking and staining.

Dzongs

Dzongs, or fortified monasteries, were constructed on strategic sites during the reign of Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594-1651),(6) and are still religious and secular centres. They usually house a central main temple, or utse - a square-based tall structure surrounded by the religious and administrative buildings. The plan can become complex (as at Tongsa) with several courtyards surrounded by a labyrinth of small temples, sleeping quarters for the monks and district administration.

The prevailing architecture is reminiscent of Tibet.(7) Battered stone whitewashed walls of considerable thickness (often 2m at the base) evoke eternity and unity with nature. A peripheral wall with one entrance encloses the entire complex and once provided protection from attack (in the way that the medieval castles of Europe were fortified). A red band encircling the top indicates a religious site. The flat roof, also typical of Tibet, is here covered by an extra pitched roof because of heavier annual rainfall. From a distance, the hovering roof appears weightless, but it is a massive superstructure held in place by the weight of hefty trusses constructed from solid timber in continuous lengths. Once the roof covering was timber shingles (weighed down with large stones), but this been replaced with sheets of corrugated iron.

Internally, stone walls are rendered with mud and whitewashed or prepared for murals; floors of local wood were formerly of popular and cypress, and are now of Himalayan blue pine. Elaborately decorated carpentry, until recently assembled without nails, includes the rabse, the wondrously carved enclosed balcony that projects like a mirador from the upper part of the building.

The future

So far, Bhutan's isolationist policy has conserved its unique architectural heritage, but its doors are now ajar. Change, if controlled, can clearly be of benefit to the community but the problems modernisation can cause is evident in other parts of the Himalayas - notably in Srinagar, Kashmir,(8) where replacing traditional structures with reinforced concrete buildings has had unfortunate aesthetic and cultural, as well as physical and economic, effects. Bhutan has not yet reached this stage, but the problem has started to show.

A sensitive and realistic approach to the introduction of some modern materials is obviously desirable in Bhutan, because the indiscriminate and Uneducated use of inappropriate materials can only bring architectural destruction in its wake.

1 Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom of 46 600[km.sup.2], is east of Nepal and between Tibet and India. It has about 1 400 400 inhabitants.

2 Francoise Pommaret-Imaeda, 'Auspicious Symbols and Luminous Colours'. UNESCO Special Edition Summer/Autumn 1983 No. 35

3 Interview with Singye Dorji of the Bhutanese Special Commission for Cultural Affairs (SCCA). November 1992

4 Rigzin Dorji, 'Spiritual Living; Enthusiastic Enjoyment, UNESCO Special Edition op. cit.

5 Philip T Denwood, Bhutan and its Architecture. Objets et Mondes xvi 4, 1974

6 Rigzin Dorji, UNESCO Special Edition op. cit.

7 Philip T Denwood, UNESCO Special Edition op. cit.

8 Randolph Langenbach, The Earthquake Resistant Mud and Brick Architecture of Kashmir. Sixth Conference on the Conservation of Architecture, Las Cruces, New Mexico, October 1990.