Many people feel the traditional architectural design have become a mere imitation. They say, it has all got to do with Bhutanese using imported construction materials to construct houses.
In an attempt to preserve and promote the traditional architectural design, architects and engineers from government and private organizations met today.
During the meeting, the architects and engineers discussed the ways and means to construct houses incorporating modern amenities without compromising traditional architectural design.
The discussion was based on the findings of a detailed collaborative research and survey on traditional Bhutanese houses by the Ministry of Works and Human Settlement and Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan.
“Particularly from the study, where Bhutanese houses were unique right from the construction techniques and if it has been constructed in a particular way in the past, it has also the resilient features to certain degree of earthquakes, so findings were intact,” said the Urban Planner under Department of Human Settlement, Tashi Penjor.
The Ministry of Works and Human Settlement’s Secretary, Dasho Dr.Sonam Tenzin, said the Ministry will implement Developmental Control Regulations in Thromde areas. The Regulations will strengthen construction architecture features that are truly Bhutanese.
Dasho said people are putting water in their houses, they are also constructing toilets with cement and imported materials. “This is a mix which is not appropriate. Therefore we have to see that whenever we have this kind of housing topologies that is being undertaken in the villages, we have to see this is being controlled, regulated and supervised properly by the respective dzongkhag administration.”
The research and survey on traditional Bhutanese houses were published along with the exhibition of architectural designs of the traditional Bhutanese houses.
