Singapore architect Lim Keong Wee shares with The Straits Times his design approach and the challenges he encountered while creating the Shambunath Institute, a monastery school in Ladakh, India.
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00:00It's 10am and classes are getting underway.
00:15At the Shabunath Institute in Ladakh, India, monks are having lessons that are both contemporary
00:21and religious in nature.
00:29Set on the grounds of Hemis Monastery, a 400-year-old Buddhist monastery, the school
00:33recently opened in a brand new building designed by a Singaporean architect.
00:38It has taken us more than 12 years to build this building.
00:42The client, His Holiness the Gyalwa Mdrupa, had very ambitious plans of providing for
00:48up to 500 students.
00:49When we arrived there, we actually saw a one-storey concrete building.
00:54We quickly realised that the building had to be much bigger and multi-storey.
00:58The first key problem that we dealt with was actually the extreme climate, from minus
01:0430 during winter to plus 30 during summer.
01:08We had a very limited window in every construction season, where we only have a good four to
01:13six months in a year to build.
01:15Another issue was actually the lack of access to electricity and also water supply.
01:21To overcome these challenges, the design team created one-of-a-kind solutions that adapt
01:26well to a harsh and rugged landscape.
01:29The building had to very quickly react to thermal and insulation needs during winter
01:34and also natural ventilation to actually cool the building during summer.
01:39We ultimately improved our design to make our building a lot more efficient and also
01:43much more sustainable.
01:57For Keong Wee, the project has been a labour of love and a long time in the making.
02:03The school is targeted for a full completion by the end of this year.
02:08We hope that our school design will leave a lasting impact and ultimately we would like
02:12to see it foster a community that thrives and evolves in a sustainable way.
02:18We hope that our school design will leave a lasting impact and ultimately we would like
02:22to see it foster a community that thrives and evolves with changing times.
02:48www.keongwee.ca