Day 12: "So why are you in India again?"

At the beginning of this school year my architecture department at PSU got a new professor named Sergio Palleroni and he heads a non-profit organization called Basic Initiative that he started in the 80's. The pedagogy behind the program is to teach architecture students how to build in a real world hands on way but most importantly to help out communities in much less of parts of the world then the US. There have been over 80 projects completed all around the world. But most importantly it is to teach us architects can have a greater role in the world then just sitting behind desks. This is something that really calls to me, I can never see myself designing strip malls or high rises. i want my work to touch people's life's in a much more powerful way. The way that design is now in the world only 2% of people will ever receive a designers help, but i want to design for the other 98%. I know that my design skills aren't in the top of the pack so why not use what is my strength which is leadership and my positive attitude to just do what ever needs to be done.
So onto this project in particular i don't think that i could ever do the school justice by trying to describe it myself so if you have time please, please go to the right and click on the top link called "PBS e2 Video on Druk White Lotus School" it is a show produced by PSB that is extremely good and as a bonus narrated by Brad Pitt! I think it's only 20 mins or so.
But in brief the school is a primary and secondary school under the patronage of the Dalai Lama. The school was started at the request of the Ladakhi people who wanted a school that would help maintain their rich cultural traditions, based on Tibetan Buddhism, while equipping their children for life in the 21st Century. Designed by Arup Associates, a huge international design firm. It is a slowly but steadily expanded each summer during Ladakh’s short construction season. This beautiful school, which has won several international design awards combines traditional Ladakhi architecture with a focus on sustainability. So us as student's have been asked to looking some of the finer details. The project as a whole will continue for the next 5 years so this (the first year) is about setting a foundation for what will be done in the future and looking at the master plan of the project. Our building assignment will be a shade structure for between some of the buildings to add more usable outside space and hopefully and little more of the children's color and culture to their school.
So that's enough for now please ask questions if you are still wondering anything and i'll clear it up tomorrow.

Jullay,
Caty