KCS Community Building

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KCS/Community Building planned for Phortse, Nepal Bozeman, Montana

The School of Architecture (SoA) at Montana State University, working with the Alex Lowe Charitable Foundation and the community of Phortse, has designed the new KCS/Community building in Phortse, Nepal.

MSU School of Architecture
The SoA organized a series of seminar courses and design studios dedicated to the research, design and construction of the KCS. The first research course took place in the Spring 2008 semester, with a student, Heather Archer, visiting the site during the KCS 2008 session, documenting and speaking with Phortse community members and KCS instructors to understand the context and specifics of how the facility would be used. The next phase was a travelling design studio. Professor Michael Everts led four architectural graduate students in an on-site community design charette: an intense 3 day design session where they worked with community members on initial design ideas, building small scale cardboard models to actively engage and represent ideas. Four approaches were selected and then developed during the Fall 2008 semester. The development included design sessions with Jenni Lowe-Anker and Conrad Anker, climbing instructors, and other architects. Ultimately, five alternative designs were modeled, trekked to Phortse., and then presented (by one of the architecture students) to the Phortse community and the KCS at the 2009 climbing school session. The instructors and community selected one of the schemes with comments. The selected design, in a studio of nineteen students for the Spring 2009 semester, was developed and detailed. Currently, eleven students are documenting the building design and finalizing details for the start of construction which will begin in several weeks (November 2009) with the aid of six students and the professor.

Project Description
The rural hillsides of Nepal (specifically the Khumbu Valley, near Mt. Everest) are among the most remote (geographic and until recently, political), and culturally isolated areas remaining in the world. This condition has effectively preserved the unique art and architecture of the region for almost 500 years. However, recent increases in tourism and foreign influence (25,814 foreign trekkers visited the Sargamatha National Forest in 2007, up from 13,786 in 2002) are effecting widespread changes. Some are positive, such has an increase in education, while other influences are not as desirable (i.e., the rapid disappearance of heritage architecture and culture). Therefore, the use, heating, structure and design of the new building all improve, in order to preserve, this precious resource.
The Khumbu Climbing School project is a new technologically inventive building prototype for climbing instruction, passive energy harvesting, integrated seismic engineering techniques, and cultural preservation.
The passive energy harvesting replaces the burning of Yak dung, currently the main source of heat. (National afforestation programs and conservation severely limit the use of wood.) This will dramatically improve Nepalese health. The integrated seismic engineering techniques work in conjunction with the traditional dry stack stone construction. This proactively addresses the increasing risk of catastrophic seismic disaster. Technological strategies which accomplish passive heat harvesting and seismic safety are uniquely designed to be Òopen sourceÓ and within the local construction aptitude.
Current Status The Khumbu Climbing School is currently in the process of hiring a Nepalese construction manager to lead the construction of the new school. Excavation and foundation work will begin in November 2009 with the help of seven people from the SoA architecture, who will travel to Phortse for four weeks. They will bring a large scale physical model and drawings as instructions for the construction.

South image of building

East image of building