PBM&LC Nawalpur March, 2020 Photographic journey Author: Shirshak Baniya For Nagarik Aawaz
Railing at utility building In the end of February we had finished and inaugurated the neovernacular kitchen and toilet. Our next work was the finishing of bamboo railing. For this we had performed the sample of two kind of finishing. One with natural rope weaving and another was the 1.5 inch vertical bamboo as shown in picture left. We were electing a final design to be implemented as per the joint field visit of expert group and NA board. Members from prabal thapa architects didn’t joined us on this visit so Board member of Nagarik aawaz Kathmandu and ground team of Nagarik aawaz Nawalpur together joined for the final selection. The first sample from 1.5 inch vertical bamboo was economical for our ground team to implement as these 1.5 inch diameter bamboo was easy to source locally at our village. The length of the railing was approx. 90 feet. The total cost estimation of this design came to the figure of Rs 9000. The second sample was made from natural rope which was weaved with a pattern inspired from the weaving of village furniture. The aesthetic and authenticity of this second sample was better than the first sample as per the client team.
Railing at utility building However we were uncertain about the durability of this sample since these rope will be affected by rain and sun. We jointly took a risk to finalize the second sample. Our expectation is that we hope these weaved rope will last at least for 2 years. After that if we have to change then we can hire our artisan again from the village and thus budget will go to village again. This would be a constructive cycle for us to create and conserve the weaving craft of Sehari village. We finished the work at Rs 11000. Usually people elect for metal railing where we have to hire welder and metal from city and we would be surrendering manpower and material budget to the city.
Precast concrete pole house The campaign of 1 day house and shed for animal is popular in the village of Nawalpur. In this campaign the vendor from city loads precast concrete pole (5”x5”) of standard height of 6’,11’,14’ to village site. They dig 2 feet pit and erects these concrete pole embedded inside dry stone foundation. They use 0.26 mm plain CGI sheet of 10’ length over 1.5 inch circular metal pipe rafter. In this way they deliver the frame and roof of house in 1 day. This system is popular as ek dine ghar in Nepali which has been accepted in the village of Sehari. Normally in village if we have to build 15’ x 20’ shed, the total approx. cost is Rs 50,000 for 6 nos 11’ pole, 3 nos 14’ pole, metal rafter and cgi sheets. The walls and other floor structure are made by owner in next phase. In this analysis the approx. cost for concrete frame and cgi roof for 1 day house is Rs 170 per sq.ft. Cost of pre cast concrete pole per rft is Rs 120. Some available standard sizes of 7’,11’,14’ were Rs 840, Rs 1320, Rs 1680 respectively.
Precast concrete pole house The precast concrete door, window, ventilation were available whose cost of per running feet was Rs 250. The door size 3’x7’cost Rs 4650. The window size 4’x6’, 4’x4’cost Rs 7840 and Rs 5880 respectively. In analysis the cost of precast concrete door frame came approx. Rs 230. The cost of precast concrete window frame came approx. Rs 350.
Polycarbonate sheet To cover the shade at utility building was also the added micro work to be carried out as per the necessity of client team. The polycarbonate sheet are transparent plain sheet. These sheet are available in 3 feet and 4 feet width. We purchased 4’ x 26’ sheet from narayanghat market which is 50 km away from our site. The cost of sheet was Rs 125 per sq.ft. The total cost of this material and installation was Rs 16000 which became over budget. We didn’t had welding facility at this phase of work so we decided to fix existing metal rafter with hiltee screw and drill. But this didn’t work well in the end. Lack of proper metal rafter became drawbacks of this installation. This was our first experience working with area of 13’ x 7’ with this sheet, we could not judge the future performance and practicality of this material. In recent hail storm and heavy rain, this sheet sagged and this sheet collects so much dirt which looks unpleasant. This work has been a lesson for us to rethink well prior we trust on this thickness of sheet. We are planning to redo this work in possible time.
Hedge plantation From the direction of architect Emil Shrestha, we planted a hedge at the edge of the building. These are the small shrubs in future. Hedge will visually cover the pilotis space.
Village study Every Monday night, people at Sehari gathers for a religious group song and dance at Shiva temple. They tune holy song and chant in their own ethnic language. People gathers at the temple premises at 9 pm night after they finish all the field and house work. Until 1 am night they chant, sing and dance as a devotee to Hindu deity. A group of 30 men and women of age group 40-60 were present. Participation of youth was nil. This was my first experience to explore this late night ceremony at this Shiva temple. It was almost 2 am night when I reached to bed.
Daily life 1 pm noon is our lunch time. During winter we used to have lunch prepared by our care taker Ain Kumari didi in a open field. Summer is arriving and this newly built space has been a home for construction crew to sit, eat and rest during the free time. We feel opportune to sit under the roof and share the chats between each other. Now Ain Kumari didi cooks lunch and tea in LPG gas stove.
Daily life Care taker Ain kumari didi daily routine has been shifting since a week. With a newly built building, the work volume has been added. She runs a kitchen to cook lunch for the construction crew. She is using her expertise learned at Kathmandu Tewa centre to maintain and care the utility building at Sehari. She find more easy to wash utensil in a seating position as this is a tradition and lifestyle in a village for hundred of years. For washing small plates we have two faucets with hot and cold water. We have a tap on the wall for the individuals who are comfortable to wash dishes in seating position. Also adjoining health faucet clamped at the wall helps caretaker to wash big size dish used during mass cooking. This module of washing station was successful for us since in the early design period we tried to address the lifestyle and anthropometry of our caretaker as a point of departure. This helped us to introduce contemporary space for the village dwellers.
Repair/Maintenance The utility building was designed by prabal thapa architects and constructed by Kathmandu based contractor. The existing utility building has two washroom with concealed wall cistern which was not functioning smoothly. we were almost in a position to change the cistern and commode since even our plumber who did service at our newly built toilets could not fix the concealed cistern. We were introduced to a new plumber who had experience in working with advance plumbing. He successfully repaired one of the concealed cistern. The remaining one needed a special machine and tools which we will be repairing in possible days. Using concealed system are aesthetically nice but the maintenance is a key factor in the rural village. We elected to use low level vitreous chine cistern in neovernacular building. This type of cistern are like a box enveloped cistern which are hanged on the wall. The maintenance and repair of this china cistern are easy in the village area since anyone can join the fixtures as per the manuals provided there. But the concealed cistern are very hard to join even though we have paper manuals.
Covid 19 awareness As the world was introduced to this new pandemic the works and event of Nagarik aawaz at Nawalpur were also affected. We were following government rules and WHO guidelines. Govinda ji and his team provided a covid 19 awareness event to the staffs and youth of Nagarik aawaz, Nawalpur. 15 participants attended the awareness event. This was provided only to the employee and youth of Nagarik aawaz. In next phase depending upon the context and scenario each of the participants of this event were responsible for conducting awareness about covid 19 in their respective wards and area.
Departure from site On march 21, 2020 to help the government lock down strategy in order to minimize the covid 19 transmission, we closed the work at Nagarik aawaz, Nawalpur for indefinite period. On the same day I reached to my hometown hetauda. Protecting our self and our family should be a prime objective of this lock down strategy. I am hoping to invest the free time on non fiction movies and documentaries.
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