1.2.2 Principle Two : A Balance With Tradition

Gelephu is a Gateway to Bhutan. It is a region of Bhutan that can be proud of a diverse cultural history, where the great traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism meet one another. His Holiness, Je Khenpo, has visited Fulahari (near Gelephu) and performed sacred rites. A stupa of 300 feet height and 700 feet diameter is proposed to be constructed surrounded by 1000 “Desheg Chortens”. This and other gestures will welcome visitors to the Kingdom of Bhutan, a country full of heritage and a unique culture. Intelligent Urbanism respects the cultural heritage of a place. It seeks out traditional wisdom in the layout of human settlements, in the order of building plans, in the precedents of style, in the symbols and signs, which transfer meanings through decorations and motifs. Intelligent Urbanism respects the order engendered into building systems through years of adaptation to climate, to social circumstances, to available materials and to technology. It promotes architectural styles and motifs, which communicate cultural values. Gelephu is a locale in which to find appropriate expressions of traditional, vernacular architecture, yet with contemporary expressions related to the actual available skills, technologies, materials and resources.

Intelligent Urbanism orients major road axis toward monuments and heritage structures. It leaves space at the ends of such axis for future institutional buildings and monuments to rise up, or to “frame” existing views and vistas.

 

Intelligent Urbanism respects views and vistas. It assures that buildings do not block major sight lines toward major public visual assets. There is a link between signs and symbols; decoration and motifs; iconographic structures and auspicious elements of layouts; and shared cultural wisdom. This is a silent language, which bonds a people together through a meaning system. These all form part of the unwritten, unspoken traditional knowledge system of a culture.

Some possibilities for Gelephu are :

• Prayer flags can preside over the town, fashioned of auspicious colors, and block printed with favorable mantras, the wind carrying their good omens in the ether above the town.

• Prayer flags are also in the compounds of houses, of small lhakhangs and the local monastery, and they speak out to the people their auspicious messages and good sentiments. They can be used to amplify geometry in public spaces.

• Lhakhangs, temples and monasteries can be located within pockets of the city. His Holiness, the Je Khenpo plans a meditation center on a projected knoll overlooking the valley and terai, portending good fortune, with its monks giving prayers in meditation.

• Chortens of many shapes and sizes can be seen in the valley, which have the prayer, “ Om mani padme hum,” inscribed within them. Small Hindu temples in house gardens demarcate sacred space. These all mark out spaces, as opposed to enclosing spaces. They engender a sense of place!

• Gateways demarcate space into “external” and “internal” protected areas. They welcome home inhabitants and they greet visitors! They transform anonymous space into friendly, protected places. The town of Gelephu itself must have gateways welcoming weary travelers who come from near and far!

• Mani Walls that hold prayer wheels accumulate goodness through their turnings are not so common in Gelephu, but can be used as accents to public parks and places. As these prayer wheels turn out their thousands of prayers, they produce a wealth of spiritual meaning.

These examples give a clear notion of how heritage sites and artifacts can be brought into a modern day scenario of planning, engendering a sense of place. In a settlement like Gelephu, where new areas will cover much more land than the existing settlement, it is essential to demarcate auspicious and prominent locations for new spiritual and religious structures, which will surely arise over time.

Every culture and every society has its iconography, its signs and its symbols. Intelligent Urbanism promotes their incorporation into the spatial order of urban settings. Intelligent Urbanism promotes the use of these elements and components to orient and structure the plan. Gelephu offers an excellent opportunity for this to happen.