Rammed earth in Nepal
During May 2008 I visited the Annapurna region of Nepal. Here rammed earth is used extensively, both in historic and vernacular construction. At the western end of the Annapurna region is the kingdom of Mustang, an ancient kingdom with a rammed earth wall surrounding the capital city dating from the 15th century.
The region is dry and arid, due to its position in the rain shadow of the Annapurna range to the south. The Gandaki river runs through Mustang, and in parts is the deepest valley in the world, with 7000m peaks separated by only 25km. Foreign visitors have been allowed to enter the kingdom of Mustang since 1991, but access to Upper Mustang and Lo Manthang requires a special permit.
Kagbeni
Kagbeni is the village at the entrance to the Buddhist kingdom of Mustang. I did not enter the restricted parts of upper Mustang, and Kagbeni is the part of Mustang most tourists get to visit.
Old town
The old town of Kagbeni is built almost wholly in rammed earth, and is still a highly active community, even though many people live across the river in a newer part of the village. The layout of the village is very similar to that of the Kasbahs of Morocco, where the whole village is designed to be fortified, and homes are part of the village walls. I was able to discern the outline and towers of a central fortification. The position of Kagbeni, on the main trade route between Nepal and Tibet would require fortification, to discourage the interests of members of the larger kingdoms.
Kagbeni old town, constructed from rammed earth
Monastery
Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling is the monastery in Kagbeni and was established by a great scholar of Tibet in 1429, and the monastery contains a number of rare statues and artifacts. The monastery appears to be in particularly good condition, with only one section, where a poor roof has allowed water damage of the wall. The rammed earth is particularly filled with horizontal timber beams, much more so than I have seen at any other rammed earth site. These beams are more common in dry masonry construction (a fully fledged version would be called Cator and Cribbage, where they serve to improve the seismic performance of structures.
Seismic protection in the Himalayas
Cator and Cribbage Article Richard Hughes, Arup
Traditional is Modern Randolph Langenbach, Conservationtech
Kag Chode Thupten Samphel Ling monastery in Kagbeni
Modern construction
Kagbeni is becoming increasingly visited by tourists. The best evidence for this is new construction. A new rammed earth hotel was being constructed in the centre of Kagbeni. The builders were happy to stop and chat about how they were building and what they were doing. The quality of construction was excellent, and similar to that described by Jest, Chayet et al. (1990), but slightly different to that found in Ladakh, Morocco and Spain. Here tall poles are fixed using the horizontal timbers, and the formwork moved vertically up the timbers to the full height of the building. Wedges are driven between the poles and the formwork, which are fixed using rope at the top. For more details of different rammed earth building techniques, see my thesis.
A new rammed earth hotel under construction just outside of Kagbeni
Related publications
Jaquin, P.A., Augarde, C. E. and Gerrard, C.M. Historic Rammed Earth Structures in Spain. International Symposium on Earthen Structures, Bangalore, August 2007
(1.40MB) Historic
Rammed Earth Structures in Spain
Zareen Sethna's account of similar rammed earth building in Bhutan. Engineers
without Borders Research Conference, May 2008
Jest, C., Chayet, A. and Sanday, J. 1990. Earth used for building in
the Himalayas,
the Karakoram and Central Asia - Recent Research and Future trends.
6th International Conference on the Conservation of Earthen Architecture,
Las Cruces, New Mexico, Getty Conservation Institute. Los Angeles.
Jharkot
Jharkot is the main village on between Kagbeni and Muktinath. Here there was the remains of two very large rammed earth buildings. One appeared to be in state of major disrepair, with only two of the walls remaining, while one (below) had been extensively repaired using masonry.
Rammed earth building in Jharkot, repaired with masonry
Muktinath
The Mustang valley continues north from Kagbeni towards Lo Manthang and Tibet, but the Annapurna circuit turns east toward Muktinath, a place sacred in both for Hindus and Buddhists. Here, at the foot of the 5415m Thorong La pass, all the elements are present. A natural gas vent in a stream means that earth, air, fire and water all exist at the same place.
A small number of the buildings in Mukrinath are rammed earth, the example shown below shows remarkable similarity to building in Morocco, where new structures are built adjacent to the old when the old building falls into disrepair. Here, newer rammed earth has been built down the slope, always on a masonry foundation.
Rammed earth home in Muktinath
Jomsom
Jomsom is a capital of the Mustang District of Nepal, and the only settlement with an airstrip. The village has thus seen a remarkable growth in tourism recently. Here I met a family on the outside of the village ramming a wall to protect the edge of a track along the valley side. The men of the family were ramming, while the women were responsible for the selection and mixing of the soil.
Family building a rammed earth wall outside Jomsom