Green KaravanGhar – The Journey towards Green Architecture

Text: Mariyam Nizam Photography: Courtesy Heritage Foundation

“375 million people will be affected by climate-related disasters every year, well above the 263 million believed to have been directly impacted by natural disasters in 2010.” – British Ministry for International Development Report, 2011

It is an impossible task to ignore that which is in front of our eyes, it is impossible for us, as a race, to go on living as we do. Global warming is no longer a phenomenon that will affect us in some remote way in the distant future. We have altered the earth, depleted its resources, fragmented its topography, ignored its plight, and now we must face its wrath. Architecture in this disaster stricken age must be designed as a realization of the global challenges that we face.

In the span of five years, Pakistan has witnessed two natural calamities; both destructive in their own manner, affecting the lives of millions. The aftermath of the earthquake saw national and international organizations developing emergency shelter units that were to be used as temporary or transient housing, which were later converted into permanent units. The standard symbol for development, the ‘Galvanized-Iron’ sheet was employed with concrete, fibre glass, sand bag walls, and a vague new building methodology was introduced into the mountains of Kashmir. In our urgency to build units, we did just that. But ‘experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again’ (Franklin P. Jones). The floods that swamped the country late last year, have required emergency, transient and permanent housing, and again without the research or development that is required, we are armed with high energy-consuming materials and urbane ideas, and headed for remote areas changing lives and lifestyles. It is important for the architectural community to create an understanding that traditional building skills and methods, when employed with new technology and crafted awareness, not only has a larger benefit, it is also more efficient and flexible.

In the aftermath of the Earthquake, 2005, Heritage Foundation (HF) began constructing a unit utilizing materials such as stone and wood from the debris of collapsed houses, along with the use of lime (instead of cement) in mortars, with provision for bond stones, G.I. sheets in corners and horizontal bracing in stone masonry walls. Galvanized sheet roofs were used due to scare of mud roofs that had collapsed during the earthquake. While studying earthquake resistant structures, it was noted that more efficient tying could be achieved through introduction of wooden posts which would tie the entire structure from roof to foundations to the original structure and an improved KaravanGhar was developed. The G.I. roof was maintained to provide lightweight roofing. Internally, use of mud plaster with lime was encouraged. Ar. Yasmeen Lari, with structural advice from Engr. Amin Tariq, headed a team of young architects and students who visited and spent time amongst the affected population, sharing stories of horror and reconstructing lives, but the project did not end when the targeted 1150 housing units in 75 hamlets in Hazara were complete. The Karavan Institute of Research and Training (KIRAT) was established in Battal, Hazara, which undertook experiments in creating a module that would be “green”.

In 2007, bathrooms for executive tents were constructed at KIRAT. These were inspired by the traditional indigenous building technique known as Dhijji, in the Hazara region, which had withstood the tremors. Dhijji employs wooden horizontal and cross bracing in walls that are tied independent of the infill. The infill can be of any material including stone and brick. However, the roofs were still made of G.I. sheets. 

Later during the year, a rehabilitation project to empower women and encourage community participation was begun. Known as the Destiny Makai Ki Roti, it involved the establishment of community kitchens with hygiene campaigns for maize bread to be manufactured using traditional water mills and tandoori earth ovens. In order to provide low cost kitchens for the programme, a design was developed with wood horizontal and cross bracing (dhijji). As the mix was refined an improvement on the application of Mud/lime mortar and plaster was visible. The construction of the kitchens provided enough expertise to the team at the Heritage Foundation Base Camp in Dhijji infill walls, yet the use of G.I. sheets still posed a problem to Ar. Yasmeen Lari. The hesitance in constructing a mud roof was due to the fact that waterproofing techniques required experimentation. The construction of a couple of utility buildings provided the opportunity to test whether a water tight mud roof could be constructed. From that day on, Heritage Foundation discontinued the use of G.I. sheets for roofs.