In today’s consumer-driven economy where the bigger it is the better, Nripal Adhikary is one such innovative architect, designer and painter who believes that small is sustainable. A true advocacy of “think globally, act locally” can be found in his work where he upholds the importance of using local natural resources such as adobe and bamboo instead of mainstream materials for building purposes.
(Photo courtesy: http://abari.org/)
(Photo courtesy: http://abari.org/)
On Thursday May 29th, Mr. Adhikary was invited to our Guest Speaker Series to share with our students his knowledge and experiences as an architect, but moreover an architect with a truly socially remarkable vision.
Mr. Nripal receiving a token of appreciation from our students
Mr Nripal at EduLift sharing his experiences
At EduLift our students are encouraged to learn through experience and experiments, a holistic kind of education at the root of which is creativity, collaboration and social responsiveness. Through Mr. Adhikary’s talk, our students were exposed to an innovative way of solving some of today’s burning questions. Our students learnt that use of natural materials such as adobe and bamboo as building materials could have a large impact towards decreasing carbon footprints as they were far more energy efficient than manufacturing most mainstream building materials. Also, it was found that these traditional building materials were more cheaper, ecological and even safer during earthquakes.
Having travelled more than 25 countries researching and experimenting the use of bamboo and adobe, Nripal’s works can be found in Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia to as far as Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and even the USA. We wish him all the best with his endeavours and hope for a sustainable Nepal with more beautiful structures.
A beautiful row of houses in Palpa using unbaked bricks and mud plaster (Photo courtesy – Nepali Times: 3-9 May, 2013)