Designs
Funding education and providing supporting services to marginalized Nepali children have always been Kids of Kathmandu’s focus. After the devastating April 2015 earthquake, over 8,000 schools destroyed, we expanded our mission to partner with organizations with prior school building experience to help rebuild Nepal. Kids of Kathmandu enlisted best-in-class professionals, both Nepali and American, to ensure that the new schools would be safe, well-built, and efficiently built. At the forefront of our effort, we designed the schools to inspire the community and elevate education’s role in shaping Nepal’s future.
The planning
To start the rebuilding process, we partnered with SHoP Architects, a renowned NY-based architecture firm, to design a flexible “kit-of-parts” that is adaptable to the different, and often extreme, conditions across many sites. Our initial designs offered comprehensive solutions to a variety of community needs. The architectural plans consider the need for natural light, ventilation, community space, construction, and material transportation costs.
Sustainability
As our experience and partnerships grew, we realized a universal need to build sustainably to reduce the harmful effects concrete has on the atmosphere and help reduce transportation costs to the remote Himalayan communities. We also see this as an opportunity to push Design boundaries to showcase the possibilities of building sustainably.
Rammed Earth Construction
In 2019 we broke ground on our first rammed earth school, DBS, with our partners, Acts of Kindness Collective, OSD Engineering, and Sustainable Futures. OSD Engineering and Sustainable Futures have been at the forefront of introducing the latest sustainable building technologies to Nepal and built many structures ranging from individual houses to large, internationally financed hospitals. Designed by Studio Rae – Marissa Feddema and Cycle Architects,
The hexagonal room design allows for flexibility in situating the building on terraced terrain. Simultaneously, the overly large roof covering the area between the two blocks of classrooms creates a perfect play space or outdoor classroom during monsoon and hot summer months.
Pushing the limits
- In 2020 Kids of Kathmandu constructed the GBS school, a next-generation rammed earth school designed by MESH Architectures. With the addition of a live roof and rammed earth arches at the entrance to the covered entry, GBS highlights Kids of Kathmandu’s commitment to pushing the boundaries towards creating an inspiring and functional 21st century school.
- In 2021 we are planning our first earth brick school in Southern Nepal. Like rammed earth in composition and residual benefits, earth brick is manufactured on-site using local labor and sustainable materials. We will be building five rooms, a toilet, and retrofitting roofs in four other buildings.
- Beyond the environmental benefits that rammed earth construction affords, several other attributes contribute to an enhanced learning experience.
- Strength and durability – A proven material that with minimum upkeep will keep its strength and durability for decades to come
- Load Bearing walls — No need for extra columns
- Thermal Mass — The density of rammed earth means outdoor temperatures are balanced …
- Noise Reduction — Material acts as a noise abatement between classrooms and outdoors
- Pest Proof – Impenetrable walls/material
- Fire Proof – It simply doesn’t burn
2021 -22 - Earth Brick
In 2021 we are planning our first earth brick school in Southern Nepal. Like rammed earth in composition and residual benefits, earth brick is manufactured on-site using local labor and sustainable materials. We will be building five rooms, a toilet, and retrofitting roofs in four other buildings.
Kids of Kathmandu and our many partners have done a great deal of work to ensure that the schools we build in rural Nepal will be safe and affordable. Our design and engineering work allows us and other groups to maximize our donor’s dollars to provide a 21st-century educational experience to prepare the children for their future in this ever-evolving Nepal.