BizAims

Global design and business consulting firm, Arup, has designed the Perma Karpo Library, located in a small Indian village, called Ladahk, which is situated in Indian Himalayas. It's worth mentioning the library is a part of the company's award-winning Ladakhi Druk White Lotus School located in northern India. It provides a good example of how a green design should be. The company incorporated science and local knowledge to erect this sustainable building.

The project of Arup represents a part of the company's pro bono work. Its officials decided to work on this particular project when realizing how they can influence the development process in some of India's distant Himalayan regions. Each year the company sends one of its associates to visit the site and supervise the project. In addition, a special group provides solutions that could be used on the site.

Arup's specialists use various technologies and design solutions while on the site, including: ventilated Trombe Walls, wool insulation, a roof made of mud and timber paneling. Mud roof is of great help for isolation and acoustics. Besides, the roof of the library features solar panels that provide electrical power as well as heating.

Materials for the construction were supplied from local suppliers. The library represents a building that is part of a bigger project that is expected to be finished somewhere around 2010.

"Design needs to celebrate a unique society, not be a consequence of a default, predetermined signature style," stated Arup Associate Declan O'Carrol.

Arup's project made a case study for RIBA-hosted symposium, focusing on the importance of architecture and the environment in maintaining traditional cultures in terms of globalization. The symposium took place in London. The structure represents a mix of traditional values and contemporary engineering technology.

Both exhibition and archive rooms are located in front of a circular central courtyard constructed on the dharma wheel, a Buddhist symbol that represents "unity of all things". The balcony provides access to the library.

At the symposium the director of Arup Associates, Declan O'Carroll, criticized architects who use common "signature designs" in cultural and geographic places, where such designs are unacceptable.

"We need to question what is driving us toward creating generic buildings. What is it that society demands, and not just the developed world?" outlined O'Carroll. "Design needs to celebrate a unique society, not be a consequence of a default, predetermined signature style," he added.