Arup Associates has won an international award for ‘Inspiring Design’ for their work on Druk White Lotus School. The competition was arranged by the British Council for School Environments (BCSE).
Category: Construction News
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In the News
The Druk White Lotus School continues to be a project that attracts much attention in the architecture and construction press due to its fully sustainable design brief. This is an article from World Architecture News , which has just been published. Articles have also recently appeared in Metropolis (Feb 2009) and the Italian/Middle Eastern journal “Compass”
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Sustainable Design Update 2008
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Angdus, Master Builder
Angdus has built the whole school, assisted by his trusty caretaker Lobsang, and many skilled masons, carpenters and labourers. Angdus is from the local village of Shey, and is married with two daughters.
Pictured below are Angdus with Rachel Glynn (Drukpa Trust Secretary from the UK), and Angdus with his second daughter, Tseskit.
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Boost to renewable energy
Druk White Lotus School has two modest solar installations, which have been used for some years mainly to pump groundwater for drinking, washing and irrigation. In 2008, we plan to implement the next stage of our renewable energy plan in order to provide clean energy to run computers and other equipment. The investment will be co-financed by carbon offset funds provided by Arup Associates.Mike Beaven, Principal of Arup Associates said:
“As a global design and business consulting firm, Arup is at the forefront of designing for a low carbon economy. Our unified design practice, Arup Associates, is itself carbon neutral. We minimise the carbon footprint of our operations first, and then offset any residual amount. The Principals recently decided to carry out the offset by investing directly in renewable energy at the award-winning Druk White Lotus School in Ladakh, India. Arup Associates staff designed the system and will supervise its installation and commissioning, planned for July-August 2008. In this way, we at Arup Associates are applying our skills and resources to directly offset our carbon impacts, and to learn the practicalities of implementing renewable technologies in challenging circumstances.”
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World Premiere
Kontentreal, an American television production company recently created an award winning series of programs about sustainable architecture for the PBS system in the USA. The series was such a success that they were asked to produce a few more episodes – one of these episodes “Druk White Lotus School – Ladakh,” (narrated by Brad Pitt, and directed by Tad Fettig) is receiving its world premiere at a public event sponsored by Autodesk at The Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) in New York at 1PM on December 19th.The RMA is at:
150 West 17th Street
New York, NY 10011Telephone: 212-620-5000 or email: info@rmanyc.org
