Sunday, June 29, 2008

Site Analysis; initial discussion

A meeting was held on Friday, to discuss our projects with two visiting advisors I had invited to the college; Ruth Richardson VSO of Equal Step Childrens' Camp (recently featured on Rolling Rains), and Barbara Goss, of Treetour / Reforestation of Northern Khentii. Our new CTC project leaders, Gursed and Lhakgva, displayed the drawings they had prepared - after considerable coaxing to ensure consistent drawing labelling, scales and orientation, and to properly mount and label photographs ("is it really necessary? - YES") - for the discussion. 1:500 site models were produced by students.

Sanzai /Selbe Khadad Eco Houses
For the Eco-Houses in Sanzai /Selbe Khadad, the as-yet unclear ecological standards and proposed performance for the eco-house designs were questioned. Separately saleable cottages seemed preferable in principle to an energy efficient triplex building.

some reference examples;
Hockerton Eco Houses
BedZED Beddington UK
Eco-Homes Standards (UK) - pdf Guide

Yarmag Children's Camp
For the Childrens' Camp in Yarmag, the standards of nature protection for the surrounding reserve seemed unclear, despite the detailed consultants report which had been provided. A low impact temporary camp seemed in principle to be less appealing and feasible than permanent buildings for up to 200 people on 1000m2.

reference examples;
Eden Project, Cornwall
Camley Street Natural Park, Central London
Childrens Day Camp (Ontario CA)

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Projects on the drawing boards

Upper: Selbe Khadad (Sukhbaatar district, North of UB)

Sanzai Eco-Houses Project

Lower: Yarmag (South of UB)

Yarmag Childrens' Camp Project

These two photos (from my phone camera) and linked pages describe the two projects we are currently developing with Gursed and Lhagva, two trainee architect teachers, with four students; in the first case, in Selbe Khadad, for 'Eco-houses', and in the second case, in Yarmag, for a Childrens' Recreational Camp in a nature reserve.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Essential Skills - Суурь чадвар

To begin the projects for Yarmag and Sanzai, with two architecture graduate trainees, Lkhagva and Gursed, and four students, I began by setting out for agreement six main steps for approaching design projects, based on a book by (my former student) Do* et al;

Суурь чадвар - Essential Skills

6 stages
1. Товч ойлголт (The Brief): Төслийн товч санааг дүрсэлнэ. Үүнийг хийхэд ямар зүйл сурах шаардлагатай, ямар онцгой ур чадвар /бодох, зурах, харилцааны/ байх хэрэтэй вэ гэдгээ төлөвлөнө.

2. Тайлбар (The interpretation): Товч ойлголтоо тайлбарлан зарим онцгой хэсгийг нь дэлгэрүүлэн тайлбарлан ойлголмжтой болгоно. Төслийн сэдэвтэй хамаатай судалгаа хийн, тайлбарлаж чадахгүй байгаа зүйлээ буруу эхлэхээс нь өмнө бүх зүйлийг тодорхой болгох хэрэгтэй.

3. Дэлгэрүүлэх (The inspiration): Энэ хэсэгт чи ямар утга санааг илэрхийлж байгааг илүү чиглүүлж тайлбарлана. Энгийн түвшинд чиний санааны илэрхийлэл нь юу юм? Дээд түвшинд чиний санаа архитектурын ямар байр суурь, загварын философийг агуулж байгааг тайлбарлана.

4. Шинжлэн судлах (The exploration): Шинжлэн судлах нь нарийн нягт процесс бөгөөд загвар, зураг, санаануудаа өөр ур чадвараар хөгжүүлэн сайжруулах явц юм. Эцэст нь өөрийн дизайныг амаар болон биетээр /архитектурын зураг ба загвар/ товч байдлаар тайлбарлахыг шаардана.

5. Боловсруулалт ба илрэл (Refinement and Expression): Сайн дизайнер нь хамгийн шилдэг гэсэн санаагаа гүйцэлдүүлэхэд хэр зэрэг хугацаа шаардлагатай таамаглаж чаддаг.

6. Хангамж ба гүйцэтгэл (Delivery and Execution): Энэ хэсэгт чиний бүх ур чадварыг шаарданана. Энд сайн зурсан төслийг харахаас илүү муу зүйл гэж байхгүй. Магадгүй санаа нь хүчтэй ч гэсэн илтгэх арга барил нь дизайн хийх процессын туршид сурсан ур чадварт хүчтэй нөлөөлдөг.

Trans. Bolormaa Davaadorj based on * Do K. (Khoa), Siew A. (Adelyn), Schreven L., Lena, Loo R., Holmeseth K., Iu W. (2006) Point of Reference, First Edition, Perth, WA, Curtin University of Technology, 80 pages (ISBN 1 740 67455 3)

Site Analysis - Орчны тойм шинжилгээ

Before departing for the visits to the two sites yesterday, on Monday we carefully went through these notes on site analysis with the team.

Site Analysis - Орчны тойм шинжилгээ

1. Хүрээлэн буй орчин ба байрлал:
•Хүрээлэн буй орчин: Энд барилгын байршилын асуудал илүү хамаарна. Чиний барилга байр зүйн өвөрмөц онцлог /гол, мөрөн, далай г.м/ эсвэл байгууламжуудтай /хот, гүүр, далан г.м/ хэрхэн холбогдон байршиж байна?
•Байрлал: Энэ нь барилгын орчин тойрны асуудалтай шууд хамаарна. Газрын өндөр нь хэр зэрэг юм? Суурийн тогтворжилт нь ямар юм? Тэнд ямар ургамал ургадаг юм? Ямар төрлийн барилга байгууламж зонхилож байна? Барилгын маштаб, хэмжээ нь ямар байх юм? Нийгэм болон соёлын асуудлыг нь яаж авч үзсэн юм? гэх мэт.

2
. Хүрээлэн буй орчны төрөл: Захын хороолол, хөдөө, тосгон, захын байрлал/ус ба газрын/, усан дээр /гол, мөрөн, тэнгис г.м/, хад цохио.

3
. Хүрээнлэн буй орчны хүчин зүйлс ба агуулга:
•Арга барил ба хандлага
•Өдөр ба шөнийн уур амьсгал
•Нарны тусгал
•Байгууламжаас үүсэр сүүдэржилт
•Далайн түвшинээс дээших өндөр
•Барилга дотор болон гадна талаасаа хэрхэн харагдах үзэмж

4
. Орчны шинжилгээ хийхэд юу авч явах хэрэгтэй вэ?
•Харандаа, бал г.м
•Ноорог дэвтэр
•Шугамдсан цаас
•Маштабны шугам ба хэмждэг тууз
•Газрын зураг /хэрэв боломтой бол байр зүйн газрийн зураг/
•Камер

5. Бичлэг зурагнуудаа хэрхэн яаж ашиглах вэ?
Олж авсан мэдээллээ газрын зураг дээрээ маштаблан зурж тамдэглэн түүнийгээ өөрийн газрын шинжилгээн дээр хэрхэн авч үзэхээ мэддэг байх хэрэгтэй. Нэмэлт материал /фото зураг, тэмдэглэл/-ууд өөрийн зурагтай чинь холбоотой бол ашигладаг байх хэрэгтэй.
•Байрлалын төлөвлөгөө / байршил/
•Газрын төлөвлөгөө: Эргэн тойрны байгууламж, ургамал, газрын өндөр гэх мэт.
•Байрлалын хэсэг
•Гудамжны өндөржилт /өндөр/
•Зарим деталь /материйл, барилга байгууламж, хүрээлэн буй орчин гэх мэт/

Preparing the Location Plan and Site Plan for each project would be the first steps, accompanied by site models made of card - critical given the topography in each case.

Trans. Davadorjiin Bolormaa based on based on Do K., Siew A., Schreven L., Lena, Loo R., Holmeseth K., Iu W. (2006) Point of Reference, First Edition, Perth, WA, Curtin University of Technology, 80 pages (ISBN 1 740 67455 3)

Saturday, June 21, 2008

VSO annual Volunteer Conference

VSO Mongolia volunteers and staff extricated ourselves from work for a couple of days to go to a green valley in the Mongolian countryside to take stock of what we have achieved, in our annual volunteer conference.

Gathering over thirty volunteers from Africa, The Philippines, The Netherlands, Canada, Australia and Britain, with placements as far afield as Bayan Ulgii, Choibalsan and Darkhan, everyone seemed pleased to get together. On the second day I assisted Nickson Kakiri in leading a session on mainstreaming disability in all of our work here, and we discussed and (re)discovered issues of disabilities, rights, exclusion and working with various challenges. We reflected on some positive work done in the last year, including work on universally accessible buildings, and a recent accessibility audit of the Equal Step Camp, our conference venue, in this remote village apparently known only by its train siding, 'Point 290'.

The camp had recently installed a ramp and accessible toilet, and its generous volunteers, on our arrival, had also erected a ger and made us some great meals, a horhog, and a bonfire. VSO's scarce funds seemed in this case to have been directed towards a very promising locally owned and highly sustainable enterprise.

Most of the conference sessions were held in a wooden hall, which worked well with improvised flipcharts and the occasional powerpoint presentation. As Secure Livelihoods Programme volunteer coordinator, I led a session - on a grassy riverbank - which included an update of all livelihoods volunteers' work, where we later returned at dusk to wade in the river, like the local horses.

Жил бүр VSO-ын Монгол дахь салбарын ажилчид болон сайн дурынхны дунд зохион байгуулагддаг бага хурлын үеэр бид өөрсдийн юу хийж бүтээсэн, ямар ололт, амжилттай байснаа ярилцан дүгнэж хэдэн өдрийг хөдөө, цэвэр агаарт амарч цагийг зугаатай өнгөрөөлөө.

Африк, Филиппин, Голланд, Канад, Австрали, Британи зэрэг улсаас, мөн Баян-Өлгий аймаг, Чойбалсан, Дархан хотоос нийт 30 гаруй сайн дурын ажилтан цуглаж хуралдлаа. 3 өдрийн хурал амжилттай, үр өгөөжтэй болсон юм. Хурлын 2 дахь өдөр, би Никсон Какири-н хариуцсан “хөгжлийн бэрхшээл” сэдэвт хэсгийг удирдан зохион байгуулах ажилд тусалж, бид хөгжлийн бэрхшээлтэй хүмүүсийн эрх зөрчигдөх, нийгмээс гадуурхагдах зэрэг тулгамдсан асуудлуудын талаар ярилцаж, тэдгээрийг хэрхэн шийдэх талаар ярилцсан. Өнгөрсөн жил бидний гол ярилцаж байсан сэдэв бол бүгдэд хүртээмжтэй барилгын тухай байсан бөгөөд бидний хурлаа зохион байгуулсан ‘290-ийн цэг’ гэсэн нэртэй газарт байрлах Тэгш Алхам зусланг барихдаа тэрхүү санааг маань барилгынхаа ажилд тусгасан байлаа.

Энэхүү зуслан саяхан налуу зам барьж, ариун цэврийн өрөөгөө хөгжлийн бэрхшээлтэй хүмүүст зориулан тохижуулсан байв. Биднийг очиход тэндэхийн сайн дурын ажилтнууд гэр барьж өгч, сайхан хоол, хорхогоор дайлан галын наадам зохион байгуулсан. VSO-с гаргасан өчүүхэн санхүүжилтыг ашиглан энэхүү орон нутгийн аж ахуйн нэгж чамгүй амжилттай болоод тогтвортойгоор үйл ажиллагаагаа явуулж буй нь харагдаж байсан.

Хурлын ихэнх хэсгийг зуны модон байшинд зохион явуулсан нь powerpoint, flipcharts зэргийг ашиглахад тохиромжтой байлаа. Миний бие Баталгаат амьдрал хөтөлбөрийн удирдагч (сайн дурын ажилтан)-аар ажилладаг бөгөөд өөрийн удирдсан хурлын хэсгийг голын эрэг дээрх ногоон зүлгэн дээр явуулсан. Харин дараа нь орой буцахдаа тэр голоо гаталсан.

Thank you to Indra Oyunbaatar, MUST, for this translation.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Summer, Screams, Selbe Khadat - Сэлбэ Хадат

It feels like summer, warmer although a little dusty and windy at times. The building site for the new college is progressing with formwork for the ground floor (in Mongolian "first floor") almost complete, and barrowloads of on-site batched concrete being poured into the floor beam forms.

Yesterday (uncharacteristically for a Saturday) I was working at the college office, after leaving some things behind on Friday afternoon, and heard screams of pain and crying from the building site, which moved into the building. We emerged to find a trail of blood and a young female construction student nursing what I feared from a distance might be an amputation or a deep cut, which was rapidly being wrapped in bandages. We established that a doctor and ambulance had been summoned, but that then, after quite a scene with colleagues and students in the college, the patient was driven to hospital in a jeep by Shari, our builder. I later learned the student had caught her left little finger in the roller of a large concrete mixer and that it would be likely to be rehabilitated with a splint.

The previous day I was away from the college on a building site visit, in a small summer resort village called Selbe Khadat - Сэлбэ Хадат, (Сухбаатарийн Дураг 16-р Хороо) about 25km north of the city. We collected the client developer for the Eco-houses from his office at a hotel and went via Sanzai to the Sukhbaatar district, finally over several kilometres of unsealed roads to the site on the gentle north slope of a mountain, looking over a pleasant valley of holiday houses. There was a nice stand of Blackwood trees on the site and many more on the southern boundary where the mountain rose up. We discussed putting three ecologically sustainable permanent dwellings on the site, and considered the land value (about 25M MNT) and potential for capitalisation of the land in relation to the adjacent summer houses.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Architecture and transition after socialism

I thought of posting some project references with architects' website links for study by Mongolian and international colleagues (at least for perusal of drawings / pictures) . I recently read an interview with Hungarian architects, Bence Turanyi (b1974) and Gabor Turanyi (b1948) of T2a discussing, among other things, the changes to architects working methods since 1990 in the context of political changes in Eastern Europe.

They noted how architecture work has moved from "centralised plan factories" to privately owned architectural practices. How the souls of "state" architects were "liberated when they were able to go freelance"... how "new assignments and technologies had brought new possibilities"... how architects had previously lacked structural and material resources but now can build almost everything from anything." (European Architecture May/June 2008 p.19)

My related selection of projects showcased in the journal include;
Office Building, Sofia, Bulgaria by Aedes Studio
Shipping Terminal, Herceg-Novi, Montenegro by Studio Grad
Churches, Litomysl and Cernosice u Prahy, CZ by Zdenek Franek
Sports Hall, Jurmala, Latvia, by Substance
Commercial Centre, Zagreb, Croatia, by Igor Franic
Office Building, Ankara, by Cira Koglu Architecture
Academy of Performing Arts, and Bridge and Square, Sarajevo by various inc. Archipelagos

How has architectural practice changed since Perestroika? How are these projects relevant to post-socialist Mongolia's situation now?

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Training continues

Following the departure of TTK colleagues from the day's training, we seemed to be on a roll, and a further architect teacher training workshop followed spontaneously. Lkhagva and Gursed, having graduated with architecture diplomas on Friday, had been selected as future teachers. They happened to be plastering a wall in the college on Monday, and agreed to join Bolormaa and Tsenguune and I for training on participatory teaching methods. The VSO handbook on that subject with its array of methods (here an alternative resource) had attracted great interest from the latter two experienced teachers.

After contemplating the whole matrix of participatory methods offered*, Tsenguune chose the method called 'Answer Cards' and I quickly composed an exercise in order to practically demonstrate how to use the method. After explaining the purpose and process, I distributed three answer cards each (A4 paper torn into A6 quarter-sheets) and requested in Mongolian simple responses to three simple questions about Ulaanbaatar buildings, colours and transport. I collected the participants' enthusiastic responses and facilitated the groups shared analysis and collation of all of the different information on the answer cards. Although Gursed and Lkhagva left unexpectedly to return to their plastering, all had learned something at first hand about one participatory way of exploring a subject lesson.

* Some online resources about participatory methods
Pacific Skills Link
SPARK, Sharing and Promotion of Awareness and Regional Knowledge
Partnerships UK

architect teacher training

I made it home tired after the Baga Bayan excursion, and having resisted Batbileg's (mathematics teacher and ger district neighbour) insistent invitations for one more drink at the rough-looking local bar at Sapporo.

The time had finally come for architect teacher training, almost by accident. Suvdmaa of the Technical and Technology College sms-messaged me on Sunday night to confirm our Monday 11am training meeting. I agreed, and in the morning rallied our teachers at CTC. The TTK teachers called at 11.45am trying to postpone, while CTC teachers waited, but I called Suvdmaa's bluff, and they finally arrived after midday. Suvdmaa brought Bolorchimeg, a young architect teacher graduate of MUST. I demonstrated mapping a typical Part1 architecture course. I gave each of the two pairs of teachers an A4 sheet and they set to diagramming the architecture courses at CTC and TTK respectively, the basic year progression, semesters, and some of the subject areas.

I have established a great rapport with CTC teachers Bolormaa (Maths) and Tsenguune (Computing teacher), and with their excellent translation abilities and now developed curriculum design interest, they became fine teacher training collaborators.

The purpose of mapping became clear as we explored the complementarity and continuity of the Mongolian course subjects in comparison with the 'typical part1' course. The technical bias of the courses, at the expense of culture and communication, was also discussed, in what was agreed as deriving from the Russian style legacy of these two (largely similar) Mongolian courses. The roles of various teaching methods - lecture, seminar, studio, workshop, assignment, excursion - were compared and contrasted. The Mongolian teachers all took great interest in 'Point of Reference' (Khoa Do ed, 2006) a handbook produced by Perthian architecture and interiors students with Khoa Do. They scrutinised the Curtin course structures, but also teaching and learning tips, and model and project examples with great interest. I wondered aloud whether they could do something similar with their students. I proudly recounted my history with Khoa Do, from his first year as architecture student to teaching colleague, architect collaborator and passed master.

The course comparison showed that the Mongolian architecture courses were comprised of 4 years, eight semesters of 16 weeks each, loosely comparable with the 3 year 'Part1'. Practical experience, they suggested, however, is most problematic, because of the tendency for exploiting student labour and its dubious educational value. I carefully touched on the principle of a 'Professional Experience Record' to monitor the quality of professional experience, but urging the participation of a professional body... (such as the currently 'dormant' Mongolian Architects Association, through committee chair Purev-Erdene Ershuu.)

Bolorchimeg initiated a discussion about professional education for Architects and Urban Designers and I compared the continental European / German-language / perhaps also 'Russian' integral approach to Urbanism, with the Commonwealth / British tradition of Town Planning as a separate discipline. Particularly interesting in this post-socialist context is the Peri-Urban condition, which Purev-Erdene Ershuu's 'Centre for Architectural Design and Research' at MUST addressed in its conference with Vienna University of Technology last year.

The Russian legacy in the Mongolian architecture curriculum and literature was discussed in light of my experience of the generation of Russian-trained Mongolian architects - some still believe the 1965 Russian edition of Neufert to be suitable for 21st century Mongolia. Bolorchimeg begged to differ and wrote down references we discussed, to Bat-Od (UB 2007) and Ching's 'Form Space and Order', whose publisher Wiley has kindly offered a free chapter download. Bolorchimeg also copied down my hand-made wall chart where Mongolian architecture students mapped in Mongolian the equivalent of the 'RIBA' work stages of an architectural project - from go to whoa.

Ziemlich muede nach unserem Ausflug, und nach dem ich Einladung im denkwuerdigen Lokals von Batbileg - meinem Mathematik-lehrer kollege und Ger-bezirk nachbar - entkam, ging ich nach Hause.

Endlich- fast zufaellig- kam eine chance fuer das 'Architekten-innen-lehrerinnen-tranieren'. TTK lehrer Suvdmaa hatte mich Sonntag am Abend ein sms-message gesandt, um unseren montagiges Termin zu bestaetigen. Einverstanden, rufte ich dann die CTC Lehrerinnen zusammen. Das TTK-partie telefonierte um 1145, um verschub zu versuchen, da war ich aber nicht einverstanden - da kamen Sie dann trotzdem nach dem mittag. Suvdmaa brachte Bolorchimeg mit, eine junge beim MUST absolvierte Architekturlehrerin. Ich stellte das aufzeichnen eines typiches Part1 Architektur-kurs vor. Dann gab ich die zwei Lehrerinnen-paare je ein Blatt A4, und sie begannen die Architektur-kurse - jeweils CTC und TTK - in Diagrammform grob zu zeichnen - einfache fortfolge, semester-struktur, und einige fachbereiche.

Graduation and Excursion

On Friday the graduating students were all dressed up and assembling in the college courtyard from about 10am. I almost missed the start of proceedings at midday, and speeches and diplomas were presented against a 'colourful' backdrop. After many photographs and a ceremonial final lesson, where a basic idea is taught as a graduation ritual, accompanied by drinking warm milk (!), the students dispersed and the staff waited for departure to a rest camp from 3pm. At 8pm we finally departed in several jeeps, to a forested valley on the far northern UB periphery, 33km from the centre in Sanzai. The Baga Bayan Rest Camp is a former Soldiers' Retreat.

Of all the ensuing 24 hours' activities, from vodka-fuelled celebrations to a forest walk and a delicious Horhog barbecue lunch on the following day, a speech by a director - which I had not fully grasped on Friday night - and which was recounted in English by Ariunaa on Saturday - most impressed me. All my bewilderment about Mongolian men and alcohol was called up when the director frankly recounted his personal history in parallel with the formation of the college. As a tertiary educated man in his late twenties he had been lost and constantly drunk. When he met his business partner and friend, the enterprise of establishing the college over the last several years had brought purpose to his life and coincided with establishing a family. His second son had been born the previous day and the college was also now building its own premises, with the help of the students and the first graduating cohort from the architecture course.