Dolpo Home

Dolpo Home (चौथौ घर), The 4th House, Raniban, Ichangunarayan

The site was located on the foothills of Nagarjun/Jamacho/Langdi Lungchen Hills. The land area of (0-5-2-0) is 2.7 meters below the 6meter wide road. I made numerous site visits, developed conceptual sketches and discussed with the client to get an idea of how building would come out in this vicinity and can also enhance streetscape. Neighboring areas were rice fields, kindergarten school and 3 row old houses. The area got its name “tin ghare” from 3 houses belonging to Tamang people, so I named this project as the 4th House. The design took place right in the beginning of covid-19. The 3 and half storey building has a semi-basement floor for storage purpose currently rented by students, road level floor has a garage, two shutters for commercial purposes. The first and second floor are dedicated for a family of 5 members. The roof terrace provides views to the Swayambhu while the lower terrace provides sun bath space, children’s play area, outdoor dining and gathering space. The main theme of the design was functionality while keeping cultural elements of the Himalayan region where the client belongs to. Some of the few important part of the architect’s role was to guide the client not only in spatial requirement formulation but also in facilitation of construction, supervision, material selection, cost estimation and complicated 3-tiered building permit process.