Studio Nyandak is designing a new middle school science building for the Upper TCV school in Dharamsala, India. The architecture takes cues from Tibetan culture and geography, and uses innovative, sustainable building materials.

Studio Nyandak is working with the abbot of Rato Dratsang in southern India to design a new campus for the monastery. The masterplan includes classrooms, gathering spaces, and a meditation center.

Studio Nyandak is providing pro-bono architectural and structural engineering services for the Upper TCV school in Dharamsala. This involves the renovation and repair of more than a dozen buildings, including staff living quarters, middle school classrooms, an art room, and a meditation center.

Studio Nyandak is providing pro bono architectural design and structural engineering services for the Center for Middle Way Initiative. This rooftop enclosure will function as a multipurpose gathering space for the Dharamsala-based nonprofit.

Studio Nyandak works in partnership with the Central Tibetan Administration Department of Home on urban design, architecture, and structural engineering projects that support the Tibetan community living in exile.

Studio Nyandak recently completed a restoration of Kadampa Chorten, located above Karsha Monastery in Zanskar. The completed restoration project aims to safeguard Kadampa Chorten’s precious sacred artwork and heritage using only vernacular building methods. Studio Nyandak completed this project with assistance from Professor Robert Linrothe, leading scholar of Western Himalayan Buddhist art.

This vaulted masonry pavilion covers a popular thoroughfare for students and teachers at Upper TCV School. The design is derived from a reinforced masonry vault system that can be constructed using a formwork that could be reused for each section. The structure is isolated from the adjacent buildings and the individual vaults are supported by the reinforced concrete beams and flagpole columns. The geometry of the vault was developed using structural form finding and parametric design to minimize the self weight and to maintain optimal seismic behavior.

This project was realized in collaboration with structural engineer Paul Laroque, PE.

Studio Nyandak is working closely with a young local entrepreneur who is passionate about sustainable eco tourism and low-impact building construction. In response to that, we worked on a design for a new retreat which uses local building construction as a reference point. By limiting use of concrete and steel, the building design relies on locally available material such as timber, clay, and stone to maintain thermal insulation and structural integrity.

The building construction takes inspiration from western Himalayan architecture in the form of unreinforced stone masonry, rammed earth walls, timber tie beams, and wooden post and beam structure. The radial orientation maximizes the view of surrounding mountains and the shared rammed earth walls provide the necessary thermal mass. The circular courtyard with covered walkway creates a communal shared space and the strategically placed niches in the rammed earth wall brings in natural light.