Studio Nyandak is a New York City-based multidisciplinary design firm led by its founding principal Tenzin Nyandak, PE, RA. We work collaboratively with public agencies, cultural institutions, local community leaders, entrepreneurs, developers, builders, and private clients in New York City and around the world to create places that are deeply engaged with social, cultural, environmental and community concerns.

Upper Tibetan Children’s Village School Renovations, India

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.

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Midtown Loft Renovation

Nyandak is working closely with the owners to redesign the loft apartment that occupies the full floor. Our design aims to brighten and soften the space by using natural materials, nuanced textures and warmer color palette. Our kitchen design will make the space more functional for day-to-day use by improving the access and storage. We provided valuable guidance to the client in navigating the review processes and code consultation. 

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West Village Brownstone

Studio Nyandak is working on the landmarked brownstone located in the Greenwich Village Historic District. We completed the condition assessment of the exterior walls and the chimney and developed a renovation scope that addresses the new homeowner’s pressing needs as well as the long term integrity of the building. Our multidisciplinary approach to this project resulted in repair and maintenance program which combined our knowledge in architectural design, historic preservation and preservation engineering. 

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California Pavilion with cable Bridge

Studio Nyandak collaborated with the structural engineer Paul Laroque, PE to design a structural system for a small wooden pavilion in the woods which is connected to the unpaved road by a steel cable bridge. The structural design uses of-the-shelf connection components to achieve simplicity in construction and procurement. The pavilion is located in town of Healdsburg in Northern California. The bridge was designed to provide a slight swaying and the structural system was designed to disappear in the surrounding environment. 

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Kadhampa Chorten Restoration in Zanskar

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.

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Reinforced Masonry Vaulted Walkway, India

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.

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Spiti Valley Rammed Earth Retreat, India

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.

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