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Related publications


BOOK by Randolph Langenbach published in 2009 by UNESCO-New Delhi, India

Don't Tear It Down! 
Preserving the Earthquake Resistant Vernacular Architecture of Kashmir

150 pages of text and over 200 photographs.

For more information, see:
www.traditional-is-modern.net


Chapter 12: "The Earthquake Resistant Vernacular Architecture of the Himalayas,"

in Seismic retrofitting: Learning from Vernacular Architecture.  Edited by: Professors Mariana R. Correia, Paulo B. Lourenco, and Humberto Varum (Portugal). Published by CRC Press/Balkema,The Netherlands (Taylor & Francis Group),
2015.

NOTE: This book chapter was written during the first 4 weeks following the 1st Nepal Earthquake 2015 well before Langenbach's trip to Nepal in August 2015.


Structural Conservation: Philosophical Rules of Thumb,”

unpublished report for the Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust, Kathmandu, Nepal, June,
2000.


Earthquake Resistant Traditional Construction’ is Not an Oxymoron:
The Resilience of Timber and Masonry Structures in the Himalayan Region and Beyond, and its Relevance to Heritage Preservation in Bhutan
,

The Royal Government of Bhutan's International Conference on Disaster Management and Cultural Heritage: “Living in Harmony with the Four Elements"
Proceedings, Thimpu, Bhutan, 12-14-December 2010.


Rubble Stone Walls and Reinforced Concrete Frames:
Heritage Structures Reveal the Hidden Truth about Risk and Resilience during the Haiti Earthquake,

ICOMOS, ISCARSAH (International Scientific Committee on the Analysis and Restoration of Structures of Architectural Heritage),Issue #5. 2014

 

Natural Building Colloquium Lecture
by
Randolph Langenbach

38 minute video

This lecture was delivered on the 21st of October, 2015.  This 38 minute video is excerpted from a longer presentation, but it includes many more images.  This talk is focused on the reconstruction of a rubble stone house in rural Nepal with an earthquake collapse prevention technology originated by Langenbach he has named "Gabion Bands" utilizing wire mesh.  It also includes historical and technical background of earthquake-resistant traditional construction of timber and masonry that has led to the “Gabion Bands” idea.

Please go to http://www.traditional-is-modern.net/nepal.html for more information about this project and for a technical report by Randolph Langenbach on the Gabion Bands technology. 


This YouTube video is in full 1080HD. 
To set the resolution on your monitor click on the gear symbol beneath the screen.
(If the video stops and starts, then choose a lower resolution.)


The video and audio recording of the lecture was filmed by French filmmakers Chloé Deleforge and Olivier Mitsieno of http://eco-logis.org and the speaker thanks them for providing their video to Langenbach so that it could be edited and combined with photographs and videos taken by Langenbach at the Nepal building site for this showing.

The “Gabion Band” rubble stone house construction project was organized by Randolph Langenbach together with filmmakers Liesl Clark and Jake Norton of Sky Door Films for a film for PBS NOVA, produced by WGBH Boston.  The Speaker wishes to thank Sky Door Films and WGBH Boston for the opportunity to demonstrate the “Gabion Band” concept in an actual rural Nepal construction project.  The PBS NOVA show is tentatively scheduled for early 2016.  (Only one of the still photographs and none of the videos shown in this movie were by Sky Door, as all of their material is dedicated for the NOVA program.)  He also thanks Scott MacLennan of the Mountain Fund NGO for hosting the entire team at the village of Mankhu for the duration of the construction and filming, and Lakpa Sherpa and Dipendra Gautam of Nepal for volunteering their assistance on the project.   

the Natural Building Colloquium was hosted at the Black Range Lodge, Kingston, New Mexico, by Catherine Wanek, President and Founder of Builders Without Borders.  Now in its 20th year, the Natural Building Colloquium is an annual gathering of designers, builders and advocates “who share a concern for our earth, through creating sustainable shelter and empowering people to live within their personal and planetary means.”  Builders Without Borders (http://builderswithoutborders.org/) is an “international network of ecological builders who advocate the use of straw, earth and other local, affordable materials in construction.”

© Randolph Langenbach, 2012


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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M-Arch (Harvard), Dipl.Conservation (York, England)


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