TIBET ARCHITECTURE

(TIBETAN ARCHITECTURE)
HOA 3 REPORT

PRESENTORS:
FAJILAN , ABRAHAM A.
ANTONIO , RAMVIC D.G.
CLARETE , ANNE GEREMIA F.
INFLUENCES
GEOGRAPHICAL:

- The geography of tibet consists of the high

mountains, lakes and rivers lying between
central, east and south asia. Traditionally,
western (european and american) sources have
regarded tibet as being in central asia, though
today's maps show a trend toward considering all
of modern china, including tibet, to be part of east
asia.Tibet is often called "the roof of the world,"
comprising table-lands averaging over 4,950
metres above the sea with peaks at 6,000 to 7,500
m, including mount everest, on the border with
nepal.

- Bordered on the north and the east by China, to

the south by India , Nepal and Bhutan , and on the
west by India.
- Highest country in the world , lying at the heart of
Himalayas.

- Very Thinly populated, inhabited areas generally

centred upon monastic settlements, almost exclusively
in the south.
GEOLOGICAL:

-It is the highest plateau in the world, with an average

altitude 4,500 meters. Tibet Plateau has many firsts as
following: It has the highest mountains in the world Mt.
Qomolangma 8,850 meters.
- It has numerous glaciers and originations of many
important rivers are here. It has very unique environment
and many unique plateaus.

-Tibet is also one of the regions in the world with the most
gorges. These gorges mainly distribute in the east of the Tibet
Plateau and the south outlying areas, culminated by the
Yarlung Zangbo Great Gorge and East Tibet Three Rivers
Gorges.
-This theory must also explain the high frequency of large
earthquakes and the massive topographic features of Tibet
and surrounding areas.
-Local stone, wood and earth are the basic materials, different
qualities of which were used for different purposes. Slate, for
example, forms the little roofs over doors and windows, while
granite is preferably used for walls.
CLIMATIC:

-This area has a fairly uniform climate: freezing

and windy but dry in winter, and mild or cool in
summer, with considerable variations between
night and day, because of the strong sun's rays of
high altitudes.
-The north is a bit colder than the south.
HISTORY:

-The history of Tibet from 1950 to the present started with

the Chinese People's Liberation Army Invading Tibet in 1950.
In 1951, the Tibetans signed a seventeen-point agreement
reaffirming China's sovereignty over Tibet and providing an
autonomous administration led by Dalai Lama.
-Thomas Heberer, professor of political science and East Asian
studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, wrote:
"No country in the world has ever recognizedthe
independence of Tibet or declared that Tibet is an 'occupied
country'. For allcountries in the world, Tibet is Chinese
territory."
SOCIAL:

-There were three main social groups in Tibet prior to 1959,

namely ordinary laypeople (mi ser in Tibetan), lay nobility
(sger pa), and monks. The ordinary layperson could be further
classified as a peasant farmer (shing-pa) or nomadic
pastoralist (trokpa).

RELIGION:

-Bön is the ancient religion of Tibet, but nowadays the major

influence is Tibetan Buddhism, a distinctive form of
Mahayana and Vajrayana, which was introduced into Tibet
from the SanskritBuddhist tradition of northern India.
ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS:
PLAN:

-The historic core of the jokhang plan is laid out to a square

plan.
EARLY PHASE -The entrance faces west, originally open.
-Lined with seven rooms or niches on each side (except on the
entrance side : six rooms and the entrance space)
-Roofed rooms in front of the chapels are supported by rows of
eight wooden pillars.

DEVELOPED PHASE
WALLS:

-Granite is preferably used for walls.

-One of the most characteristic features of traditional Tibetan
architecture is the battered wall.
-The inward-sloping walls also provide extra stability in case
of tremors. The batter is created by the reduction in thickness
from the ground floor wall to the top floor wall, with the
inside wall remaining vertical.
-The walls on the ground floor, usually built from stone on
shallow stone foundations, are extremely thick, often more
than a metre. The walls get thinner and lighter towards the
top of the building.

-The wall core is filled with stone rubble and then rammed
with mud, straw and other insulating materials.
-The masonry deserves special mention. Courses of large
rectangular stones, roughly of equal size, are laid between
layers of small flat stones. This technique, known as galetted
rubble, gives the walls a greater flexibility in case of tremors
and therefore adds to the stability of a house.
OPENINGS (DOORS & WINDOWS):

-They are mostly brightly colored,

-Traditionally such windows would have been made of
a wooden grill with an outer covering of boards to be
closed when foul weather threatened.
-In the present day glass is commonly used. The
results are below; I put what I thought were the
prettiest examples at full scale.
-Windows are usually small because the walls are so
heavy that large openings would make the structure
weak and unstable.
ROOFS:

-Flat roofs are used in most parts of the central and western
Tibetan plateau where rainfall is slight; however in the
eastern Tibetan plateau where summer rains are heavier,
sloping roofs, covered either in slate, shingles, or
(increasingly) ceramic tile, are popular in some regions.
COLUMNS:

-Columns are placed with careful attention paid to the

distance between the columns.
-Wood timber has been used in a number of ways in the
traditional buildings
-The symbolic importance of the timber frame structure is
reinforced by the use of numerology, which is prevalent in
Tibetan Buddhist teachings, in the design of the structure.
Particularly significant is the number three, which represents
the three levels of existence, according to Tibetan Buddhist
philosophy, as well as the triad of the Buddhist religious
order: the teacher (the Buddha), the teachings (the Dharma)
and the religious community (the Sangha).
-The column and capital are made up of three wooden
members, with the column supporting a capital made up of
two pieces, of which the first piece, called the shu-chung,
supports the second and top piece, called the shu-chen.
ORNAMENTS, DECORATIONS & MOTIFS :

-The beam ends facing the Kyil-khor-ting on the ground and

second floors are carved in the shape of crouching male lions,
except for one on the upper western side carved as a human
face.
-These Lions figures exemplify an ancient building tradition
of early pan-indan Buddhist civilizations.
ARCHITECTURAL EXAMPLES:

-In 641, after marrying Princess Wencheng,

Songtsen Gampo decided to build a grand
palace to accommodate her and let his
descendants remember the event. The
monastery-like palace, reclining against and
capping Red Hill, was the religious and
political center of old Tibet and the winter
palace of Dalai Lamas.

-Potala is composed of White Palace and Red

Palace. The former is for secular use while
the later is for religious. The Potala Palace
was inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage
Site in 1994 under "Historic Ensemble of the
Potala Palace, Lhasa" the pano was taken in
The White Palace 's east garden.

THE WHITE PALACE OF THE POTALA

in Lhasa , Tibet
 -founded in 1447 by the 1st Dalai Lama, is a historic and
culturally important monastery in Shigatse, the second-
largest city in Tibet.

-Located on a hill in the center of the city, the full name

in Tibetan of the monastery means "all fortune and
happiness gathered here" or "heap of glory".

TASHILHUNPO MONASTERY
in Shigatse , Tibet
 -is the main monastery in the Nyangchu river valley
in Gyantse, Gyantse County, Shigatse Prefecture, Tibet.

-The monastery precinct is a complex of structures

which, apart from the Tsuklakhang Monastery, also
includes its Kumbum, believed to be the largest such
structure in Tibet, that is most notable for
its 108 chapels in its several floors and the old Dzong or
fort.

PALCHO MONASTERY
in Gyantse , Tibet
THE END