Photo by John Shane
The Gönpa
In January 2017 we started work on the structural renovation and reinforcement of the existing structure at the upper part of the Gar where the Gönpa will be constructed. We have already chosen the firm that will be carrying out the work, we are preparing the contract, and in January work began. We are finishing calculations on the new structure. We have already done this a few times in the past because we made some changes.
The photo of the roof covering for the Gönpa that are being published with this article is the most recent one although it is not the final one. The roof will be in multi-layered solid wood. We have changed the dimensions of the design for sections of the roof, which rather than having a diameter of 6.5 meters will now be 8.5 meters, in order to reduce costs. A bigger dimension will mean using less material.
Then we are trying to simplify the external closing as much as possible. The closed hall will be around 800-850 square meters while the open terrace will be 2,500 square meters with a covered area of around 1,700-1,800 square meters.
We haven’t made the final decision on the material for the roof covering because we have to decide on the skylights, ventilation, etc., after which we will decide on the material.
We will make the foundations bearing in mind the possibility of the most challenging conditions so that, when we have the final version of the project, we will be ready to build the final structure.
So we began working in January and will continue working on the structure through the summer. The structure will actually be the union of the two previous structures. Once this is done, in the autumn we will begin preparations for the roof covering of the Gönpa. We will probably need to year to finish this work so most probably it will be completed in the summer of 2018 if we have sufficient funds.
The Houses
The houses of the Gars at Dzamling Gar are going ahead and since the Christmas retreat all of them have been in use. At the moment we are working on the general management of the houses.
Funding
We have reached the halfway mark in gathering funds for the first part of the project but it is very important for us to go ahead with fundraising.
For further information on the project, people can write to Giovanni Boni [email protected] .
Giovanni Boni, December, 2016
