On my first day, the public relations and administrative officer of Panyaden School, Ning toured me inside the school campus. But like with the respite of the bamboo schools I have visited, I just couldn't give up my eyes from glowing and my lips from saying wow. The green schools are really awesome and breath-taking.
The earth rammed walls and floors of Panyaden make the school more interesting and unusually beautiful. These walls and floors which were made from a rammed mixture of sand, rice husks and corn are scientifically proven strong and disaster-resilient. "The procedures of making earth rammed walls and floors are longer and harder than cements and bricks, but it's worth the exertion," says Ning. She added that the school was conceived by the couple Markus Roselieb and Detcha Tiengkate to provide young children with an ambience that is peaceful and close to nature and to demonstrate how to be an environmentally mindful life with a low carbon footprint.
On my second day, I met with the designer and founder of the Panyaden school, Markus Roselieb. He is really a wizard and an awesome man. I learned that aside from their vision of creating green mindfulness by using clay, stones and bamboo as the main construction materials, the school was Markus' gift of love to his wife Detcha Tiengkate who is also passionate with eco-sustainable living.
Markus personally walked me around his bamboo and earth factory. He showed me how bamboo are treated with natural borax salt for 10days and how they store the bamboo for 4 moths before they fully use it as construction materials. His men demonstrated how they drill the giant bamboo with special long drillers and the small ones with small drillers as different types of bamboo require different ways of drilling and handling.
He also pointed out how they join the bamboo together as they never use metal nails or bolts for their construction. He reminded me of banking of the traditional sciences and wisdom of the old in terms of selecting bamboo, designing and architecture as they are more in touched with the elements of the earth. Moreover, he patiently explained the detailed processes and the dissimilar types of rammed earth walls and floors they are creating and how stiff and uncompromising they are like stones. He cautioned me on the need to assure a strong base of the earth walls and then they are a disaster resilient.
Markus' passion and love for modern earth and bamboo architecture is remarkably awesome and inspiring. As we walked around the factory, he humbly pointed out the bamboo houses of the 60 families working with him and shared me their tales. All his workers are indigenous families living up North of Chiangmai in the border of Cambodia and Thailand and are confronted with problems on citizenship and societal acceptance. To assist them, Markus gave them simple bamboo houses and they are likewise provided with free water, electricity and daily meals aside from the monthly income they are getting.
I was very delighted that at the conclusion of my GIST travel in Chaingmai, I discovered more and specific details on bamboo treatment and bamboo architecture, but on the other hand, taking dozens of details made me uneasy.
I was very delighted that at the end of my GIST travel in Chaingmai, I learned more and specific details on bamboo treatment and bamboo architecture, but on the other hand, getting tons of details made me anxious.
I am pleased that I learned more and specific details on bamboo treatment and bamboo architecture but on the other hand, knowing the details made me uneasy. I was anxious about the daunting details and determination a bamboo school requires. My anxiety made me ask Markus on his source of inspiration and passion and I will forever think of his philosophy.
"We use natural materials because they simply make more sense for the individual as well as the rest of the world. They provide great heat/cold insulation, noise insulation, they last long, they create a warm room feeling. At the same time we embrace any useful progress and knowledge that mankind has produced over the years. Concrete is the best foundation material, modern tools are a joy to work with, but a creative human mind and skilled hands cannot be replaced by modern technology," Markus Roselieb.
Panyaden School is truly an exceptional legacy from an exceptional man and a great inspiration to look upon.