Historic preservation
(Place – contextual and aesthetic impact)

Paatis are reminders of a benevolent society who built these small rest houses across the Kathmandu Valley for weary travelers. Today, these urban architectural archetypes remain an essential focal point for their communities, in use as resting, public meeting, and religious celebration spaces. Since the earthquake in 2015, many are in desperate need of repair and revitalization. This project carefully restores the 100-yearold carved wooden columns and religious insets of the central Paati in Thecho, while enveloping it in a new life. The new building pays tribute to traditional Newari architecture through its angles and rhythms of the structure and wood detailing, while treating the concrete water infrastructure as a modern sculpture carved and molded for different uses.

Women’s empowerment 
(People – ethical standards and social inclusion)

Women in Thecho often spend more than 4 hours a day looking for clean drinking water. The municipal system only runs 20 mins in the morning and 30 mins in the evening, and never at a scheduled time. We conducted surveys of all 100 families relying on this intermittent and contaminated water supply to understand their needs and aspirations. By working directly with the Thecho Mahila Jagaran Women’s Saving & Credit Co-operative and the Lumanti Support Group for Shelter (a women led organization), this project strengthens the entrepreneurship opportunities for the women in the village. The Thecho Women’s Co-operative has already created a construction team within the village, a water management cooperative and started conversations about a bottled water based small business enterprise.

Sustainable Water Use and Disaster Preparedness 
(Planet – resource and environmental performance)

Through the architecture of the new building, this project is able to collect rainwater, well water, and contaminated municipal water and filter it through a customized bio-sand filtration system. The water-system is the literal foundation of the new structure, while different water uses pull from different heights, pushing and carving the walls of the main tank. The tank is sculpted so that if there is an earthquake, the drinking water is prioritized through the height of the water level. The plinth ensures that wastewater is recharged back into the ground. By integrating multiple sources of water, and by especially focusing on rainwater harvesting through the shape of the roof, this project becomes a scalable pilot for a region that is struggling for access to clean water every day.