First International Bamboo Architecture Biennale

A small village in Baoxi China is celebrating bamboo as a construction material, the first International Bamboo Architecture Biennale. The agricultural mountain village is located 12 hours from Shanghai and is now home to these incredible structures designed by twelve international architects. The below images, shot by photographer Julien Lanoo, give an essence at how the bamboo buildings blend into the community as permanent structures. For centuries, bamboo was used in these rural communities in many different ways. A construction material with many qualities, it has or is disappearing quickly on the Chinese mainland in favor of concrete. The fast and vast expansion of new Chinese cities overruled many traditional ways of building.

In its place, the Bamboo Biennale demonstrates that contemporary architecture and traditional materials are not mutually exclusive. Among the buildings are a youth hostel, ceramics museum, and bamboo bridge. This contemporary cluster of architecture is an innovative way to renew the village, giving something back as well as adding value in the form of new tourist destinations.

This engagement with the community and integration of sustainable materials is part of what drew Lanoo to the site.  However, after the Biennale, this will become a visitor’s center, hotel and lodge and learning center, will give a new lifeline for the village, attracting outsiders, for its peace and quiet, and its representation of the roots of Chinese culture and the importance and beauty of bamboo. Within these photo series, my main goal was to reflect this context. Moreover, the incorporation within this valley landscape and the link to its community that embraced it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dasht-e-Kavir Desert, Iran

The Dasht-e Kavir, is one of two deserts dominating the region's landscape, is a mix of sand and salt as blinding in its whiteness as it is deafening in its silence. Dasht-e Kavir, is also known as “Kavir-e Namak” and “Great Salt Desert”, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau, around 300 kilometers east-southeast of Tehran. Dasht-e-Kavir desert is approximately 800 kilometers long and 320 kilometers wide, and composed of mud and salt marshes. Millions of years ago, this region was occupied by a salt-rich ocean that covers a small piece of continent in what is now central Iran. As the time passes, the ocean gets dried up, it left behind a layer of salt as much as 6 to 7 kilometers thick.

Therefore, over the time, the layer of salt was buried under a thick layer of mud; however salt has a fairly low density lower than the layer of mud and rocks underneath which the salt layer lay. So it taking place pushing up through the overlying sediment and finally, over millions of years, the salt broke through and formed domes. The salt domes of Dasht-e Kavir are probably some of the best examples of this geological marvel. Thus, geologists have recognized about 50 large salt domes in this region. Some of the domes have been eroded away by wind and rain exposing its cross-section.

However, the desert climate is arid and receives little rain and snow each year, but the surrounding mountains on all side, provide plenty of runoff to create vast seasonal lakes, marshlands and playas. Temperatures can reach 50 °C in summer, and the average temperature in January is 22 °C. Though it looks like a firm surface, the salt crust is only a few inches thick, below which lies soft grease-like mud the Iranians called “Charbeh” that is really difficult to get out of if one were to get stuck. Due to arduous travelling to Dasht-e Kavir, it is very dangerous. The soil is sterile and not appropriate for cultivation. In summer the hot temperatures cause extreme vaporization, which leaves the marshes and mud grounds with large crusts of salt. Heavy storms frequently occur and they can cause sand hills reaching up to 40 m in height. Some parts of Dasht- e Kavir have a more steppe-like appearance.

Dasht-e-Kavir desert is almost uninhabited and only partly explored. Wild sheep, camels, goats and Persian leopards also live in the mountainous areas. Hence, human settling is restricted to scattered oases, where wind-blocking housing constructions are raised to deal with the tough weather conditions. Some live in the hills and the surrounding mountains. Against the odds, oases exist within these desolate environs, home to villages that are sustained by the wells of sweet water that have been part of desert mythology for centuries. Vegetation in the Dasht-e Kavir is adapted to common plant species like shrubs and grasses can only be found in some valleys and on mountain tops. So, the most widespread plant is mugwort. The Persian ground jay is a bird species living in some parts of the desert plateaus, along with Houbara bustards, Persian gazelles, camel, goats, leopards, larks and sandgrouses.

Moreover night life brings on wild cats, wolves, foxes, and other carnivores, the Persian onager and Asiatic cheetah can be seen. Lizards and snakes live in different places in the central plateau. The extreme heat and storms in Dasht-e Kavir cause extensive erosion, which makes it almost impossible to cultivate any lands almost uninhabited and knows little exploitation. Camel and sheep breeding and agriculture are the sources of living to the few people living on its soil. For irrigation, Iranians developed a sophisticated system of water-wells known as qanats. These are still in use, and modern globally used water-revenue systems are based on their techniques.

Amazing Limestone Pavements of Orton Fells

The Orton Fells, located to the east of Lake District, in Cumbria County, in England. This is an area of amazing geology, bounded by the small villages of Orton, Great Asby, Little Asby, Crosby Ravensworth and Crosby Garret. This area contains some of the most captivating limestone outcrops, scars and pavements in Great Britain. The amazing limestone pavements are areas of flat, uncovered and weathered limestone rock surfaces. However, abrasion by glaciers as well as natural weathering of the limestone has formed deep fissures, which has broken the pavement into blocks that seems as if they were sculpted by human hands. Therefore, most of pavements were damaged by mining over the centuries. The Great Asby Scar, near the village of Great Asby, and Orton Scars, near Orton, comprise some of the best enduring examples in Britain. The limestone rocks in these pavements were created during the Carboniferous era some 350 million years ago. In the ancient times, this region was under the sea, hence walking across the limestone pavement you can still find fossils of the ancient corals, shelly creatures and sea lilies from which the rock is made.

This is the most extensive area of pavements in the UK outside the Ingleborough area in Yorkshire.  Most of the landscape is protected by both Site of Special Scientific Interest and candidate, and it is Special area of Conservation designations because of its international importance. Moreover, during the last ice age, the limestone was enclosed by an ice sheet several hundreds of meters thick that scarred the limestone bedrock. So, when the ice melted, it left sediment on top of the rock which was colonized by trees and plants as the weather conditions warmed. Further, water running through the soil found softness in the rocks that were then eroded away becoming deep fissures. The water also left channels and hollows in the rock, which were bare as the soil was washed away over thousands of years. Thus, these runnels and pits now make up the lovely and complex patterns that can be seen on the Orton Fells pavements. The deep fissures are home to a number of plants and ferns where they remain protected from grazing animals and the drying effect of the wind. Moreover, many invertebrates, including spiders also use the fissures of the limestone pavement to string their webs across to catch insects.

The birdlife found on the Orton Fells is typical of upland pastureland.  Meadow pipits and wheatears breed on the grassland surrounding the pavements with wrens actually nesting among the limestone outcrops.  Thus, buzzards, ravens and kestrels are seen often, as are curlews, golden plover and lapwings.  Moreover, skylarks can be heard singing during the spring and summer months. There are few mammals found on the pavement.  Rabbits are the only animals you are likely to see during the day, but foxes, stoats and moles are all known to use the area. The pavements are home to many invertebrates, including spiders that use the grikes of the limestone pavement to string their webs across to catch insects.

Canada’s Smoking Hills

The smoking hills are well believed to have been burning for centuries, and will do so for many years to come. Most people perceive the Arctic as a clean, pristine environment, but the Smoking Hills, located 350 km east of the Mackenzie Delta, are a natural source of air pollution.  In 1850, British Captain Robert McClure was sent on an expedition aboard the Investigator to the Arctic to pursuit for the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin who had departed England 5 years earlier. It was the second exploration party who went searching for the 129-crew Arctic exploration team, and one of several dozens that were to follow for the next four decades.

Therefore, the Investigator sailed north through the Pacific and entered the Arctic Ocean by way of Bering Strait, sailing eastward past Point Barrow, Alaska to in due course link up with another British expedition from the north-west. When McClure’s exploration party reached the mouth of the river Horton on Beaufort Sea near Cape Bathurst in Canada's Northwest Territories, he observed smoke in the distance. He is suspecting the smokes could be coming from campfires, maybe from Franklin, McClure at once sent a search party to investigate. The party found not flames from Franklin's campfires, but thick columns of smoke emerging from vents in the ground. The sailors get back with a sample of the smoldering rock, and set it down on McClure's desk it burned a hole in the wood.

He thought that rocks to be volcanic, but the fact was something else. The mountains contains actually a large deposits of sulphur-rich lignite (brown coal) which ignite instinctively when the hills erode and the mineral veins are exposed to the air. The fumes they give off comprise sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid and steam, all of which has acidified the surrounding shallow pools making a pocket of distinguishing acidic biota, in contrast to the typically Arctic biota in adjacent alkaline ponds. Though the soil of the region contains much limestone, the buffer effect has totally disappeared. The adjacent community, “Paulatuk or traditionally spelt Place of Coal”, which is about 105 km east, is named in recognition of the coal found in the area. Source: Charismaticplanet.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mysterious Caves of Mustang, Nepal

Mustang Caves or Sky Caves of Nepal are a collection of some 10,000 man-made caves dug into the sides of valleys in the Mustang District of Nepal. The Kingdom of Mustang is one of the most isolated and remote region of Nepalese Himalaya, is just bordering to the Tibetan Plateau. The caves lie on the steep valley walls near the Kali Gandaki River in Upper Mustang. The region was once an independent Buddhist kingdom, however Mustang was taken over by Nepal at the end of the 18th century. However, retained its status as a separate principality until the 1950's when the area was more closely consolidated into Nepal. The Kingdom of Mustang has very sensitive border location; Mustang was off-limits to foreigners until 1992. The relative isolation of the region from the outside world has helped out Mustang preserve its ancient culture which is more closely tied to Tibet than to Nepal. From several decades research groups have constant investigate the purpose of these caves, but no one has yet understood who built the caves and why were they built. Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-colored cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.

These man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries. Therefore, the landscape is also unlike anything that is to be found anywhere else in Nepal deep gorges carved by the Kali Gandaki River, and oddly sculptured rock formations. The cliffs’ faces are pitted with a likely 10,000 ancient cave dwellings, though some of which are perched more than 150 feet above the valley floor. No one knows who dug them, or how people even scaled the near vertical rock face to access them. Moreover, many of the caves appear almost unmanageable to reach even to experienced climbers. Hence, most of the caves are now unoccupied, but some signs showing thedomestic habitation hearths, grain-storage bins, and sleeping spaces. Furthermore, some caves were apparently used as burial chambers, and lot of dozen bodies that were found in these caves were all over 2,000 years old. They bodies are lay on wooden beds and decorated with copper jewelry and glass beads. So far, explorers have found ancient Buddhist decorative art and paintings, manuscripts and pottery, several 600-year-old human skeletons and recovered reams of precious manuscripts, some with small paintings known as illuminations, which contain a mix of writings from Buddhism and Bon.

These caves are hundred meter high from the ground, in one of the many natural pillar like sandstone structures. A winding footpath climbs all the way from the bottom of the valley. No documentation pertaining to this mysterious gompa or monastery has been found, but the wall paintings appear to be having been made in the 14th century or even earlier. Moreover, in the other caves, skeletons dating from the 3rd to the 8th centuries, before Buddhism came to Mustang, had cut marks on the bones that may have been inflicted during the practice of sky burial, where the body’s flesh is sliced into small pieces and left to be eaten by vultures. Thus, sky burial is still practiced in numerous remote regions in the Himalaya. Archeologists are certain of that the caves in Mustang were used in three general periods. These caves were first used almost 3,000 years ago as burial chambers, and after that around 1,000 years ago, they became primarily living quarters, maybe to escape battles and intruders into the valley. Lastly, by the 1400s, most people had moved into traditional villages and the caves became places of meditation. Some of these caves were turned into monasteries such as the Luri Gompa, the Chungsi Cave monastery and the Nyiphuk Cave Monastery, all of which were built around and inside the caves. This is the place that has so many stories, so much more than even really imagine in lifetime. Climbing into the sky caves was no easy feat; the rock was unstable and posed a real danger, in fact so dangerous.  It's dangerous it's loose rock its scary, because everything is loose & crumbling because there are consequences and big consequences.