Barpak Settlement Planning

Site Study and Analysis for Settlement Planning in
earthquake hit area

 Barpak lies in Sulikot Gaunpalika,
Gorkha District
 Barpak Bazar covers portion of Wards 1
and 2 of Sulikot Gaunpalika and Wards
3, 4, 6, 8 and 9 of former Barpak VDC.
 It is said to be largest rural settlement
of Nepal

 Accessible by road network
and trail route
 Aabukhaireni – 12 kilo –
Chhepetar – Baluwa –
Rangrung – Mandre – Barpak
 Used to be famous as Stopover
village in route to Manasulu
Conservation Area

 Barpak is a traditional hilly
settlement
 It is believed to be largest rural
settlement of the country
 Ghale, Gurungs and few Dalits are
inhabitants of the village
 Before earthquake, all households
looked uniform
 Earthquake has destroyed the
settlement and now looks distorted.

 Population and Population Density
 Total – 6309
 Male – 3256
 Female – 3055
 Total Household – 989
 Population in main market area – 4659 (Ward no. 3,4,6,7,8,9)
Source:VDC Profile,2068

 90% household have access to tap water

 No central grid NEA Grid
 1 KW Micro Hydro in Mandre operated privately- Barpak
Gramin Bidhutikaran Private Limited on Ghatte Khola
 60W hydropower was in function before that, but destroyed by
landslide
 Solar lighting is also in use
 Hydropower was out of function up to 1 year after the
earthquake

 Due to social practice, people do not prefer to have toilets
inside building

 Main source of economy are Agriculture,Tourism and foreign
employment
 Popular as tourist destination as lies in trek route to Manaslu
 Unique settlement before earthquake also attracted tourists
 Home stay run by Seven Sisters
 Agriculture, Animal and Poultry Farming are in practice
 Practice of going in foreign employment and army is popular

61.83%
15.21%
9.55%
6.93%
5.67%
0.44% 0.26% 0.11%
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 The architecture has been
developed according to hill
slope
 Stone masonry buildings
contributed to determine
uniform settlement pattern in
the past
 After the earthquake,
temporary shelters and RCC
building have had destroyed
beauty of settlement

 Houses are faced towards road, parallel to
the roads
 They used to be stone masonry with slate
roof, now many temporary structures are
present
 Many have stone-paved shared open space
in front of houses, used for social activities
 There is small porch in front of house, with
door almost in middle of the house.There
is open kitchen through the door. Kitchen is
also used as semi private space, as a living
space.

 Chulo is present towards back in middle of
kitchen. Beside this is a small space for
puja and a basket above it.The basket is
used to dry grains and other materials
 The position of chulo is most important in
Ghale house
 Opposite to kitchen is store and
workspace, in some cases used as
bedroom
 One side of the kitchen hosts stairs to go to
upper floor. Upper floor has storage (for
winter) and bedrooms

 The walls used to be 24” thick with dry
stone masonry.
 Slates were used in roof
 For post and structural support on critical
areas, use of timber posts have been done
Drawbacks:
 Corner stones were not used properly
 Timber post were placed just above stones
on plinth
 Stones were placed in such a way that
slipping of stones couldn’t be avoided

Tin Dhara
 Tin dhara located in middle of settlement,
with three old deities above each dhara
 Temple above the dhara is relatively
newer.
 Locals use this tin dhara to wash sheep’s
wool

Mani Dandha Chautra
 It is used as place for public gathering
and social activity
 It is junction of all major roads in the
village
 The chautara experiences high social
vibrancy

Study of the disaster impact in Barpak

 The earthquake damage all the
buildings with only 3 RCC
framed buildings left undamaged
 Local power plant got
dysfunctional for a year and
generators were used after few
months
 Relief reached Barpak only on
next day

 People are giving of farming to work
as labours in construction
 Reconstruction works are going on at
very slow pace, with those who can
afford only able to reconstruct
 Lack of proper technical supervision
and guidance
 Change of building typologies and
settlement pattern, expansion of
roads
 Change in lifestyle of people

 Various organizations having
attempted intervention in the
region
 Lionel Messi Foundation-
Health Post
 JICA- Ward office Building
 Care Nepal- Drinking water
management
 DUDBC prototypes seems to
have failed as locals are not
adopting the proposed
prototypes

Study of various aspects of settlement of Barpak
village

 Located at Northern Part of Gorkha District
 At altitude of 1900m (6200 ft) above sea level and approx. 45
km from Gorkha Bazar
 The settlement has over 1200 households
 15000 live in the area
 Except in rainy season, bus runs from Kathamndu to Barpak
 Ghale, Gurungs are major inhabitants of the area with small
number of Kami, Damai and Sunar

TEMPERATURE & RAINFALL DATA
climate-data.org

 Road network from Abu Khaireni – 12 kilo
– Baluwa –Rangrung – Mandre – Barapak
 Local Bir Bahadur Ghale built private
hydropower of 60W which was later
upgraded to 1 KW. It provides continuous
electricity to village
 Communication is provided by NTC and
Ncell mobile networks andY-max and
Dish Home Dongle internet
 Drainage is limited to only few
households.Water supply was upgraded
by Care Nepal
 Sewer lines are not properly constructed
and waste are disposed off to river

 Village has 1069 household
 Ghale, Gurungs and few socially backward groups are
inhabitants of the village
 There are organizations such as NawaYuwa Club, Seven sisters,
Local cooperatives, and consumers groups active in the village
 Festivals such as Tamu Loshar, Shrawan and Maghe Sankranti,
Baisakh Prunima, Dashain and Tihar are celebrated
 Various places like Kot Mandir,Tindhara, Gumba, Chihan
Dandha, Singapourey Chautara, Mani dadha Chautara are
significant in the settlement

 Farming of food crops in major occupation of people.
 Faming is not sufficient for income generation but generally
sufficient to meet food need. After earthquake, import of foods
has increased.
 Tourism is also popular as it is popular tourist destination.
There are numerous hotels and facility of home stay is also
provided in the village through initiation by Seven Sisters.
 Trend of livestock farming has also been on decline.
 People are currently involved in reconstruction as labours for
construction.
 Many people are involved in foreign employment

 Resources in and around Barpak have been almost evenly
distributed among residents
 Forest Consumers Group issues pass to the forest for timbers
and various purposes.
 Neighbouring hills are open for grazing
 Irrigation facility is not present in the village
 Water resources of the village seems sustainable.Tap water has
reached all household after aid from Care Nepal
 It is free of pollution of air, however, waste are disposed off to
rivers making it polluted
 The village more or less has environmental sustainability

Study of various aspects of settlement in Ward 6 of
Barpak VDC

 The ward has area of 37 ropanies with population of 210 and 61
households
 The building of this ward are of 4 types:
 Low strength masonry: 31
 Wood, bamboo and CGI: 17
 RCC frame: 12
 Stone masonry with cement mortar: 4
 Planning has evolved according to relative position of plots to
the access road. Most of houses are facing road.

 Almost all the houses have
access to the main vehicular
road.
 After the earthquake houses
have left setback widening road
to average 3m.
 All household has electricity
through local hydropower
 New sewer line is in
construction

 The open spaces present are:
 Tin Dhara: maintained by nawa yuwa club
 Manidandha Chautara
 Nawa yuwa Club- ward 6 is active in the area

 There are almost no agricultural lands on the ward. Most of the
plots (61 out of 85) are covered in houses
 There is limited open space as settlement in household is very
compact
 The water reservoir is located in nearby ward
 Sewer lines running through some households are disposed in
river

Homogenous community
Easy availability of materials like stone and
timber.
Great potential for rural and agricultural
tourism
Potential for Earthquake tourism.
Presence of gentle slope utilized for proper
planning.
Located in the center of Barpak settlement
with services available locally
North facing slope causing less exposure to
sun
Bad condition of main access road to Barpak,
difficulty in transportation of construction
materials.
Limited possibility of settlement expansion.
Scarce human resources.
Improper and unmanaged infrastructure
Improper restructuring policies leads to
misunderstanding
Topographic amplification of earthquake
because of settlement location.
Lower literacy rate and small no. of active
population might hinder the restructuring
attempt of Barpak village.
Ignorance of locals and improper
implementation of policy might affect the
complete restructuring programme.
Geographic Location of Barpak settlement
might negatively affect the implementation
phase.
To create people centric reclustering
approach for earthquake affected settlement
of Barpak.
With a great potential for Homestay and
Earthquake as well as Rural Tourism, can lead
to economic revitalization hence, can be
developed as a strategy for rural
development.
To induce earthquake related awareness in
public and re-establish the faith in their
vernacular building materials and
construction technology.
S W
0T

 Natural growth, Development
of organism, formation of
landforms

 Natural growth, Development
of organism, formation of
landforms
 Growth of existing linear
pattern of Barpak village

 Natural growth,
Development of organism,
formation of landforms
 Enhancing terrace
settlement planning

 Natural growth,
Development of organism,
formation of landforms
 Enhancing terrace
settlement planning
 Intersection of streets
developing nodes

 Pockets of open spaces
 Land division along the
terrace

 Pockets of open spaces
 Land division along the
terrace
 Building should be placed
along the contours
 Increase the stability of the
structure and to cut down the
cost on the site development

• Plots of area
below the 60 sq.
m were added up
to from a single
new plot during
reconfiguration

• The plots of area
between 60 sq. m
to 100 sq. m were
taken under one
category.The
depth was fixed to
be 8m and the
widths were
calculated
accordingly

between 100 sq.
m. to 160 sq. m.
were taken under
one category.The
depth of the plot
was fixed to be
10m and the
widths were
calculated
accordingly
.

• The plot area
between 160 sq.
m. to 260 sq. m.
were taken under
one category.The
depth of the plot
was fixed to be
12.5 m and the
widths were
calculated
accordingly

above 260 sq. m.
were taken under
one category.The
depth of the plot
was fixed to be 16
m and the widths
were calculated
accordingly

The existing terrain map and road circuits as seen in Google Maps

The horizontal (nearly east-west) roads can be planned as per contour intervals
and the vertical road can be planned with reference to existing road network

1
2
3
4
5
8
7
6
1. Parking
2. Mani dada
3. Dhiki
4. Tin dhara
5. Community hall
6. Pati
7. Parking
8. Rice mill
Open spaces are planned at nodes of intersecting roads

MANI DADA- Chautaro
• Interactives Space
• Focal point
• Cultural activities
• Refreshment

Mill and Chautaro
• Commercial space
• Gathering
• Open playground for
children
• Resting space

Tin Dhara
• Gathering space
• Resting space
• Historical importance

Community Hall & WO
• Community Activities
• Social Interaction
• Training Programs
• Workshops
• Official Works

Dhiki
• Community space
• Open gathering area
• Communal Water tap

• Resting Spaces
• Streets and Alleys

Types, design and estimation of individual building
blocks

Prototypes have
been developed
such that locally
available materials
and traditional
construction
technology has been
promoted.The
proposed models
are expected to
address problems
seen in DUDBC
models and thus can
be constructed by
skilled locals.
Type: A Type: B
Type: C Type: D
MILL OFFICE/HALL

• Expandable house of
48n sq. m. for smaller
plots (~80 sq. m.)
• Family size 4-6
• Ground floor: Pidi,
kitchen, bedroom
and/or storage
• First Floor: Bedrooms
and/or storage space
• Attic above the first
floor
• Stone walls and existing
timber members are
used since it is locally
available
A
FLOOR PLANS

A
FRONT ELEVATION SIDE ELEVATION
SECTION

B
FLOOR PLANS
• House of 70 sq. m. for
medium sized plots (125
– 150 sq. m.)
• Family size 6-8
kitchen, bedrooms
and/or storage, working
area as per requirement
and/or storage space,
Veranda
floor
• Building technology
reflect local vernacular
architecture and
supports lifestyle of
people

B
SECTION

CFLOOR PLAN
• One storey house of
67.5 sq. m. for medium
or large sized plots
(>125 sq. m.)
• Family size 4
kitchen, bedrooms
and/or storage
• Attic above the floor
• Can be afforded by
people of even poor
economic condition
architecture and
people
• Option I: Stone masonry
with mud mortar

CALTERNATE FLOOR PLAN
• One storey house of
67.5 sq. m. for medium
or large sized plots
(>125 sq. m.)
• Family size 4
kitchen, bedrooms
and/or storage
• Attic above the floor
• Can be afforded by
people of even poor
economic condition
architecture and
people
• Option II: Stone
masonry up to sill level
and light timber
structure above

C
SECTION
Option I

C
SECTION
Option II

D
FLOOR PLANS
• House of 72.5 sq. m. for
large sized plots (>150
sq. m.)
• Family size 7-8
• Ground floor: Pidi,large
kitchen, bedrooms
and/or storage as per
the occupants
requirement
and/or storage space,
Veranda
floor
architecture and
people

D
SECTION

• It is integral part of
architecture based rural
community
• Coverage of 80 sq. m.
• Large storage cum
machinery space
• A quarter for mill driver
• Open space is provided
for activities such as
drying grains, husking
etc.
FLOOR PLAN MILL

SECTION
MILL

• Located at centre of the
settlement
• Vernacular building
material and technology
used
• Spread over area of 98
sq. m.
• Semi-open hall and
emergency disaster
response room at
ground floor
• Designed to
accommodate 25-30 for
formal activities and 50-
60 for meetings,
discussions
• Has open space in front
FLOOR PLANS
HALL

SECTION HALL

Barpak Settlement Planning

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