Portland State student project featured at Earth Awards

Ladakh, a mountainous region bordered by Tibet and Kashmir, has highly disputed political borders and is under constant threat of military insurgence. This summer, a non-profit organization led by Sergio Palleroni, associate professor of architecture at Portland State, visited the region’s Druk White Lotus School and held classes in a 172-square-foot tent—constructed out of old military parachutes—known as the Commonwealth Pavilion.

The tent was designed by Palleroni, who is known internationally for his sustainability work in developing countries. This year Palleroni judged the Earth Awards, which recognizes ecologically sustainable projects in fields ranging from art to architecture. 

In the weeks leading up to the awards ceremony, Prince Charles of England called for submissions of sustainable pavilions that represented cohesiveness within communities to be displayed at his London home. Palleroni took the challenge to Ladakh, where a crew of American students were working to improve the Druk White Lotus School.

In order to be defined as sustainable, the tent had to be made with local products; because Ladakh is so remote, the students decided to use military parachutes, as they were easily obtained and made a powerful statement, Palleroni said.

Through Palleroni’s non-profit organization, BaSIC Initiative, students from PSU, the University of Oregon and the University of Dalhousie in Canada worked alongside local Buddhist nuns and others from Shey.

“I had no idea what to expect,” said Alan Finch, a PSU architecture student who spent his summer in Ladakh. “What was most impactful [sic] for me was the act of living and working with people in need.”

According to Palleroni, collaboration is key to BaSIC Initiative. Though he initially took architecture students on service trips to developing countries, Palleroni quickly found that the work he was doing required the expertise of students with different backgrounds, from medicine to education.

The parachutes were sewn together with hand-crank sewing machines lent to BaSIC Initiative by a Ladakhi woman and nuns from a nearby Buddhist temple until another machine, powered by a motorcycle battery, could be procured.

“Sergio came up with the tent as a beacon for the community, reusing culture to highlight the plight of children in Ladakh and their reliance on international aid,” Finch said.  

According to Finch, the traditional Ladakhi culture is under great duress. The people are refugees of the Chinese takeover of Tibet, and there is a strong military presence in the area. More than half of the people in nearby Leh are military personnel who carry AK-47s.

The parachutes, converted from their military use, provided shade for the young students at the Druk White Lotus School, simultaneously supporting communal bonds and the mission of education, Finch said. In a region full of war and violence, Finch and his colleagues see the tent as a symbol of refuge.  

Palleroni has a unique pedagogy. For him, building cities is more than architecture.

“It’s really knowing the people and the place you are building for,” he said.

According to Palleroni, universities should be producing students from all disciplines who “understand their role and what they can do with it.”

“I wanted to take on problems that weren’t being addressed,” Palleroni said. “Every ecological problem here is 10 times worse in the developing world, the whole ecosystem is tied together; this broader thinking has not been part of our culture.”

The school, the tent and hundreds of other projects are the work of undergraduate students from many different disciplines. Many service-learning projects such as the one in

Ladakh are offered as senior

capstones at PSU. ?