Bhutan, Phobjikha

The village of Eutsa is located in the wide valley of Pobjikha. The valley bottom consists of a wide alpine wetland at 3,000 m with a narrow stream meandering through the open grassland. On the adjacent slopes, there are small villages, scattered farm houses and farmlands, where mostly potatoes and turnip are being cultivated. Like all houses in Eutsa, this one shows a construction principle with foundations of natural stone and outer walls built with rammed-earth as the main structure. The outer wall shows signs of a former white-wash. In the upper floor the outer wall facing the valley contains a wooden facade element called rabsel which is typical for traditional Bhutanese houses. Since the rabsel cantilevers beyond the supporting rammed-earth wall, the floor space of the upper floor is slightly larger than on the floor underneath. The rabsel consists of a wooden framework, windows and panel elements. Our example house displays a gochham thognyim type rabsel, which extends around the corner over the north-west facade. The spaces between the windows are with filled bamboo mats and covered with mud plaster. On the wall facing the upward slope there is another smaller rabsel window element on the second floor.

Wangdue Phodrang Dzongkha, Phobjikha, Ütsaདབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང་རྫོང་ཁག་ཕོབ་སྦྱིས་ཁ།

Interior view of shrine room, © HVA 2014

Interior view of kitchen, © HVA 2014

View of south west elevation, © HVA 2014

Timber facade details, © HVA 2014