Rebirth House

REBIRTH HOUSE is a pro-bono project for Mr. Hendrik Visser and Mrs. Marianne Guillet, founders of Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care, a civil society organization located in Thimphu Bhutan. While dogs traditionally played an important role in Bhutanese life, helping yak herders protect their cattle and guarding farmers from wild animals, rapid urbanization has led to the loss of their homes, and now many dogs are suffering on the streets without food, clean water or medical car. BARC (Bhutan Animal Rescue & Care) take care of rescued homeless dogs. They have 200+ dogs at their dog sanctuary. Maximum amount of building construction has taken in Thimphu over the last two decades after the formulation of the Thimphu Structure Plan. Akin to dogs, traditional houses are being replaced by monotonous box type concrete buildings which lack character, and have no urban connection at the street level. The owner of one of the last few traditional houses in Thimphu plans to dismantle the old traditional house and build a tall concrete building in its place. However, the old timber has been gifted to Mr. Hendrik Visser. Mr. Hendrik Visser plans to relocate the old house to Tsaluna at their dog sanctuary and give it a new life. The general notion of the Bhutanese people is that concrete buildings are stronger and better. Instead, of rebuilding the exact same house, we chose to expand it in length, and bring the exterior courtyard inside the house. The newly inserted elliptical courtyard unfolds as you enter the house through the main door, creating an unexpected amazing space that forms the heart and soul of the house. The courtyard divides the house into public and private spaces. There is certain level of visual transparency from every room into the courtyard. The courtyard also brings in sunlight throughout the day, which is very important especially during winter months when the weather gets very cold. There are places for animals to roam and play in and around the courtyard (Animal Centered Design). The old windows and other timber members such as flooring and floor joists will be salvaged properly, and reused in the new house. Rebirth House project is a showcase of how traditional building method can be an alternative to constructing beautiful homes that would age gracefully. Due to the flexibility in layout and incremental nature of the traditional building, we were able to achieve a house that not only respects history and tradition, but can also accommodate the evolving needs of the user in changing time.