21/12/2023
GELEPHU MINDFULNESS CITY
“𝐖𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐝. 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬, 𝐆𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐮 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞, 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥. 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐳𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬. 𝐀𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐨𝐬𝐡 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞-𝐃𝐚𝐦 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲’𝐬 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝟐𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐓𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡. 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫,” His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.
The masterplan has been designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)’s Landscape and Urban Design team. It includes a new international airport, railway connections, a hydroelectric dam, public spaces, and a language for local building typologies, based on the nine domains of GNH:
According to the founder of BIG, , the Gelephu Masterplan gives form to His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck vision to create a city that becomes a cradle for growth and innovation while remaining founded on Bhutanese nature and culture.
The neighborhoods within the city, which are divided by rivers, are tied together by three main mobility connections. Occasionally, these double as transportation infrastructure combined with civic and cultural facilities, creating a series of ‘inhabitable bridges’ which are tailored to each of the nine Gross National Happiness domains.
Bjarke Ingels is a renowned Danish architect and founder of (BIG) who has won numerous architectural prizes, and gained international attention for designing some of the most innovative and unique structures around the world, including the Mountain Dwelling in Copenhagen, the Danish World Expo 2010 pavilion in Shanghai, hotels in Norway, a museum overlooking Mexico City, and converting an oil industry wasteland into a zero-emission resort on Zira Island off the coast of Baku, Azerbaijan, an integrated flood protection system, the DryLine, which was a winner of the Rebuild By Design competition by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, among many other notable works.
He was named the 2011 Innovator of the year by the Wall Street Journal, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2016.
According to Ingels, architecture is the art of translating all the immaterial structures of society – social, cultural, economical and political – into physical structures. He has said that architecture should arise from the world benefiting from the growing concern for our future triggered by discussion of climate change.
