Hi Everyone, welcome to our page! Our topic is Sherpa Housing. We got our information from the book, Through a Sherpa Window by Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa. The book was made in 2008, and is based on traditional sherpa culture.
There were many types of Sherpa houses. One type of a Sherpa house was a saam, a single story house. This type of house had one door and several small windows. This house was relatively cheaper, so they were mostly owned by poorer families. Another type of a Sherpa house was a was a phedam, a one-and-a-half story house. These houses were half ground floor room, and half two storied structures. There were also two doors, and the lower door accessed a partial ground floor room that was used for housing animals and making compost. The upper side door lead to a small family room upstairs that was used to store hay. These types of houses were constructed to take advantage of the sloping lay of the land and were not that common. One last type of a Sherpa house was a tengkhang, a two story house. These houses had a full sized ground floor room used for housing animals, making compost, and storing food and tools. This type of house was very popular in the late 19th century as trading and livestock herding improved the household economy. (Rochelle)
Architectural Features
In a traditional Sherpa house there were architectural features. A khangpa ma was a main room. The main room was usually in a rectangle that was used as a space for cooking, eating,entertaining, as well as sleeping and storage. In a tengkhang, a two story house, the main room was on the second floor. Sometimes the kitchen was portioned but that was a recent innovation. A chakhang is a ground floor room. It was used for sheltering livestock during the winter. It’s also used for storing potatoes, firewood, leaf litter, and farm implements. The most important use of the chakhang was composing manure. In a large house a ground floor may be portioned in two separate rooms with separate doors. A karung was a traditional window with two square holes. A house would usually have three karungs. They were large enough to ventilate the entire house and let in natural light without letting too much cold air come through. A langta phangta was a wooden window cornice. Glass panels were used to allow ample light in and keep out cold air. Before glass was available, Nepali rice paper was used.(Grace)
LANGTA PHANGTA
This is a langta phangta a traditional sherpa window with two square holes.
Housing Materials
A full Sherpa house was made of all different kinds of materials. The roof of a traditional Sherpa house was made of several different kinds of natural products. The products that were used to make the roofs were wood, plant material, and stones that were collected from the local environment. Roofs were also made of wooden shakes in areas of the forests where pine, fir, and cedar were very plentiful. Wooden shakes were commonly used as roofing material and were produced by using conifer logs made into plank shapes by splitting the conifer logs into meter long sections. The Sherpa walls were mostly built with rocks where timber was scarce in treeless Alpine Highlands. Also, timber planks were used but they were only used where in forests where timber was plentiful. The wooden planks were also used for other things like floorboards and the siding of the house.(katie)
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Sherpa Today
Question #1: Do animals still live in houses? If not where do they stay?
(Please ask a homeowner)
Question #2: Are houses still made of wood found locally? If not what are they made of?
(Please ask a old time resadent)
Question #3: What is the typical amount of floors in houses today?
Sherpa Housing
Hi Everyone, welcome to our page! Our topic is Sherpa Housing. We got our information from the book, Through a Sherpa Window by Lhakpa Norbu Sherpa. The book was made in 2008, and is based on traditional sherpa culture.
==Beautiful Kitchen from Dream Flag Project on Vimeo.
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Traditional Sherpa
Sherpa Housess
There were many types of Sherpa houses. One type of a Sherpa house was a saam, a single story house. This type of house had one door and several small windows. This house was relatively cheaper, so they were mostly owned by poorer families. Another type of a Sherpa house was a was a phedam, a one-and-a-half story house. These houses were half ground floor room, and half two storied structures. There were also two doors, and the lower door accessed a partial ground floor room that was used for housing animals and making compost. The upper side door lead to a small family room upstairs that was used to store hay. These types of houses were constructed to take advantage of the sloping lay of the land and were not that common. One last type of a Sherpa house was a tengkhang, a two story house. These houses had a full sized ground floor room used for housing animals, making compost, and storing food and tools. This type of house was very popular in the late 19th century as trading and livestock herding improved the household economy. (Rochelle)
Architectural Features
In a traditional Sherpa house there were architectural features. A khangpa ma was a main room. The main room was usually in a rectangle that was used as a space for cooking, eating,entertaining, as well as sleeping and storage. In a tengkhang, a two story house, the main room was on the second floor. Sometimes the kitchen was portioned but that was a recent innovation. A chakhang is a ground floor room. It was used for sheltering livestock during the winter. It’s also used for storing potatoes, firewood, leaf litter, and farm implements. The most important use of the chakhang was composing manure. In a large house a ground floor may be portioned in two separate rooms with separate doors. A karung was a traditional window with two square holes. A house would usually have three karungs. They were large enough to ventilate the entire house and let in natural light without letting too much cold air come through. A langta phangta was a wooden window cornice. Glass panels were used to allow ample light in and keep out cold air. Before glass was available, Nepali rice paper was used.(Grace)
Housing Materials
A full Sherpa house was made of all different kinds of materials. The roof of a traditional Sherpa house was made of several different kinds of natural products. The products that were used to make the roofs were wood, plant material, and stones that were collected from the local environment. Roofs were also made of wooden shakes in areas of the forests where pine, fir, and cedar were very plentiful. Wooden shakes were commonly used as roofing material and were produced by using conifer logs made into plank shapes by splitting the conifer logs into meter long sections. The Sherpa walls were mostly built with rocks where timber was scarce in treeless Alpine Highlands. Also, timber planks were used but they were only used where in forests where timber was plentiful. The wooden planks were also used for other things like floorboards and the siding of the house.(katie)
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Sherpa Today
Question #1: Do animals still live in houses? If not where do they stay?
(Please ask a homeowner)
Question #2: Are houses still made of wood found locally? If not what are they made of?
(Please ask a old time resadent)
Question #3: What is the typical amount of floors in houses today?
(Please ask anyone)