Dzong | The Fearful Symmetry of Bhutanese Architecture | 10.27
In a way, for me, there’s something long-reaching, far-running, back into my mind and memory for the spirit and personal connectedness that I’ve got with the nature and spirit of Bhutanese, and Himalayan, architecture; there’s something that’s right about it. And I’m not sure why. It’s like ravens — why, do they attract me? Why do these buildings fascinate me? It’s like the lightning bolt discovery, the first time seen — Potala, the grand fortress in Lhasa. White-washed, the most spectacular layering of weight and the power of gravity defying mass
I can’t answer that. But will ask my guide here, surely a very spiritual man. Tsewang Nidup — his site: www.bhutan-expeditions.com.
I would venture that there’s something to the mimetic link to this architecture that harkens to the admiration of the design thinking of Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as the Greene Brothers of Pasadena. It’s the splaying of the wall line; it’s the spreading roof; it’s the detailing of the pillar and beam work; it’s the support structuring; it’s the carpentry joins; it’s the use of texture, light and color; it’s the way that people appear, standing next to it (small…)
It’s that and a great deal more that is unexplained, but compelling and magnetic, to my spirit — and has long been…
Here then, proof to majesty.
Feast and wonder…
Paro Dzong:
Thimphu Dzong:
Punakha Dzong:
Bumthang Dzong:
Trongsa Dzong:
Drugyel Dzong:
Wangdu Dzong:
Photos by Tim Girvin
What is the sense, finally, of fearful symmetry? The great scale of the places, the cant of majesty, implied in the character of those worlds, the size of the human, kind, found there, quiet and passing in the courtyards. Yet, in the end, the sheer vitality of the space and the context of the people there in — the large vessel, the containment. The massing of the administrative and politically inclined leaders and Dzong workers and the combinations of the monastery masses; it’s the combination of all these sentiments that’s remarkable.
Combined, there in.
They’re in.
Withal.
With all.