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School for Burmese Refugees

Refugee: The school must inherently be flexible, adaptable, and versatile. They lack even the most basic elements of life (food/shelter) This school serves as a way to teach children how to fulfill the most basic needs of existence and beyond - and must inherently be flexible, adaptable, and versatile; can the school literally be a way to teach mankind, and the refugees, about self-sustenance? (ie. how to grow crops, etc)

What can we learn from the history of the region, and their approach to knowledge that may lend itself to a unique educational approach?

Anda: Four spheres used to describe the world in ancient Buddhist traditions in this region where “Consciousness is the one reality. Matter is not separated from consciousness, but rather identical to it. "There is no gap between God and the world. The world is not an illusion.”

Status: Unbuilt
Location: Burma/Thailand border

The four Anda are surrounded by Siva Tattva, which is the substrate and essential nature of the universe. Together the Anda form an image of the infinite cosmos. To search for Tattva is the pursuit of knowledge. Thus, if modern education is a pursuit of knowledge, the ancient educational tradition in this region is the pursuit of Tattva. Knowledge is the coming together of the human mind and the divvine order of the universe; this creation occurs in a place somewhere between earth and cosmos - both physically and metaphysically in the ‘4 Schools of Knowledge’ Project. Each Anda or idea of knowledge forms an individual school of thought, organized around a central vertical element.

The form of the buildings are predicated on the need for the school to be transported to new locations as a result of violance and revolution. Each of the triangular side walls collapse down to form a single, stackable floor plate. Not quite a pyramid, not quite a prism, the form is just.

Beginning with the floor plate, the walls are folded up, metal framing is erected, the palm leave fabric is stretched over the remaining openings, and the bamboo slats are installed last as a shading device. The local people complete the whole process in one day. The whole structure is elevated above ground to allow for ventilation and flooding during monsoon season.