WELTSTADT

© Dambardarjaa Monastery and Settlement Today © Renato D'Alençon

GER SETTLEMENTS AND MONASTERIES
Winter Semester Design Seminar at TU-Berlin
October 2014 to February 2015

by Olivia Kummel and Renato D'Alençon

The second phase of the NOMAD CITY continues to explore the potentials for improvement of a peri-central ger settlement based on the study and comprehension of the cultural and social nomadic background of the local community and its integration in a sub-urban context as a source for appropriate solutions.
In addition to the core problems of the settlements, the work includes the potential of integrating heritage sites in them, a peculiar (but not exceptional) situation where old, mostly abandoned Buddhist monasteries are insert in them, either as a continuation of the tradition of the settlement around them stemming to a pre-urban Mongolia, or as a result of the growth of the city embracing former rural compounds. In particular, the work focuses on the potentials for improvement of the peri-central ger settlement in Dambadaarja in the district of Sukhbaatar, based on the study and comprehension of the cultural and social nomadic background of the local community and its integration in a sub-urban context as a source for appropriate solutions.
The aim of the combined architectural/urban project is to highlight the social and urban potentials of the monasteries – and therewith those of the building and settlement culture in the ger settlement. A further essential part is to look at the living conditions and the dynamics in the surrounding settlement.
Departing from the findings of the work conducted in the previous semester and summer school in regard of the cultural tradition and structure of the nomad culture, in this second phase the seminar explores the combined architectural/urban potentials of the dilapidated condition of the Buddhist monasteries located in (or absorbed by) ger settlements as a potential contribution to the social and urban development of the settlement.

Case of Study: Dambaarjaarja
Dambadaarja monastery is located in the north of Ulaanbaatar city (7 km north from the city center), which is set around the terminal of the bus with route to Dambadaarja area. Dambadaarja monastery is one of the three earliest monasteries complexes in Mongolia, began in 1765, and is one of the few ones which was not totally destroyed during the anti-religious purges of the 1930s. Although the settlement around the monastery corresponds to the traditional pre-urban phase, it has grown in density progressively in the last 20 years. At the same time all the characteristic problems of the ger settlements are present in the settlement that developed around it.
The ger settlement in Dambadaarja has developed in unplanned, spontaneous way, as it is characteristic of other ger districts. Land distribution has been thus unsystematic and caused the spreading of other unplanned settlements. The area is nearby the Selbe River, which is considered to be a satisfactory condition to live. Before 1990s, lands close to the roads had been occupied and banisters had been put up along the roads separating them from the pedestrian sidewalks.
Dambadarjaa monastery is one of the first three Buddhist monasteries built in Mongolia, and is thus a protected building. Because of the relatively dense settlement around the monastery, it is becoming difficult to see the monastery from a distance. One of the causes of making the settlement crowded is that the households settled many years ago and built numerous buildings and houses without any plan.
Few of these families are living in gers and most of them have summer house in their own area. Majority of the buildings and houses are wooden stratum with clay coat inside and outside. The streets are stretched from the right to the left side mostly facing to the south. The households set along the main road have smaller land but the families living in the northern side of the khoroo have bigger land. There are many families possessing 2-stored-houses near the main road and the monastery and it is 30% of the total buildings. But about 1% of the houses are 3-storys.
Most of the buildings that are about 95% of these are houses are built to reside and for the other buildings, those are being used for living and service. But industry constructions are only 1 or 2 there.

Objectives
The general objective of the project is to develop an integrative upgrading and innovation intervention project for the problems of the area of Dambadaarja, based on the direct observation and understanding of the local conditions, with a strong improvement in its sustainable performance, economic feasibility and environmental quality. This involves an encompassing approach based on an upgrading project, yet considers the development of a substantial urban model and community support that should take the form of direct involvement in the technical decisions and the development of a social financing model along the development of the project that would eventually support it.
The work of the semester includes: the historical literature review in archives and libraries in Ulaanbaatar, field survey in the settlements and the monastery complexes, and the documentation with concrete measures for conservation and improvement of settlement development.

Dambadaarja Monastery in 1938 © Daajav 1986, p. 122

Location of Dambadarjaa Monastery and ger settlement in the 7th Khoroo Sukhbaatar District © Purev-Erdene Ershuu