Building Craft Traditions in Tibetan and Himalayan Architecture

This edited volume takes an original approach to the rich architectural heritage of the Himalayas and Tibetan plateau by focusing on the people, skills, materials, and processes involved in constructing and maintaining it. By placing building craft traditions centre stage, the book complements existing literature on the history, design, and symbolism of buildings, while also encouraging new perspectives. Drawing upon architecture, anthropology, sociology, material science, art history, and conservation, the contributions offer a multidisciplinary picture of craft-based construction as a technical and social endeavour. Encompassing a broad range of locations, social contexts, building types, materials, and techniques, the book shows craft-based building to be a complex phenomenon grounded in tradition yet expressed in emergent fields and communities of practice. The book examines the many challenges that building craft traditions are facing in the present day, as well as the resilience, creativity, and adaptability with which craftspeople are responding to them. As the first of its kind, the volume makes a timely contribution to the study of the architectures and societies of these regions and will be of interest to students and seasoned scholars alike, as well as to those in applied fields such as architecture, construction, planning, conservation, and policymaking.