Institutional construction — school

CODE School, Skardu

Katpana Desert, Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan

Design render of the completed CODE School elevation, with a colour-blocked facade and the school entrance at the centre

Project overview

A school project on the Katpana desert floor near Skardu, in Gilgit-Baltistan. Construction so far covers site formation and the perimeter: shifting and levelling sand ground with wheel loaders and tractors, building a stone masonry plinth to found on, and raising concrete block boundary walls around the campus footprint. The building itself is fully designed — the renders here show the finished elevation and the interiors it is being built towards, including teaching spaces, administration offices and a fitness room.

Scope delivered

Clearance and levelling of open desert ground
Bulk earthworks with wheel loaders and tractor haulage
Stone masonry plinth and retaining courses
Concrete block perimeter walls to the campus boundary
Setting out of the building footprints

Key materials and features

This site is the opposite of a city job in almost every respect. It sits at altitude on loose sand, a long way from the nearest supplier, with a short working season and materials that have to be brought in rather than ordered locally. Stone is quarried and laid on site for the plinth and retaining work, which is both the practical and the economical answer that far from a block plant.