The project is located at Ghulkin village in Gojal Tehsil, district Gilgit which is surrounded by two eroding glaciers, and the Borit Lake, at a height of 2500, is 1km from the village. Patundas peak lies to the North of Ghulkin and is famous among ?trekkers/climbers? as a place of ultimate experience. There are 133 households with a population of 1045 heads. The proposed project creatively links conservation and development in a village context by proposing construction of a model thermal efficient school building for promotion of fuel-efficient building technologies, as a demonstration project. The project also corresponds to technology-focussed solutions to poverty reduction strategies as echoed recently in Johannesburg on World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).

The project is a two-story building that includes; 4 classrooms, 2 stores, 2 washrooms and 2 verandas on a 2339 sft covered area, itself on a glacier moraine, where around 25000 trees will also be planted, besides land development.

The schools have immense demonstration effect as key community buildings in the villages in the rural mountain societies. Apart from providing formal education to children, these buildings are used as a permanent institution for organizing community meetings, parents/mother day events, festivals, exhibitions and a premise where distinguished guests are welcomed and entertained. Hence all the villagers gather here at different intervals and experience being in the school environment. Besides, the parents of the children regularly visit the schools for payment of fee and to inquire about the performance of their children. This proposed school building for girls? education has particular importance as these girls will act as ?disseminators? by conveying the message of efficacy of the thermal efficiency of the building to their mothers and fathers thus motivating the villagers to adopt thermal efficient technologies. Thus the school as a teaching-learning centre will have high impact on the teachers, youth, parents and the future house builders of the village.

The traditional mud-built houses and buildings were comparatively fuel-efficient. However these old style buildings were not properly insulated and ventilated, besides lacking in proper sanitation facilities. The general trend of using the so-called ?modern? reinforced concrete technologies and the use of cement blocks over the last decades resulted in large heat transmission coefficient and heat (cold) storage capacity. In the cold period of late autumn, winter and early spring, such buildings become rather cold and too uncomfortable to live in. It was observed that in the winter the existing cement blocks and concrete school buildings were so cold inside that invariably the children were grouped outside in the sun. If there is no sun outside, the children use timber fuel to heat the rooms, which often produce less heat and more smoke and dust in the rooms. Very low or high temperature conditions or smoke and dust make the learning process inside the building highly ineffective. Besides, high incidences of diseases like pneumonia, asthma, chest infections and eye burning etc. are common in children and women.

On the other side, the use of modern concrete techniques both in community buildings such as schools and modern houses meant more and more heating requirements. As almost 95% of the people use timber fuel for heating purposes, there is enormous pressure on the forests. The natural forest around Ghulkin village is almost exhausted and few juniper and birch trees are visible.