


— Gelephu's existing site conditions.

— 35 rivers run across the site, bringing water from the mountains in the north down to the south.

— To protect existing and future development against flooding in the monsoon season, paddy fields are established along the site’s rivers.

— A gradual change in density of the developments is created, from small buildings dispersed in the landscape in the north to larger footprints within an urban environment in the south.

— Mobility connections for public and vehicular transport as well as pedestrians run across Mindfulness City and connect all neighborhoods.

— A series of inhabitable bridges link urban and natural environments.


“The Gelephu Masterplan gives form to His Majesty’s vision to create a city that becomes a cradle for growth and innovation while remaining founded on Bhutanese nature and culture. We imagine the Mindfulness City as a place that could be nowhere else. Where nature is enhanced, agriculture is integrated, and tradition is living and breathing, not only preserved but also evolved. Shaped by waterways, Gelephu becomes a land of bridges, connecting nature and people, past and future, local and global. Like the traditional Dzongs, these inhabitable bridges turn into cultural landmarks, doubling as transportation infrastructure combined with civic facilities. Among these, the Sankosh Temple-Dam embeds the city’s fundamental values into a cascading landscape of steps and landings, that like a 21st century Tigers Nest will be a manmade monument to the divine possibility of a sustainable human presence on earth. Turning engineering into art and turning the forces of nature into power."Bjarke Ingels - Founder and Creative Director, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group










“Inspired by the Bhutanese culture of respect and compassion for others and nature, the Mindfulness City is designed to enhance ecological systems, through an urban development that connects flora and fauna, as well as people and ideas. It becomes a testament of humanity's inseparable bond with nature, and a global example of how to build a sustainable human presence on Earth.”Giulia Frittoli - Partner in Charge, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group






Bjarke Ingels
Giulia Frittoli
Frederik Lyng
Ole Elkjær-Larsen
Nanna Gyldholm Møller
Per Bo Madsen
Stefan Victor Delvoye
Clara Mendiguren
Dace Gurecka
Ahmad Tahhan
Filip Radu
Giancarlo Albarello Herrera
Marius Tromholt-Richter
Xu Lian
Krisha Arunkumar
Monika Dauksaite
Anastasiia Golub
Xian Chen
Sophie Høg
Matthew Goodwill
Stine Daude
Xinyu Zhao
Graham Forrest Jordan
Job Schobre
Hancong Ding
Neele Maree Ohlrogge
Atibadi Brugnano
Laura Wätte
Camille Castillo
Adrianna Szmidt
Tara Ghesmatiaghkand
Sophie Andrews
Teresa Malchiodi Albedi
Claudia Jaegerman
Floris Dreesmann
Lucia Ayala
Elisabeth von Korff
Aanchal Ashok Tejwani
Filippo Cartapani
Jakob Henke
Mantas Povilaika
Matthew Oravec
Kai Siyu Tian
Parastoo Salehi Farhadpour
Alessandro Sciolari
Gaspard Del Marmol
Giuseppe Mercuri
Jian Long
Kateřina Krchňáková
Margaux Caboche
Mengran Zhang
Mónica Galiana Rodriquez
Riccardo Abagnale
Konstantinos Koutsoupakis
Anna Sofie Kirstine Krøyer Julius
Miles Treacy
Thomas Lejeune
Andrea Hektor
Cristina Minguela
Fernando Villalobos Lopez
Jens Max Jensen
Praveen Lalitha Kishorekumar
Will Chuanrui Yu
Victor-Antoine Delorme
Chiara Gargiulo
Iván Ares Igrexas
Johannes Alexander Hackl
Holcim Foundation Award for Sustainable Construction, 2025
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NACO
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Arup
CDR
ERM