0:00:07 > 0:00:12'This is a journey to reveal the architecture of our dreams.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'Santo Domingo in the Caribbean.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27'In the Yemeni desert,
0:00:27 > 0:00:31'making mud into a city of towers.
0:00:37 > 0:00:43'Bhutan, the hidden kingdom in the Himalayas,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50'where time almost stands still.
0:00:58 > 0:01:05'And in America, dreams of redemption that turn to nightmare.'
0:02:00 > 0:02:03This is the Yemeni desert
0:02:03 > 0:02:07on the southern tip of the Arabian peninsular.
0:02:17 > 0:02:19A place rooted in the past
0:02:21 > 0:02:24but which dreamt of the future.
0:02:35 > 0:02:40This mythic and ancient land was home to buildings created way ahead of their time.
0:02:40 > 0:02:42Striking, visionary architecture.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Here they reached for the sky.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46These were the first sky scrapers.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50This is Shibam, known as the Manhattan of the desert.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07There's been a city here for 2,500 years.
0:03:07 > 0:03:13Constructed on a raised plateau, Shibam sits within a fertile oasis.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16Beyond, there's only desert and mountains.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23The city hasn't changed much since the 16th Century.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28Every time one of these towering houses becomes derelict it's rebuilt in traditional manner.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32There are around 500 of these houses within the city wall.
0:03:43 > 0:03:48This is the only gate into the city.
0:03:48 > 0:03:50It's very well fortified.
0:03:50 > 0:03:56The tall central arch was for camels and I suppose caravans
0:03:56 > 0:04:01and the small one for donkeys and humans, pedestrians.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Shibam appears timeless, almost biblical,
0:04:14 > 0:04:19and the city rises high with ancient structures because of its peculiar location.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26When more homes were needed Shibam couldn't expand horizontally.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31Building outside the city walls and off the raised plateau would have made the new buildings vulnerable
0:04:31 > 0:04:37to attack, to floods and also would have used up valuable fertile land.
0:04:37 > 0:04:44So when all the building plots in the town had been built upon the only way to go was upwards.
0:05:01 > 0:05:05Each tower is lived in by one family
0:05:05 > 0:05:08but unlike the modern high rise these towers are not made
0:05:08 > 0:05:13of concrete and steel but are built with a more modest material.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Mud.
0:05:30 > 0:05:37Bricks are made on the edge of town just next to palm groves and this is a brickworks.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39It's an amazing timeless scene.
0:05:39 > 0:05:45Bricks have been made like this in the Middle East for, well, 10,000 years at least.
0:05:45 > 0:05:51Here we have rich alluvial soil dug from around the palms
0:05:51 > 0:05:57being mixed with hay and wheat chaff and with water to make this...
0:05:57 > 0:05:59wonderful mud.
0:05:59 > 0:06:04The only thing that's changed around here is the fact that there's a petrol pump over there getting
0:06:04 > 0:06:08water from a well. Up until recently that was being done using a donkey.
0:06:15 > 0:06:16Well, how
0:06:19 > 0:06:21long
0:06:22 > 0:06:24does it take for bricks to dry in the sun?
0:06:24 > 0:06:27- Three days.- Three days. Three days.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30How many bricks can your team make in one day?
0:06:30 > 0:06:35- SPEAKS LOCAL LANGUAGE Three thousand.- Three thousand.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38That's an awful lot. Can I try making one?
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Yeah, me. This is one of those great experiences.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46I'm doing something that man has done for thousands of years.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Incredibly moving. This is what my ancestors have done.
0:06:51 > 0:06:56Oh, it's quite difficult actually to fill it properly.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58There's a skill. There's definitely a skill.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04And of course incredibly satisfying
0:07:04 > 0:07:09getting one's hands dirty making sort of mud pies.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13Oh, dear, I'm going to ruin the team's reputation.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Not a natural born brick maker. Well, I knew that anyway.
0:07:18 > 0:07:20Um, how have I done?
0:07:20 > 0:07:23HE LAUGHS
0:07:23 > 0:07:27You don't have to tell the truth. Just lie. Say they're great.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30OK. I'll do better next time.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35Oh, well he's leaving them. OK.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37I've done it.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39They're not rejected. How amazing.
0:07:53 > 0:07:59After three days in the sun the mud bricks are dry and ready to be used in the city.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37And here's one of the bricks, tile-like.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Lovely thing, dried in the sun.
0:08:40 > 0:08:42I shall give it to the master bricklayer here.
0:08:55 > 0:08:59Rainfall is a great enemy of these buildings
0:08:59 > 0:09:03so the vulnerable bricks are covered with an extra layer of mud
0:09:03 > 0:09:07and occasionally painted with lime wash to protect them from the rain.
0:09:10 > 0:09:17This finish, combined with simple cube-like forms, gives the houses a marvellous and minimal look.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27The elevation to the individual buildings are very similar,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31giving architectural coherence, a uniformity to the whole city.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34It's a very good example in front of me.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38It's very robust, very functional, utilitarian.
0:09:38 > 0:09:42In times of war or siege these buildings functioned as fortresses.
0:09:42 > 0:09:46That's why the door is so small.
0:09:46 > 0:09:52Also why there are virtually no windows on the ground floor, just these little slits.
0:09:52 > 0:10:00Behind these blank walls were storage rooms so the family inside could keep itself fed for months.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06I've been invited to visit a typical Shibam house.
0:10:08 > 0:10:14I'm intrigued to see how a modern Muslim family lives in one of these ancient buildings.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22THEY EXCHANGE ARABIC GREETINGS
0:10:27 > 0:10:31Yes, here we go, storerooms on the ground floor. Here's the door.
0:10:31 > 0:10:37So in the past get tools, animals, corn, dates. Another storeroom here.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40So we're going from the ground floor up to first floor.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45Some light coming through lovely lattice windows and, um...
0:10:45 > 0:10:50here a recess for a candle to light the stairs.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54In front of me on the first floor still more storerooms.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Um, storerooms begin to mix now with,
0:10:58 > 0:11:05ah, inhabited rooms and this is a storeroom certainly because things are still stored in here.
0:11:16 > 0:11:24The staircase wraps around this huge brick-built pier column
0:11:24 > 0:11:28and this is a main internal structure.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Here are the load-bearing external walls,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34here is a pier, between the two run the beams and joists.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36You can see them up there.
0:11:36 > 0:11:41And, ah! Now, I've reached the family part of the house.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43I'm on the second floor.
0:11:43 > 0:11:48It's where the family resides and so I take off my shoes
0:11:48 > 0:11:53and I'll go inside and...
0:11:53 > 0:11:54meet my host.
0:11:58 > 0:12:03- Ah... As-Salamu Alaykum. - As-Salamu Alaykum.- Shukran.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11Ah, weapons.
0:12:11 > 0:12:13Oh, what a wonderful room.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Wonderful plasterwork.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Ah Shukran, hello, salaam, salaam.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Um, golly, now, um,
0:12:24 > 0:12:29how is this room used? How was it used and how is it used today?
0:12:29 > 0:12:31HE SPEAKS ARABIC
0:12:47 > 0:12:51What's it like to maintain a house built of mud bricks?
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Is it very difficult, very expensive to maintain?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Can I please see more of the house?
0:13:22 > 0:13:24OK. Shukran.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44OK.
0:13:52 > 0:13:56It's quite an open plan interior. Very modern with,
0:13:56 > 0:14:02the very structured and beams and joists being carried on these columns.
0:14:02 > 0:14:03It's like a sort of 20th Century frame structure
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and what's incredible is, you have these windows.
0:14:06 > 0:14:11Originally these would have been open. It's got glass put in now but this is for ventilation.
0:14:11 > 0:14:18Cool air comes in at the low level through the windows and pushes the hot air out through these openings.
0:14:18 > 0:14:25All the houses have this very nice sort of sensible natural form of ventilation. Very brilliant.
0:14:45 > 0:14:46Fascinating.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49So the cooking takes place here.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52You... Oh, I say.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08So what's behind that partition over there, what's behind it?
0:15:20 > 0:15:21Oh, gosh. Let's have a look.
0:15:23 > 0:15:29Oh, there we go. Ah yes, it's a shower and also a lavatory because there's a little place to
0:15:29 > 0:15:32stand on the floor and I suppose there's a chute so,
0:15:32 > 0:15:36straight down into, I suppose, some sort of cesspit.
0:15:36 > 0:15:39Gosh, a shower and a loo in the kitchen.
0:15:47 > 0:15:50Oh, a lot of people.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Hello.
0:15:54 > 0:15:59Oh, lovely. How very comfortable on this lovely terrace.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02Shukran. Oh, this is wonderful. Marvellous.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05What a wonderful view of nature over there.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Aha, shukran.
0:16:22 > 0:16:27Lovely chai. Mmm...
0:16:27 > 0:16:31delicious, pungent, sweet, very restorative.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33What a chap needs in the evening.
0:16:36 > 0:16:41Shibam's a marvellous historic city but it's no arid museum piece.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45It's full of vitality, authenticity, wonderful sense of life.
0:16:45 > 0:16:50Here we are on the terrace gathered together in the evening drinking tea.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52And there's wonderful sort of aromas.
0:16:52 > 0:16:59Frankincense, myrrh and, of course, the sheep and goats, and terrific noises, sounds, music.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02This really is a living dream.
0:17:02 > 0:17:04I absolutely love it here.
0:17:05 > 0:17:11HAUNTING ARABIC MUSIC PLAYS
0:17:57 > 0:18:03'Among the islands of the Caribbean lies the Dominican Republic.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08'It may look like a sleepy tropical paradise but 500 years ago
0:18:08 > 0:18:12'this small island would become one of the most influential places on earth.'
0:18:15 > 0:18:19I'm on my way to see the first European-founded city in the New World
0:18:19 > 0:18:25to see how dreams of empire transformed an entire continent.
0:18:25 > 0:18:33It's a city on which imperial dreams, imperial aspirations are etched in the very fabric.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37It's a city that changed the world.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58'The story begins with Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492.
0:19:00 > 0:19:07'He set off in search of a new route to the East but he and his crew landed instead on this island.'
0:19:09 > 0:19:15It was no easy task putting down roots in an alien and dangerous land.
0:19:15 > 0:19:20In fact in the early years the colonists suffered terribly.
0:19:20 > 0:19:26The first settlement, just down the coast from here, was destroyed, probably by the islanders.
0:19:26 > 0:19:29No-one's quite sure but when Columbus returned the people
0:19:29 > 0:19:33he'd left behind the people had gone, disappeared.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36They were never heard of again.
0:19:43 > 0:19:49'A second wave of colonists clung on in a temporary settlement, ravaged by malaria and yellow fever.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52'But they nursed greater ambitions.'
0:19:56 > 0:20:00Columbus's men hadn't found a route to the East but they had found
0:20:00 > 0:20:05a new land and they were determined to make it theirs.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09They wanted to make their mark on the landscape, to build
0:20:09 > 0:20:16a great city to make it clear that they were here to stay, their presence was permanent.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19What they created was Santo Domingo.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31Founded in 1501, the city's now a bustling metropolis of over two million people.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41But extraordinary traces of the original city remain.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50This is sensational.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54It really is a forgotten, hidden gem.
0:20:54 > 0:20:57This house must date from the 1540s.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01What a fantastic door surround. Stone. And look at this.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05It has these tremendous, gnarled, weathered medallions.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07I suppose Roman emperors.
0:21:08 > 0:21:15And at the very heart of the city sits Santo Domingo's most important building,
0:21:16 > 0:21:20the first cathedral of the Americas.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26This is the main entrance to the cathedral, the West Front.
0:21:26 > 0:21:32It's designed in a rather mannered, classical style known as plateresque
0:21:32 > 0:21:35because its detail's inspired by the design of silver plate.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40Now, the horizontal carved frieze up there is very intriguing.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45It shows the trials and tribulations faced by the Spaniards as they sailed here.
0:21:45 > 0:21:52There are frightful sea monsters there and in that corner what I am told are wanton nymphs.
0:22:05 > 0:22:12And inside the building's gothic with it's rib vaults and pointed arches. And look at the scale of it.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16Just imagine how impressive this would have been when new,
0:22:16 > 0:22:19this religious architecture of the Old World
0:22:19 > 0:22:25suddenly arriving here in the New World, in a strange and alien land.
0:22:25 > 0:22:30And being stone vaulted it would have been a tremendous sort of
0:22:30 > 0:22:37sacred vessel, a sounding board for the masses chanted by the priests.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02But the real significance of Santo Domingo lies not in its individual buildings,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06it lies in the very layout of the city.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12The layout is like a coded diagram of the beliefs and ideals of the men that created it.
0:23:12 > 0:23:17GRANDIOSE MUSIC PLAYS
0:23:29 > 0:23:34'Spreading out from the cathedral's square is a right-angular grid
0:23:34 > 0:23:36'dividing the city into neat plots.
0:23:39 > 0:23:46'Its inspiration lay in ancient Roman and Greek town planning, as rediscovered in the Renaissance,
0:23:47 > 0:23:53'and its rational geometry was intended to express order and control.
0:23:55 > 0:24:02'The virtues of the grid plan spread across the Americas through a set of rules called the Laws of the Indies.
0:24:05 > 0:24:09'It would become the most important planning document in human history.'
0:24:18 > 0:24:26The conquest of the Americas was launched from here, spreading Spanish influence and the grid plan.
0:24:26 > 0:24:31It may seem extraordinary but Santo Domingo provided the blueprint for a new civilisation.
0:24:37 > 0:24:44'But the colonists' dream of order and prosperity was a nightmare for others.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50'This is the Alcazar de Colon, the viceroy's fortified palace.'
0:24:58 > 0:25:00This is the great chamber.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02Incredible to think that from this room
0:25:02 > 0:25:09for some years the Spanish empire of the New World was ruled.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13This was the epicentre of Spanish power.
0:25:20 > 0:25:25This is a beautiful piece of architecture but it's also the monument to the power
0:25:25 > 0:25:31of one people over another and that relationship was present even during construction.
0:25:31 > 0:25:35The designers were Spanish master masons.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39The workforce was over a thousand local islanders
0:25:39 > 0:25:43and to realise this design they were virtually enslaved.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52And when the islanders started dying in droves, labour was shipped in from Africa.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56The transatlantic slave trade began here.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Tobacco was another native resource exploited by the Spanish.
0:26:03 > 0:26:09Now cigars are one of the country's most famous exports.
0:26:09 > 0:26:10- Hi.- Hola.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Franklin, hi. How are you?
0:26:13 > 0:26:18- OK, so, can I have a go? - Yes. Sit down.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23- Right, put it all in here.- OK.- Yeah?
0:26:23 > 0:26:25- Yes. - That's kind of not too bad so far.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Push it down.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30- Yes, OK. And pull that. - Pull that over.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33Then hold it like that.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35Not... Ah, to there.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37OK, I hold that there.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39- To finish.- Right to the end?- Yes.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42- OK.- And now back.
0:26:42 > 0:26:44OK, ooh.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48That's looking kind of almost there, isn't it?
0:26:48 > 0:26:52And then I stick it in the guillotine and cut my finger off.
0:26:56 > 0:26:57Little bit odd this cigar.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Rather eccentric. Novel cigar but, damn it, it's mine.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10So, what do people here now think of Columbus.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12HE SPEAKS SPANISH
0:27:46 > 0:27:49'So what are we to make of Columbus's troubled legacy?'
0:27:56 > 0:27:59The Spaniards were like the horsemen of the apocalypse.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01They brought death and disease
0:28:01 > 0:28:06and, as with all imperial powers,
0:28:06 > 0:28:08hell did follow after them.
0:28:08 > 0:28:09But it's very curious, isn't it,
0:28:09 > 0:28:15because if he hadn't come, if Spain hadn't been here, none of this would exist.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19This is now a fusion of cultures, a mix of people,
0:28:19 > 0:28:23and it seems to be a very healthy, very lively, very tolerant one.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27MERENGUE MUSIC PLAYS
0:28:46 > 0:28:47'This is merengue,
0:28:47 > 0:28:54'a mixture of Spanish and African musical influences all here in the Dominican Republic
0:28:55 > 0:29:00and tonight I'm going to experience a little cultural fusion first hand...
0:29:14 > 0:29:19'Santo Domingo is the realisation of a ruthless dream.
0:29:19 > 0:29:26'But it's also a model of civilisation, a city that continues to be an inspiration to the world.'
0:29:58 > 0:30:00'This is Philadelphia, on the east coast of America,
0:30:00 > 0:30:06'a city that once dreamed of constructing society anew.
0:30:08 > 0:30:14'The American Declaration of Independence was adopted here in 1776
0:30:21 > 0:30:27'In the years that followed these streets were awash with revolutionary fervour.
0:30:27 > 0:30:31'But of all the buildings to emerge from this time of heady idealism
0:30:31 > 0:30:36'the biggest, the boldest and the most impressive
0:30:36 > 0:30:38'was a prison.
0:30:40 > 0:30:45'Eastern State Penitentiary opened in 1829.'
0:30:45 > 0:30:52This wasn't just a building but expression of a mission, a mission to solve society's ills.
0:30:52 > 0:30:58The castle-like exterior may look intimidating, severe and daunting,
0:30:58 > 0:31:05but surprisingly for those who created the prison it was to be a place of hope,
0:31:05 > 0:31:11an expression of a belief that goodness lurks in even the darkest of souls.
0:31:28 > 0:31:34The century before prisons had been brutal and violent places.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38They were overcrowded, corrupting and disease-ridden.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45Beating and physical punishment were the norm.
0:31:46 > 0:31:49Abuse was rife.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52New prisoners would be robbed by existing prisoners and if the
0:31:52 > 0:31:57new prisoners didn't have any money they'd be relieved of their clothes and end up virtually naked.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09But in Eastern State there would be order and solitary confinement.
0:32:16 > 0:32:22The prison's now an amazingly evocative ruin.
0:32:22 > 0:32:30A stabilised ruin I'm told but quite how one stabilises decay like this I'm not sure.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33Time and rot are taking their toll.
0:32:33 > 0:32:36I've never seen anything like this really.
0:32:36 > 0:32:40It's incredibly picturesque, incredibly romantic.
0:32:40 > 0:32:46It really is one of the most powerful places I've been to.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04The inner cell block has a cathedral-like quality.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07It's like being in a nave.
0:33:07 > 0:33:12I guess religion's a key to understanding this prison.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Its creators had strong Quaker beliefs and they thought
0:33:16 > 0:33:20that through architecture they could achieve a moral reform.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23They thought prisoners here, isolated, would become
0:33:23 > 0:33:28introspective, turn to God and see the error of their ways.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'These reformers believed in the essential goodness of mankind.
0:33:36 > 0:33:41'Their dream was to create a machine for saving souls.
0:33:41 > 0:33:45'They didn't see this as a place of punishment but somewhere where
0:33:45 > 0:33:49'prisoners would achieve redemption through solitude and reflection.
0:33:53 > 0:34:00'The first prisoners arrived in the autumn of 1829, amongst them Charles Williams,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05'an 18-year-old farmer found guilty of stealing a gold watch.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14'Beginning his solitary confinement he was led to his cell in a hood
0:34:14 > 0:34:17'to keep him free from the contamination of other inmates.'
0:34:21 > 0:34:24And here he spent the next two years.
0:34:24 > 0:34:31This cell's a modern reconstruction and it makes a very powerful impression.
0:34:31 > 0:34:37Williams would have been alone for month after month after month.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40He wasn't allowed to see other prisoners.
0:34:40 > 0:34:44He was forbidden visitors, not even his family could see him.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48There was no reading matter apart from the Bible,
0:34:48 > 0:34:52a book he would have got to know very well indeed.
0:34:52 > 0:34:58He was allowed a certain amount of honest labour, making chairs,
0:34:58 > 0:35:03carpentry, mending shoes, and there was virtually no daylight.
0:35:03 > 0:35:07The light coming through this grill wouldn't have been there in his time.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09It would have been open door beyond.
0:35:09 > 0:35:15All he had was a little porthole.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17Through that he would have measured time.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21The prisoners called that porthole the eye of God.
0:35:27 > 0:35:33Behind each cell and connected via the metal grill door was a high-walled,
0:35:33 > 0:35:39pen-like exercise yard and into this space a prisoner
0:35:39 > 0:35:47would be released twice a day, each period of exercise lasting a mere half and hour.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52He would from here get a view of the sky but
0:35:52 > 0:35:59each cell has its own individual exercise yard so even here the prisoner would have been alone.
0:36:04 > 0:36:09'Architecture was central to the success of the new penal system.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13'Long corridors ensured immense sight lines.
0:36:13 > 0:36:19'Discipline was to be enforced not through beatings but through a world of constant observation.
0:36:29 > 0:36:36'And at core of Eastern State was its radial plan with buildings arranged like the spokes of a wheel.
0:36:38 > 0:36:44'Never before had a prison embraced the science of reform on such a large scale.'
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Surveillance was of prime importance.
0:37:00 > 0:37:08From this central observation tower radiate a series of cell blocks and guards down below here
0:37:08 > 0:37:15could monitor movement in each block by looking down the corridors that run through the centre of each one.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20So this represents a new rational theory about the housing
0:37:20 > 0:37:27and treatment of prisoners and that made Eastern State Penitentiary of intense interest at the time.
0:37:27 > 0:37:33It was greatly admired and became the most influential prison in the world.
0:37:39 > 0:37:44'But what was intended to make men good often simply made them mad.'
0:38:04 > 0:38:09In 1842 Charles Dickens visited the prison.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14He was horrified by the effects of solitary confinement on its inmates.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19He wrote in his American notes for general circulation
0:38:19 > 0:38:23that he found the slow and daily tampering
0:38:23 > 0:38:29with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body.
0:38:29 > 0:38:35As far as he was concerned the penitentiary was hopeless, cruel and wrong.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48Solitary confinement is now recognised as a way
0:38:48 > 0:38:53of breaking down human resolve, of causing loss of identity,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55disorientation,
0:38:55 > 0:38:59and in jails today it's regarded as a very severe form of punishment.
0:38:59 > 0:39:05One does wonder what the authorities were thinking about here originally.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10Many of the inmates must have been very mentally fragile.
0:39:10 > 0:39:15Even if the authorities' intentions were good,
0:39:15 > 0:39:19they clearly must have caused immense psychological damage.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31'Gradually at Eastern State attitudes to incarceration softened.
0:39:31 > 0:39:37'But one prisoner who arrived in 1958 still found it an awful place.'
0:39:40 > 0:39:42One day I made a mistake.
0:39:42 > 0:39:44- I robbed.- Yeah.
0:39:44 > 0:39:46I was the hooded bandit.
0:39:46 > 0:39:48That's what they called me.
0:39:48 > 0:39:55The hooded bandit steal 7,000 payroll with money to burn.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59And we're in this cell because this was your first cell?
0:39:59 > 0:40:02My first cell, yeah, 18 cell here on ten block.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05What did it make you feel like, living in a room without a proper window?
0:40:05 > 0:40:09It was enclosed, you don't, so you went out of your mind.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13You block out all of it... You're just confined.
0:40:15 > 0:40:19Did you know everybody who lived on your block, so to speak?
0:40:19 > 0:40:21I knew everybody who lived on this block here.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23Oh, so who lived in this cell, for example?
0:40:23 > 0:40:25- Stumpy.- Stumpy?
0:40:25 > 0:40:27Yeah. From Harrisburg.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30Right, so what was he in here for?
0:40:30 > 0:40:32- Homicide.- Oh, really?
0:40:32 > 0:40:33Another life, long one.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36What was the atmosphere like at night on the block
0:40:36 > 0:40:39- after the lights had been turned off?- It was very quiet.
0:40:39 > 0:40:46The only thing you could hear at night sometimes somebody crying out for mama or praying.
0:40:46 > 0:40:53Lord, I didn't mean it, but he had done it so you had to do your time, you come in here.
0:40:53 > 0:40:58You could hear different inmates crying at night.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01You might think they were grown men but they cried like babies.
0:41:05 > 0:41:08'Eastern State shut in 1971.
0:41:12 > 0:41:17'During the 19th Century it changed the form of prisons all over the globe
0:41:17 > 0:41:22'but today it stands as a monument to the tyranny of ideals.'
0:42:00 > 0:42:04'The kingdom of Bhutan, tucked away in the Himalayas,
0:42:08 > 0:42:11'is a secret land isolated from the modern world.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18'Here the king has a dream, to embrace the past,
0:42:18 > 0:42:23'and he's using architecture to achieve his vision.'
0:42:23 > 0:42:29The king's dream for Bhutan should produce a sort of Utopia I'd like to live in where conserving
0:42:29 > 0:42:34the past is more important than the implementation of the ruthless demands of modernisation.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38But to realise such a bold dream has involved some very strict
0:42:38 > 0:42:42enforcement and I'm going to go and see how it all works.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49'I'm on the road to Thimpu, the capital city of Bhutan.
0:42:53 > 0:43:00'As I travel, the mountains and valleys all around me are full of glorious traditional architecture.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17'Thimpu is one of the smallest capitals that I've visited
0:43:17 > 0:43:21'and certainly the only one without any traffic lights.
0:43:25 > 0:43:30'With only one main street Thimpu is certainly modest.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40'But on the outskirts there's an architectural glory.'
0:43:40 > 0:43:44This is the most important building in Bhutan.
0:43:44 > 0:43:50It's called the Taschichho Dzong which means the fortress of glorious religion.
0:43:50 > 0:43:56It's where the king, the government and the chief abbot are based
0:43:56 > 0:44:01which means that all matters secular and religious are decided
0:44:01 > 0:44:04and controlled from this powerhouse.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28And within the mighty wall is this huge courtyard.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30What a glorious space.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35Over there are the quarters occupied by the king and the government
0:44:35 > 0:44:42and this side is monastic and indeed I can hear these horns of monks at their morning prayer.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45You can tell the monastic buildings
0:44:45 > 0:44:49because they have these deep red stripes painted on them.
0:44:49 > 0:44:57Golly! And all round one has nature, the hills now topped with clouds.
0:44:57 > 0:44:58It's wonderful.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06But not all is as it seems.
0:45:08 > 0:45:12The greatest secret of this building is its age.
0:45:12 > 0:45:17It looks ancient and, in fact, there was a dzong built on this site in the late 18th Century but virtually
0:45:17 > 0:45:22everything you see now dates from the 1960s. It's incredible.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25It reveals so much about Bhutan.
0:45:31 > 0:45:37'History is so revered here that all modern buildings must pay tribute to the past.
0:45:44 > 0:45:48'And not just their exteriors but their interiors too.'
0:45:52 > 0:46:00This is the assembly hall for the monks and is rather obviously under repair.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03It's an incredible room.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08Carvings everywhere and beautiful paintings, and in front of me
0:46:08 > 0:46:11the great, giant image of the Buddha,
0:46:11 > 0:46:15the main image of the Buddha in this fortress monastery.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20The Dzong was just a start.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24In the 1980s the king issued a set of architectural rules
0:46:24 > 0:46:27that would keep ancient building traditions alive.
0:46:29 > 0:46:35Such respect for the past would, decreed the king, increase gross national happiness.
0:46:38 > 0:46:41To help implement these new architectural policies
0:46:41 > 0:46:46nearly 400 artisans were trained in traditional building techniques
0:46:46 > 0:46:51and issued with pattern books showing acceptable details such as cornices and windows.
0:46:51 > 0:46:54And in each district the king ordered that a prototype house
0:46:54 > 0:47:00be built that people could see how they ought to build their own homes and this is one of the prototypes.
0:47:00 > 0:47:05Nice details, good timber, lovely cornice, I suppose taken from the pattern book
0:47:05 > 0:47:11and let's see, yes, the ground floor is indeed built traditionally on beaten earth.
0:47:14 > 0:47:20'And dotted around Thimpu are buildings that evoke the old Bhutan with startling accuracy.
0:47:25 > 0:47:28'And it didn't stop with buildings.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33'The king also decreed that everyone should wear national costume.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36'I decided I had to get myself kitted out.'
0:47:36 > 0:47:40How much will I have to take off in this rather public place?
0:47:40 > 0:47:42Whatever you like. HE LAUGHS
0:47:42 > 0:47:45It seems surprisingly easy. I thought it was going to
0:47:45 > 0:47:48be more, ah, it seems like it's too big.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51Oh, I see, you're pulling down the sleeves of the shirt.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55- Turn round.- This is it. This is the frightful moment when my girth gives me away.
0:47:55 > 0:48:00So what happens in a public place one doesn't wear this but wears Western clothes?
0:48:00 > 0:48:03Is one fined by the police or something like that?
0:48:03 > 0:48:06- Only to enforce the rules among the younger people.- Yeah.
0:48:06 > 0:48:11It was fined about seven dollars.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13Seven dollars? For wearing jeans in public?
0:48:13 > 0:48:16Ah, yeah in public. But now it is normal.
0:48:16 > 0:48:20- Oh.- It doesn't happen.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23It was just to reinforce the rule.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26- Yeah?- Nice legs.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28Long time since someone said that to me.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33We also want modernisation to happen but not at the cost of...
0:48:33 > 0:48:36- Yes. - At the cost of this...culture.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40It seems to me perfect this, isn't it? Emblematic.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45Here we are, the fabric's made here, it's your style of clothes and, um
0:48:45 > 0:48:51it's very comfortable. It's not old or new, it's just a functional garment and amazingly comfortable.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54- It looks well on you.- Thank you. Does it?- Yes.- Thank you very much.
0:48:54 > 0:48:55It looks very well on you.
0:49:10 > 0:49:15'In the evening downtown Thimpu is a bit tamer than your average western city.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22'The most popular pastime is karom,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25'a sort of complicated shove ha'penny.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41'Surprisingly, in 1999, the king decided television
0:49:41 > 0:49:46wouldn't threaten the country's cultural identity.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51'More recently Bhutan held its first democratic election.
0:49:56 > 0:50:00'Even so the nation continues to embrace the past,
0:50:00 > 0:50:04'especially in the mountains where I'm heading tomorrow.
0:50:19 > 0:50:25'Next morning I take a five hour drive away from the capital.'
0:50:45 > 0:50:49Well, I finally arrived at the village of Shengan after a long and bumpy ride
0:50:49 > 0:50:52and there is a welcoming committee for me.
0:50:52 > 0:50:54My goodness, I didn't expect this.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02DEEP NOTES FROM HORNS
0:51:04 > 0:51:08I join on behind the children.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12These chaps all the time blowing their massive horns.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17CLANGING
0:51:23 > 0:51:26SINGING AND CHANTING
0:51:42 > 0:51:48SINGING AND CHANTING
0:51:52 > 0:51:55WHOOPING AND SQUEALING
0:52:02 > 0:52:04Thank you.
0:52:05 > 0:52:10I suppose this is the house I've come to see. That's why the procession led me here.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13That little ceremony was to appease a local deity,
0:52:13 > 0:52:18to protect the house, the inhabitants and me, which is very thoughtful of them, isn't it?
0:52:18 > 0:52:22The building is amazing. Very big. It certainly looks its age.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25I've been told it's between 200-300 years old.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29Obviously the house originally of a rather well-to-do farmer
0:52:29 > 0:52:34and I suppose somewhere here is my host and hostess who will be entertaining me later on.
0:52:34 > 0:52:37But a beautiful building I must say.
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Beaten earth construction.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42Timber above.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47All the detail exposed because the paint has flaked off.
0:52:47 > 0:52:52However, the first thing is before going inside, have a little look at the building from afar.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Go up there and inspect it in the landscape.
0:53:00 > 0:53:06When this house was built, indeed until recent years, architecture was an alien idea in Bhutan.
0:53:06 > 0:53:10People created their own architecture. They created the buildings they needed.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15Information would be passed by word of mouth from generation to generation,
0:53:15 > 0:53:19from craftsman to craftsman. There were no textbooks, no drawings.
0:53:19 > 0:53:24People had simply had learned the best way to build to suit their needs,
0:53:24 > 0:53:27to suit the landscape, which gives these buildings a timeless beauty.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31They make them, I don't know, just look absolutely perfect in their setting.
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Originally the house would have been painted
0:53:38 > 0:53:44white with a lime wash and on that images, normally Buddhist images
0:53:44 > 0:53:46or images to dispel evil spirits.
0:53:46 > 0:53:49A popular image around here is a great phallus.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55That was meant to be a very sort of beneficial image to have plastered outside one's home.
0:53:59 > 0:54:05The traditional Bhutanese home is perfectly tailored to the needs of the local farmers.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08The ground floor is occupied by their cattle
0:54:08 > 0:54:12who retire into the house at night, safe from mountain tigers.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28It's rather like clambering aboard a ship this, up this rickety staircase
0:54:28 > 0:54:31and there's the front door over there.
0:54:31 > 0:54:38And, ah! Well, the painted phalluses may fade on the outside of the building but here above the door
0:54:38 > 0:54:42is a phallus, in fact four in wood forming a cross.
0:54:42 > 0:54:49Of course it's there to ward off evil spirits but never the less I will go inside.
0:54:52 > 0:54:56This very dark first floor contains nothing but storerooms
0:54:56 > 0:55:00and light up here seems to be leading me to the living quarters.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03This house only got electricity eight months ago.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06Imagine how gloomy it was before that.
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Hello, hello, hello.
0:55:12 > 0:55:15Can I have a little look at your house please?
0:55:15 > 0:55:21Is that all right if I have a wander round? Then I believe I'm joining you a little bit later for a meal.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23Over, the stair's over here, is it?
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Golly, staircase is one way of putting it.
0:55:28 > 0:55:33This is simply a plank, virtually half a tree just with a...
0:55:33 > 0:55:37foot and hand hold just cut out of it.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41It's not too bad actually. Hmm.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48Well, what could this room be.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Ah, here we are. Of course, it's like the family chapel.
0:55:51 > 0:55:53Here's a Buddhist shrine.
0:55:53 > 0:55:59The people of Bhutan remain very religious and most houses have their own shrines. This one is
0:55:59 > 0:56:03very well appointed, very beautiful.
0:56:10 > 0:56:16This house is four storeys but there's a fifth level, a flat area just below the pitched roof.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18I'm going up there to inspect it.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22Climbing this astonishing device, this sort of thing, it's really...
0:56:22 > 0:56:27Well, my feet are too big for the rung things. Oh, lord, um...
0:56:27 > 0:56:30Ah, sort of, am I getting the hang of it? Not really.
0:56:30 > 0:56:37Ah... This fifth level, open to the elements, is also largely given over to storage.
0:56:37 > 0:56:44Over there I can see wheat and up there wheat drying.
0:56:44 > 0:56:48Walking into this house is absolutely breathtaking.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52It's like stepping into the past and the Middle Ages.
0:56:52 > 0:56:57What's clear is that rural Bhutan is a place frozen in time.
0:57:01 > 0:57:02I return. Hello.
0:57:02 > 0:57:06Having inspected your wonderful, ancient house. I'll sit here.
0:57:06 > 0:57:09Thank you. You're... Oh, thank you.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11Keeping my shoes on.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14Oh.
0:57:14 > 0:57:15So...
0:57:17 > 0:57:19these are all the local farmers are they?
0:57:19 > 0:57:21Yes, they are all farmers from the village.
0:57:21 > 0:57:25They are all cousins, relatives and member of the family.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28Yes, and how many people actually live in this house?
0:57:28 > 0:57:30There are seven of them.
0:57:30 > 0:57:32Father, mother and children.
0:57:32 > 0:57:36- Seven of them.- Right. And they all live, sleep in this big room?
0:57:36 > 0:57:40So the beds come out at night, after this, and everyone goes to sleep?
0:57:40 > 0:57:44- Yes.- Incredible. The main living room also the kitchen I see.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47People are happy with this then?
0:57:47 > 0:57:51You know the continuity with the traditional ways of life going on and on?
0:57:51 > 0:57:55Yes. People are happy, very happy with the life that we lead here
0:57:55 > 0:58:01- because once in a while they do get to go out to the urban city and they see the chaos life there.- Yes.
0:58:01 > 0:58:04And they are very happy with the life here.
0:58:04 > 0:58:09It is truly a very Buddhist sentiment to live a very basic life.
0:58:09 > 0:58:13You make do with what you have and you make do with what is enough.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17Speaking of the rice.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21I really want to get my... Rice, yes.
0:58:24 > 0:58:26'Bhutan is a fascinating experiment.
0:58:26 > 0:58:33'A radical attempt to keep the past alive in a modern and often alarming world.
0:58:36 > 0:58:40'I know it wouldn't suit everyone but to me it seems admirable.
0:58:42 > 0:58:45'This is my dream of architecture.'
0:59:03 > 0:59:06Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:06 > 0:59:09E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk