The first Veneer House in Myanmar was built in 2013 as the Manawhari Learning Center in the Ayeyarwady Region, addressing poor sanitation and limited educational opportunities in rural areas. The project aimed to improve the local living environment for the school children and strengthen social bonds through education.
In 2024, following Typhoon Yagi, two more Veneer House structures of the same design were built in schools in the towns Kalaw and Taunggyi. These structures are being used as disaster-resilient learning facilities, as indoor gathering spaces for school children and to take lessons.

 

The structure sits on elevated concrete footings for flood protection and safety. The Veneer House structure is like a skeleton frame that supports the application of bamboo facades, inspired by traditional Burmese houses, enabling easy local maintenance and cultural integration. Cement boards were used as flooring, and metal sheets, common in the region, formed the roof. A front terrace extends the usable space, encouraging social interaction and allowing students to move freely between indoor and outdoor activities.
 

​For both the constructions in 2013 and 2025, workshops were held with school students to build physical models. Using scale model pieces of Veneer House plywood components, groups of students would create their own structure freely, presenting their ideas on what a "safe space" means to them. In the second part of the workshop, all students assembled the model of the Veneer House structure that would be built. Together, they learned step by step how structural systems come together.

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The panels were of 16mm plywood, and hand cut by contractors available locally. The foundation was completed first, followed by the placement of panels for the main columns and ground beams onto the foundation. The rest of the structure was assembled within one week of construction for all units. The construction of the terrace and facade, which was weaved by local people, then took another week to bring together, along with other appliances like doors and lighting fixtures. The time it took for a Learning Center to build was 3 weeks.
 

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TEAM: UN-Habitat, Fukken (manufacture), others.