Babying History and Monumentality: No Punk Build-Back

Dipendra Gautam
(PhD Researcher in Structural Earthquake Engineering)
Email: strdyn@yahoo.com
After the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, former Berkeley professor and conservation
architect Randolph Langenbach penned malevolent compilation, “Don’t tear it
down!”, he was amassed with the art and artifacts in serenity and didacticism,
purely conservationist and massive upheaval of tumultuous voices of heritage
concerns across the globe for endorsing the historicity and monumentality of
‘Dhajj-dewari’-majestic and meritorious architectural forms practiced for centuries
in Kashmir. The grave concern is of safety and serviceability of structures,
however monumental and historical constructions are super-subtle, arteries of
cityscapes and also deep down canals to infringe millions of dollars just due to
their two verdant leaves-historicity and monumentality, otherwise jellied
sophistications like bikini in freezing winter, if truly suits, may be what a city will
reflect thereafter! If Dharahara is to be replaced by a skyscraper laden with
multiplexes and junk food centers, nowhere can be destined in search of bull in a
china shop. Apparently, this contention looks superficial, rooted on status-quo and
conservativeness, albeit the foundation is not placed like the awkward “white
stone”, and deserves to be brainstormed before reprimanding. Dharahara is
landmark of country, conjectures feelings, beliefs and evoke the then reflection of
1832 Nepal’s respiration-undoubtedly majestic, scholastic and nationalistic
contemporizing the legacy of Bhimsen Thapa, apart from inside-the-cloth values, it
has the most august architectural and civilization values of 19th century and used to
drag tens of thousands of visitors to snap the hearty panorama of Kathmandu
valley before knocked down by the 25 April 2015 earthquake, notably it was
grounded during the 1934 earthquake too, but the reflective reconstruction got
possible immediately, downsizing the stories, however façade nevertheless got
morphed-a direct descent of the evolutional Dharahara! After the April earthquake
of 2015, still the brick fashioned a noticeable strength some 82 years later, this
founds some merit to be replicated and carried on rather than searching for
concreted and compromised modernity.
Hereafter, one inference should be clarified, every dwelling that are to be
constructed/re-constructed should be strictly on modernity-rather assure the
seismic safety criteria, however heritage and monuments are open archive and
would die when poisoned with modernity-a lot of measures are there to erect
without fallacies, aseismic characteristics and preserved vivacity. What Nepal and
other world expects in case of heritage is not opening oriental food cafes, cinemas
or wine and dine hubs, the sacred and perpetuated nerve shouldn’t be dismantled-
Dharahara is replaceable by only Dharahara of its own type, same applies for Maju
Dega and others, however conservation of earthquake memorial as the ruins may
be efficacious alongside the replica.
Before rushing off to modernized templates, the earth to space values are
necessary, everyone can draft, propose and contend over aesthetic tri-dimensional
sketches, however founding anything voluminous on earth is additional pressure
and ground should be willing to bear it too, otherwise continuity of laying off
claims next three billion rupees and many lives in case of future shaking. The
socio-cultural dynamics is not morphed until the stage of destructivist ultra-
modernization and yet the values are respired in every people, this claims the
patrimony to be carried on. Undoubtedly, heritage is not the hippy pants-when you
want modified, shortened, roughed or carved punk; rather accepting and endorsing
values counts a lot, heritages have long irrigated the greenery of cityscape so
strictly demand to be reconstructed in the same form, function, dimension, muscled
with the same materials except a shored earthquake and other underlying hazards
resilience. Alike the everyday constructions, heritage have values even after
approximated 50 years, their scrap value exponents invaluable and thus demand
routine rehabilitation too, patronage matters a lot for heritage like the seductive
galleries of 19th centuries, should be surviving, painstaking vibrancy and
parenthood through public care and affection, otherwise lauded phrases in colorful
enigmas of texts can’t restore the democratic visualization of legacies.
People are perturbed, hypnotized and lessoned, the truest and irreplaceable herb is
the cement-concrete-reinforcement complexion, partly agreeable and true for
modernist and theorist dimensions of dwellings chalets to skyscraper though no-
nonsense assignment is quite far from such founded but tilted assumptions, need
lies in restoration in strict form, needless to say, heritage will be no more heritage
if value is sacrificed, fashion is traumatized, space is commercialized and face is
painted in a gory complexion of modernist fallacies. Rest of things have already
red-carpeted for all these ultra-generation flairs, rambling and unconstrained
hypothesis shouldn’t overshadow the traditional aspects-west can’t travel half a
globe to see some flexed Indian movies in Dharahara tower, rather always zealous
of lifting into the hazy ambient of Kathmandu and eyeing down pygmy
Kathmandu is the value and being lifted is seemingly facility as we have been
practicing in the Annapurna base camp. What happens someday if we start cable
cars in Mount Everest? Dharahara is for climbing hundreds of steps and breathe
high and it should stand again with same purpose it was used before. Frenzied
resolutions without public consultations and depreciating the value of structures
and heritages are undoubtedly meant to erect many heritages in the form of
octagonal temple-odd man out in the majestic Bhaktapur city, eyes are closed and
seemingly acted like color-blinded, nothing except steel and concrete. And those
models really don’t need discussion among broader stakeholders, questioned and
inputted? Point really counts when remembered is Malla dynasties, Bhimsen Thapa
and creators of Greco-Roman august architectural landmarks shaped the
indigenous materials in the form with robust performance, beautified façade and
spacious and lively vibes in all of the historical and monumental buildings,
conclusively they strongly demand the preserved form, functions and materials
except some garmented ornaments for earthquake and other hazard resilience, not a
bikini of assured modernity!