SUBMITTED BY:

Harshita rana

ARCHITECTURE
CONSERVATION
Class assignment
 URBAN PLANNER AISHWARYA TIPNIS IS RESTORING
INDIA’S HERITAGE ARCHITECTURAL STRUCTURES

 VIDEO ABOUT HER WORK

 HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/WHUAUC9S7WA

The Delhi-based founder of the eponymous Aishwarya Tipnis Architects

(ATA) has devoted a large chunk of her time to restoring architectural
structures that are in need of a facelift. It is no wonder then, that she meets
Verve’s team for the photo-shoot in Chhota Bazaar, Kashmere Gate — at
what is locally known as Seth Ram Lal Khemka Haveli, the privately-owned
home that she worked on for over eight years in a first-of-its-kind
restoration project. Aishwarya Tipnis converted this over 150-year-old
structure in Old Delhi into a 21st-century residence for the family (while
they were still living in it), and the successful execution inspired other
homeowners to refurbish their ancestral properties. 

The restoration of this haveli proved to the current residents that, with
careful planning and design, it is quite possible to have a very comfortable
modern home in a heritage property.

The 39-year-old conservation architect’s efforts have been acknowledged

with many awards and accolades over the years. In 2016, she received an
Award of Merit at UNESCO’s Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage
Conservation for her work on Mahidpur Fort in Madhya Pradesh. 

Tipnis received another commendation at the UNESCO Awards that year

— an Honourable Mention for her conservation strategy for The Doon
School in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Q1. How did you manage to confront the stereotypical notion that a conservation architect is
first considered an activist and then an architect?
Sometimes, the only way to battle a stereotype is to prove it wrong in practice. It took me almost
eight to ten years of work to demonstrate that to be a conservation architect, one first has to be a
very good architect.

One thing I would like to highlight is that both the Heritage Committee and the ASI (Archaeological
Survey of India) require that restoration projects are entrusted to specialised conservation architects,
who are slightly different from regular architects. Just like you would go to a cardiologist, not a
general practitioner, for your heart problems, you should ideally go to a conservation architect for the
health of your heritage building.

Q2. Is there a fundamental process that you follow while executing projects?
A conservation project is largely similar to that of a regular architectural project, though, for the
former, a bit more research is required before we move to the design stage. This may include
investigations or archival research to put the project in its right context. I believe that the planning
stage is critical to success, and the more time we spend on it, the better the end product becomes.
Most of my projects started concurrently and were very different from each other, with each one
being a unique learning experience. So, while I was restoring a haveli in Old Delhi, I was also
mapping out shared cultural heritage in Chandernagore. In both cases, we required innovative
solutions to go around critical roadblocks.
FURTHER DETAILS ON THE LINK BELOW

https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaishwaryatipnisarchitects
%2Ecom&urlhash=ZTMM&trk=public_profile_topcard_website

FOR HER FURTHER INTERVIEW WITH A MAZAGINE. WHERE SHE ANSWERED ALL THE
QUESTIONS RELATED TO ARCH. CONSERVATION

https://www.vervemagazine.in/people/home-improvement-aishwarya-tipnis