ABOUT
The historic medieval cities of Kathmandu valley managed to create an urban legacy that was remarkable for its times, marked by sophisticated architectural expression in timber and brick, innovative water structures like hitis, wells, ponds and water spouts that formed strong community-level spaces along with urban level public square in form of Durbar Square right at the heart of the city. These expressions of buildings, water structures and public spaces are amongst the most refined and bold examples of an urban order anywhere in the world making the Kathmandu valley an open-air museum of historic architectures and cities.
The workshop will be organized under the following themes
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Water: systems and expressions
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Architecture as an urban device
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The idea of public
01-04 June, 2023
DAY 4 - 04 June 2023
Summing up
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9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Final presentation and discussions
SCHEDULE
DAY 1 - 01 June 2023
Orientation and Field Work
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9:30 am – 11:00 am
Orientation and Input Lectures
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11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Fieldwork at the old city of Patan
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5:00 pm
Discussion on the day’s work
DAY 2 - 02 June 2023
Heritage walk and Field Work
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9:00 am
Heritage walk conducted by Rohit Ranjitkar, KVPT
(to be confirmed)
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10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Fieldwork at the old city of Patan
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5:00 pm
Discussion on the day’s work
DAY 3 - 03 June 2023
Field Work
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9:00 am – 10:00 am
Input Lecture
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10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Fieldwork at Kathmandu Durbar Square
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5:00 pm
Discussion on the day’s work
Onfield Workshop
WHEN
The workshop is scheduled to be conducted in and around Patan Durbar Square, Kathmandu valley, Nepal between 01-04 June 2023.
The fee for the workshop is:
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Student* - INR 7500
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Professionals - INR 8500
This workshop is ideal for students, academics and professionals from the field of Architecture, Planning, Design, Geography, History and Arts.
*A valid student ID is mandatory and has to be uploaded during registration.
**The workshop fee does not include accommodations, travel or food.
Snigdha Srivastava is a conservation architect and a graduate of SPA Delhi. She is currently an associate at Pratyush Shankar and Associates, Vadodara and is part of the CityLabs team. She is interested in urban heritage, specifically from the point of view of architecture and the city. She has carried out extensive research on the city of Vadodara on works on Robert Chisholm and the larger idea of institute and formation of public places. She is also interested in imaginative fiction and is a ferocious reader.
Vaibhavi Dave is an architect from CEPT University, Ahmedabad. She has been co-curating and coordinating Citylabs activities for many years. She is interested in Place-temporality and flexibility. In her latest writing, she explores the idea of a temporary city through the case of Durga Puja in Kolkata. She is also interested in research and the ideas of representation in architecture. Her research thesis looked into the question of recurring cases of utopian proposals in architecture and urban design at the time of socio-political unrest and their significance in history.
Team CityLabs India
Dhruv Raja is an architect and research assistant at Pratyush Shankar and Associates, Vadodara. He is part of the Citylabs team and has also been an active participant in previous workshops. His interest lies in urban history and theory concerning Indian cities. His works delve into the ideas of mercantile traditions, religion and politics concerning their roles in city-building. He is one of the authors for CityLabs' upcoming publication 'Historicizing the Present', where he explores the making of Panjim as a colonial capital city.
RESOURCES
Himalayan Cities: Settlement patterns, public places and architecture
The book is a result of documentation and research on the city and architecture of the Himalayas. It explores the idea of settlements in the Himalayas and their relationship with their landscape. The underlying theme of the book is the relationship between natural systems and human ingenuity as projected through its built traditions. The book is illustrated by hand drawings by the author and his students covering examples of different parts of Himalayas such as Ladakh, Himachal, Gharwhal, Kumaon, Kathmandu, Dhulikhel, Mustang, Manang and Bhutan.
Excerpts
"...the landscape is not a physical innate category but a strong cultural construct of societies. The perception and modification of either man-made or seemingly natural is an interlinked phenomenon. The representation of a landscape in historic and contemporary discourses is as important as the physicality of the landscape itself..."
Title: Himalayan Cities: Settlement Patterns, Public Places and Architecture.
Author: Pratyush Shankar; Foreword by Julia A B Hegewald
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Language: English
ISBN: 978-93-83098-16-3
Prof. Pratyush Shankar, Dean of SEDA Navrachna University, Vadodara, India, is a practising architect and academic. Previously an Adjunct Professor and Acting Dean at the Faculty of Architecture, CEPT University, he is also a Visiting Professor at TU Darmstadt, Germany, and was a Senior Humboldt Fellow at the University of Bonn, 2015-17. He has written the book Himalayan Cities and his forthcoming publication is titled “History of Urban Form” for Oxford University Press. He has been closely associated with the students and young professionals for over 2 decades. For more information log on to www.pratyushshankar.com
CONDUCTED BY
The participants will be guided by Prof. Pratyush Shankar and supported by the Citylabs team.