While Dutch conservationist and architect Anne Feenstra was giving a presentation ten years ago at a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) event in Kathmandu, Ang Phuri Sherpa was fascinated. This was a whole new way to design modern buildings in Nepal’s mountains that respected heritage, conformed to the climate, and conserved energy using locally available raw material.&nbsp; Sherpa was working for WWF at the time, but when he became Country Director for the Red Panda Network (RPN) he remembered the presentation from all those years ago, and approached Feenstra’s Sustainable Mountain Architecture (SMA) to help design a new resource centre in Taplejung. RPN has been working in Kangchenjunga Conservation Area in eastern Nepal to protect the endangered red panda, and its researcher <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-conservationist-wins-whitley-award">Sonam Tashi Lama</a> in 2022 won the Whitley Award for his work. Feenstra and his Nepali colleague Sapana Shakya at SMA designed the Rs20 million two-storied building at Deurali near Taplejung airport which serves to provide information about the red panda and the need to protect its habitat.&nbsp; The tastefully designed and functional multi-purpose resource centre is also supposed to pay for its own upkeep by offering accommodation and dining to trekkers, researchers, students and other visitors.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110348_da88f94ba8af650b6f87708ba62bc24a18ea146b8759ec29e80d400e97b2be03.jpg" data-media-id="editor_1" data-image-id="20230310110348_da88f94ba8af650b6f87708ba62bc24a18ea146b8759ec29e80d400e97b2be03" data-rendition-name="original" width="2204" height="1257" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda House"> <figcaption>The Red Panda Research Centre is located on a ridge top near Taplejung. All photos: SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN ARCHITECTURE</figcaption> </figure>  Since it is located on the route to Pathibhara, it could also be a comfortable stopover for pilgrims. And all guests will also automatically learn about the need to preserve the red panda habitat Known as हाब्रे in Nepali, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/red-panda-on-the-red-list">the red panda is critically endangered</a> and lives on the canopy of broadleaf in mixed temperate forests from western Nepal to Sichuan. The mammal is not related to the giant panda, and is not a bear but is closer to racoons and squirrels. There are now less than 10,000 wild red pandas, with 800 in zoos around the world. In Nepal, there are about 1,000 of the animals living in bamboo and rhododendron forests in 24 of the country’s mountain districts, mostly in eastern Nepal. But their population is in decline because of poaching and habitat destruction. Despite not having any medicinal, cultural, or religious value, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/republic-of-nepal-s-animal-kingdom">red pandas</a> are being poached for their pelt.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110352_59ba2f0eaddb108b8897728eb29fee6f2d538b1cb009698f6f6ed921e9e495b1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="20230310110352_59ba2f0eaddb108b8897728eb29fee6f2d538b1cb009698f6f6ed921e9e495b1" data-rendition-name="original" width="774" height="744" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda distribution and habitat"> <figcaption>The Red Panda range spans Nepal to Sichuan in China. There are about 1,000 of the rare mammals remaining in Nepal's forests, mainly in the east.</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110348_d5d82659a79df8c8e52600433492b352505d9026d161428e9ef53c8e8e1eba3c.jpg" data-media-id="editor_5" data-image-id="20230310110348_d5d82659a79df8c8e52600433492b352505d9026d161428e9ef53c8e8e1eba3c" data-rendition-name="original" width="3000" height="2000" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda in Nepal"> <figcaption>Photo: JAMES HOUSTON/RED PANDA NETWORK</figcaption> </figure>  Anne Feenstra has designed more than 50 similar sustainable buildings in mountain regions across the world in the past three decades, including a structure in an Afghan national park that is home to snow leopards. “As a student of architecture, I have always been a proponent of climate-friendly construction,” explains Feenstra. “When rainfall, the sun, and other topographical and environmental elements are not taken into account, a building will not be sustainable.”&nbsp; Indeed, Feenstra explains, every mountain region is different, and requires a specific <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/foundations-for-sustainable-buildings-in-nepal">building approach</a> from the type of roof, windows and height of the ceiling based on local climate and available local materials. The Red Panda Centre in Taplejung sits on a forested ridge 2,600m in Deurali near Taplejung. The wood-and-stone structure is conceptually modelled on a mountain lodge, is built to withstand heavy winter snowfall, and is earthquake resistant. The floor is made of local stone, while the second floor is timber. The roof is up-cycled tin coated in tar. Feenstra and Shakya studied indigenous building materials and construction techniques which are disappearing because of cement and concrete.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110344_58e29764a142eacdb722dfa79377a49bafefcc2c1d47403f34cda70e3cee2486.jpg" data-media-id="editor_7" data-image-id="20230310110344_58e29764a142eacdb722dfa79377a49bafefcc2c1d47403f34cda70e3cee2486" data-rendition-name="original" width="1776" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda House"> <figcaption>Architectural renditions of the interior of the structure which has been designed with local materials and to also serve as a visitor centre and a lodge to generate income. Photos: SUSTAINABLE MOUNTAIN ARCHITECTURE</figcaption> </figure>  &nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110344_451328764ac8314a2517a5cd43139c94ca6df4b47b6889d6954d69d59fa546d6.jpg" data-media-id="editor_8" data-image-id="20230310110344_451328764ac8314a2517a5cd43139c94ca6df4b47b6889d6954d69d59fa546d6" data-rendition-name="original" width="1776" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda House"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20230310110344_1ed7be0772d331be7a4286563f49ac5098109060391e86b86afd4bcef711f826.jpg" data-media-id="editor_9" data-image-id="20230310110344_1ed7be0772d331be7a4286563f49ac5098109060391e86b86afd4bcef711f826" data-rendition-name="original" width="1776" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Red Panda House"> </figure>  “When we use indigenous resources, we must always pay the utmost attention to native skills and materials,” says Shakya, who helped design new school buildings in Makwanpur and other districts after the 2015 earthquake.&nbsp; “It is the combination of local skill and resources that makes any building stronger,” she says. For Ang Phuri Sherpa of <a href="https://redpandanetwork.org/">Red Panda Network</a>, the building is exactly what he had hoped for. He says the use of cement for construction would have been costlier and less climate friendly. “The reduction of our carbon footprint and the use of local skill and resources were our primary objectives in the construction of this resource centre,” says Sherpa. The research centre also serves as a place where knowledge about water harvesting, smokeless fuel-efficient use of firewood, and other techniques will be shared with local people who are suffering a scarcity of water in the dry season. As the number of trekkers to the Kanchenjunga region grows, villagers will also be given practical knowledge about running homesteads and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/eco-tourism-in-gadi-siraichuli">promoting ecotourism</a>.&nbsp;

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The Red Panda House

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd5129c7e80680e0d30d1jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Architect Götz Hagmüller and his wife Ludmilla have made the 18th century Kuthu Math in Bhaktapur their home for three decades. Photos: THOMAS L KELLY</figcaption></figure>The Himalaya may be famous globally for the world’s highest mountains and the people who climb them, but this 3,000km range has also evolved its own distinctive <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/niels-gutschow-leaves-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">art and architecture</a>.Kathmandu-based photographer Thomas L Kelly and author Claire Burkert have collaborated to document the elegance of the built environment of the Himalaya in a new edition of their coffee-table book, Himalayan Style: Shelters &amp; Sanctuaries.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Himalayan-style-kelly-burkert-book-review,2032" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">First published in 2014</a>, the 2022 edition updates the content with new museums that preserve art and precious objects, and public gardens that are oases in the urban sprawl of Himalayan towns.‘Himalayan styles are not static, it is ever-evolving, absorbing the ideas of cultures within and outside the region,’ writes Burket in the introduction.This lavishly illustrated book combines photographs by Kelly, a former US Peace Corps volunteer with meticulously researched text by Burkert, who set up the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/colour-play-mithila-art-janakpur,796" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Women’s Development Centre</a> in Janakpur. The final product is a record of Himalayan design, style and culture across Pakistan, India, Bhutan, China and Nepal some of which is disappearing, and others are being revived.The first chapter features monasteries, dzongs, temples, palaces, and houses of nobility that have outlasted their original purpose and found a new one. <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/Patan-town-as-a-museum-piece" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan Museum</a> in Kathmandu Valley is a model of adaptive reuse of a historic structure, with the former royal palace preserved and converted into a hub for art and history.So is the 17th century house of a royal secretary in Ladakh which is now the Ladakh Arts and Media organisation, and the Tower of Trongsa Museum, a transformed watchtower of Bhutan’s Trongsa Dzong.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd5159c7e80680e0d30d2jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Himalayan Style has a chapter dedicated to the faith, rituals and objects of devotion of the people in the mountains. Another chapter highlights building materials and technologies suited to the mid-hills and high Himalayas including the dressed or undressed stone with mud mortar, mud brick, and <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/foundations-for-sustainable-buildings-in-nepal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rammed earth</a>.Kelly and Burkert’s attention to detail is reflected in their portrayal of hand-crafted metals and wooden utensils in the homes and buildings. A section on Mustang in particular is a tribute to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/robert-g-powell-1948-2020/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Robert Powell</a> who passed away in 2020.But no book on the Himalaya is complete without looking into their trails and retreats that cater to tourists. Burkert notes that hotels and restaurants in the Tibetan town of Gyalthang in China’s Yunan combine local design with Western elements adding to the comfort in a high-altitude environment.The clean, simple design of a mountain resort 360 Leti in Kumaon in India marks a new direction for Himalayan architecture — something that Nepal’s hotel architecture could emulate.But much of Himalayan Style, in fact, one-third of it, is dedicated to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/the-making-of-kathmandu-valley-style/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the style of Kathmandu Valley</a> and its various forms of art — from ceramics and <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Putting-it-down-on-paper-nepali,3750" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lokta paper</a> maps to Tibetan carpet and cashmere shawls.The chapter also details the inner workings of some of the restored neo-classical Rana-era structures including the Baber Mahal Revisited and Garden of Dreams. Leslie Shackleford’s movable house and Taragaon’s modern Buddhist architecture inspired design with exhibition spaces, a café and specialty shops also make the cut.But the readers will have to get until the very end for the main highlights. In the chapter on Bhaktapur is a section on the 18th century <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/remembering-robert-powell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kuthu Math</a> which has been lovingly restored by German heritage specialist <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/The-guardian-of-the-shadows-%20G%C3%B6tz%20Hagm%C3%BCller,3352" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Goetz Hagemuller</a> who has lived there for the past four decades.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20230112100136/63bfd5199c7e80680e0d30d3jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="273" height="377">Kelly and Burkert painstakingly document the architecture and objects of art from Kathy Math’s living spaces and stairways to metal idols, rugs and its elegant garden.A chapter on <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/preserving-patan-post-earthquake/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Patan brings its artisans to the fore</a>, from skilled painters and stone carvers to a lost wax-casting master. The Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (KVPT) building gets a special mention as does its director Rohit Ranjitkar’s family home, founder Erich Theophile’s penthouse near the palace complex and co-executive director Thomas Schrom’s revamped six-storey house in Patan Bahal.A book by non-Nepalis to remind Nepalis about the richness and treasures of Himalayan style and our way of life.

Sonia Awale

Style and substance

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19c69c7e80680e0ac83bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"/><figcaption>Niels Gutschow next to the 17th century wooden door added to the guest house. All photos: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>"Welcome to my playground,” calls Niels Gutschow from the brick-laid front yard of his home in Bhaktapur. At the centre stands the single-storey house, with a narrow door in the middle of the vast brick façade, bracketed by two lattice windows. The house originally had three floors, but the 2015 earthquake brought much of the structure down.Cool breeze rushes in from all sides, filling the air with a polyphonic rustle of leaves. Here is a world unto itself, far from the hustle and bustle of this historic city. The sky is blue, the landscape is crisp, absent of dust, and butterflies flutter about. The nearest road is a 7-minute walk away, whatever trace of the mechanical city life beyond filtered by the willow trees that line the narrow trail leading up to the house.Gutschow’s wife Wau sits on the plinth next to the door, knitting. “A sweater for Niels,” she says, holding it up. “I knitted a red one before, did I not?”Gutschow nods. It is a white sweater this time.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19cb9c7e80680e0ac83cjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Every year for the last 30 years (although, Nepal has been his home for nearly 50 years now), Niels and Wau would leave Nepal for Germany in November where they live near Heidelberg amidst landscape much like their Tahaja Hill home in Bhaktapur, secluded and peaceful.But this November, the Gutschows are making the trip back for the last time, leaving behind an extensive bibliography on the architectural anthropology of Nepal as well as an invaluable contribution to the conservation of the country’s tangible and intangible heritage.A striking example of this can be found in the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/hyatt-performs-its-annual-chaitya-puja/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/business/hyatt-performs-its-annual-chaitya-puja/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145453000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGKse0tTwL-gkaxdbdj7U6diiE7Xw">chaitya-studded lobby</a> of the Hyatt Regency in Bouddha which Gutschow designed. These are the exact replica of shrines built between the 7th and 19th centuries around Kathmandu Valley.Even as the Valley’s cityscape turns to cement and steel, spreading like tumour devouring the countless quarters of historical and cultural significance, visiting the stone archive in Hyatt lobby presents some consolation and even a chance to return to our architectural roots.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19ce9c7e80680e0ac83djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><a href="https://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/people/person/persdetail/gutschow.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.asia-europe.uni-heidelberg.de/en/people/person/persdetail/gutschow.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145453000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEzu69uTKZOvGSr0pRp7f2IrReWOA">Gutschow</a> was born in 1941 in Hamburg. His father was an architect, to whom he credits his entry into the visual 3-D world. He studied Latin and Greek in school, and in 1958 attended Buddhist Sunday classes. Educated not just in the Western classical canon but also Buddhist philosophy, he first came to Nepal in 1962 en route to Burma.In May of the same year, he witnessed the Machindranath Jatra in Lalitpur which had a profound impact on him, and made him decide this was something he would like to study. An architectural anthropologist by profession, he returned to Nepal in 1970, sponsored by the German Research Council to study the villages of Marpha and Tukche in lower Mustang.It was around this time that he met a German diplomat who wanted Gutschow involved in a project to restore the historic Pujari Math priestly residence in Bhaktapur. He prepared a plan for its restoration after surveying the badly ruined building complex with the help of Krishna Shrestha, the director of the National Art Gallery.The project was a precursor to what was to follow: an ambitious bilateral initiative between Nepal and Germany for the <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19496#.YXqErFVByJA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D19496%23.YXqErFVByJA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFaE5KX7Au_TkhfxlIGyc6fP4fKeA">conservation of the architectural heritage of Bhaktapur</a>. He returned to Nepal on 22 August 1971 to organise the site visit, and took up residence at Bhaktapur in the ‘Rana House’ – now a homeopathic clinic – near Nag Pokhari.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19d29c7e80680e0ac83ejpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Walking around Bhaktapur even today is like stepping back in time. Its unique charm is preserved intact in the folds of its buildings and heritage – still largely untouched by the haphazard westernisation that has destroyed other towns in the Valley.Back in the 1970s, Bhaktapur was dilapidated, but had its historic urbanscape even more pristine. The Arniko Highway was just being built, and there were only a couple of buses a day to and from Kathmandu. Gutschow fully immerse himself in the life and happenings of this little city. He witnessed Indra Jatra and Dasain, and experienced communities get together during the Bisket Jatra and during the procession of the Navadurga.“It was fascinating to see Newars use their space as a stage,” he recalls.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/review/remembering-robert-powell/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Remembering Robert Powell</a>, Ashish Dhakal<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19d59c7e80680e0ac83fjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000">Gutschow returned in 1974 with a scholarship to study Bhaktapur, which was also the year the German-supported Bhaktapur Development Project (BDP) got a start. Although many consider that Gutschow himself was part of the project, he says it is a misunderstanding.“I only wrote the first paper to initiate the project,” he adds. “The project went through a tender and we were young people then, we did not compete.”That paper is only a small part of Gutschow’s vast scholarship on Nepal. One of the many people who have <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/remembering-the-kathmandu-we-have-lost,3804" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/remembering-the-kathmandu-we-have-lost,3804&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGh8sMM2TUnfH-Rq-sLC9OGLvfVBQ">introduced Nepal to Nepalis</a>, he conducted architectural surveys of Gorkha and Nuwakot, Kag and Khyinga (in Mustang) from 1980 to 1988 and from 1990 to 1995. He also studied in greater detail the 19th century temples of Patan, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/pencilling-in-kathmandu-rajman-singh-chitrakar,3379" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/pencilling-in-kathmandu-rajman-singh-chitrakar,3379&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNFeD3US2WS_CdO-jWiHXfT2UZgC6w">Kathmandu</a> and Deopatan, and Buddhist chaitya to develop a chronology based on stylistic evidence.Further, his documentation and analysis of the urban space and rituals of Bhaktapur, his mapping of the city’s religious and social topography, and his architectural and anthropological research are unparalleled in their significance and impact.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19d89c7e80680e0ac840jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="947" height="369"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19da9c7e80680e0ac841jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1200" height="1017"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19dd9c7e80680e0ac842jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1629" height="1373">He has written three detailed volumes on death rituals (Handling Death), initiation rituals (Growing Up) and marriage rituals (Getting Married) of Newars, with special focus on Bhaktapur. The 3-volume encyclopædic opus Architecture of the Newars, spans the early, Malla and modern times. Another book, The Sky Face studies Kirtimukha – a recurrent iconography of a fierce monster face with huge fangs and gaping mouth – and related creatures in Nepal, South- and Southeast Asian art and architecture.In the 50 years that he has spent in Nepal, Gutschow has also witnessed the steady change and decline of the Valley’s pristine <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-kathmandus-historic-roofscape/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/protecting-kathmandus-historic-roofscape/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNH3ZS3m3pvF94PuKiF7OAnSi81f9g">landscape</a> into an ugly concrete jungle, which he also documented in his 2012 book, <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19765#.YXqB4VVByJA" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id%3D19765%23.YXqB4VVByJA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGRu8irEABYxHUEsLPvoFzWllq58g">The Kathmandu Valley</a>.A meticulous chronicler of change, Gutschow held a deliberately dispassionate tone in the book – subdued and impartial, despite the sadness, telling Nepali Times: “The curiosity I feel about this ongoing development has nothing denunciatory about it. The documentation of the construction sites does reveal a certain crudity, not to say brutality. Its aim is to achieve a largely unemotional presentation of one aspect of reality.”<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19e09c7e80680e0ac843jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2048" height="1343"><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19e39c7e80680e0ac844jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1250" height="1194">Gutschow’s <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/towers-in-stone-niels-gutschow,1762" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/review/towers-in-stone-niels-gutschow,1762&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1635599145454000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG4O0PgeSv0XMLeOypVaA1ErzV7Iw">passion and dedication to documentation</a> can also be seen in his house in Bhaktapur – an integral part of his œuvre, a historical record of three decades in bricks and beams, where his research, scholarship and life spent among the people, the rituals, and the festivals of the Newa communities of Bhaktapur culminate, and which he is leaving behind when he returns to Germany.The house stands atop Tajaha Hill (literally ‘a net of snakes’) where snakes are indeed a common feature to this day. Gutschow remembers several large snakes basking in the sun, and some smaller ones in the lotus pond, especially in the monsoon or winter afternoons.Unlike most mythologies in the West, snakes represent strength and rebirth in Buddhism and Hinduism. This feels like an apt analogy, adding to the serene, mythical quality of the house, which itself was rebuilt and reconfigured in 1989 and lived in for 30 years.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19e79c7e80680e0ac845jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Narrow bricked steps lead the visitor away from the trail and towards the house, flanked on both sides by a small forest of monkey grass, isicha, willow trees, mugwort and persimmon among others. A small round lotus pool on the right and a kuwa, or a wellspring, on the left are near the entrance.A stone pikhalakhu sits on the ground before the steps leading to the courtyard where a long arcade has been reconfigured after the earthquake. The columns and capital-brackets on top Gutschow bought for the price of firewood. “No one wanted these,” Gutschow says, shaking his head. The carvings depict buffalo eyes, lotus leaves, snake virgins under snake hoods, and the mythical makara aquatic beings.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19eb9c7e80680e0ac846jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19ee9c7e80680e0ac847jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="767" height="1500">Behind the house stands the Kadam Chörten, a chaitya completed in 2002 to commemorate the passing of the Buddha, and further up is the tall guest house, its roof peeking from behind the fan palm and lapsi. Two giant vermillion circles look ahead from under the roof like eyes keeping watch over the hill, the neighbouring houses and fields.“The earthquake affected this building too, the base twisted,” Gutschow says, demonstrating the jerk and twist with his own body. The door had to be removed and replaced with a wall upon which another giant red circle was plastered with a smaller yellow circle painted inside. When asked about its meaning, Gutschow smiles slyly: “I cannot tell you that, you should come up with your own interpretation.”From the guest house, one can see another tower up ahead which looks as though it is simply a decorative piece. The bricks are of singular styles not seen elsewhere in the house, which were designed by students from Frankfurt.“It was an experiment,” Gutschow says, moving his hand across the jagged motif. The traditional Newa bricks are arranged at the bottom, with a layer of modern rough bricks above, followed by a single line of traditional bricks, above which the Frankfurt-designed bricks sit, and the pattern continues.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19f29c7e80680e0ac848jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Three columns stand in the tower – two on one side and one inside a narrow opening opposite. These are unique columns, which came from Pondicherry in India, wide at the base, and tapered rather sharply at the top. The lonely column on the other side is painted red, as is the top of the wall inside. This colour is a recurring motif with Gutschow. “Red is an important colour, almost like my trademark. It is the colour of blood, and especially associated with life and death,” he adds.Red also has ritualistic significance in Hinduism and Buddhism, and is the colour of the sun in mornings and evenings. Gutschow would not reveal the mystery of the coloured circles in the guest house, but perhaps they too represent the same sense of duality: of life and death, of dawn and dusk, of Nepal and Germany.However, Gutschow is cautious with hasty interpretations, since in art they can often allude to a notion of functionality, and an object is reduced simply to its utility. “But form does not need to follow function,” he says as we walk away from the tower towards the house.“The lonely pillar stands in the space as an aesthetic choice, an object to be appreciated as itself,” he says.It is the same with the anthropomorphic façade of his study tower, where two window panels that function as eyes are separated in the middle by a wooden arch which is the nose. Above the eyes, the cornice serves as eyebrows and there in the central axis sits a small block carved into a third eye. This is a prime example of the “impulse to adorn” which features heavily in the architectural practice of Bhaktapur, where decorations serve a pure aesthetic purpose.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19f79c7e80680e0ac849jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1000"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>After the tour, sitting inside the arcade, Gutschow recounts the Navadurga ritual, which he has been attending for the past 50 years not as a tourist but as an inhabitant of Bhaktapur, belonging to the community. Even then, despite his work, projects and involvement all these years, Gutschow has been coming to Nepal on a tourist visa which covers about five months at a time, and he still has to buy a $15 entry ticket every time he visits Bhaktapur Durbar Square.But, he shrugs: “Now it does not matter anymore.”Gutschow laughs when asked about how he balanced being in Nepal and Germany. “I enjoyed being in two worlds, and being able to work and write in Germany as well as in Nepal meant that when I returned to one of the places, I always returned with new questions.”

Ashish Dhakal

Niels Gutschow leaves home

<figure><img width="1080" height="1079" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19999c7e80680e0ac82ajpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Kuthu Math. All photos: ROBERT POWELL/TARAGAON MUSEUM</figcaption></figure>Robert Powell’s drawing of the courtyard façade of Kuthu Math in Bhaktapur is a prime example of his singular style: light enters from the left and the contrast between surface and shadow accentuate the depth of the carvings, guiding the viewer’s eyes.The windows are the many eyes on the wall, some open and some closed, some watchful and some resting. The blackness behind the openings contours the face and enhances the intricate latticework. There is a stillnessto the painting, but wait: is that a flying pigeon frozen in time under the second-floor window? The retrospective exhibition at <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nepali-times-buzz/taragaon-museum-boudha,1609">Taragaon Museum</a> is a tribute to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/robert-g-powell-1948-2020/">Robert Powell</a> who died in Thailand on 16 December 2020. It is also a celebration of talent that sheds light on the artist’s unique visual range, subtle playfulness and an austere dedication to detail.There are 30 of Powell’s works on exhibit, including the museum’s recent acquisition: the artist’s rendition of the 17th century Licchavichaitya at Vambaha in Patan. Individual pieces of the original chaitya date to the 7th century and was only later assembled. This is an intricate drawing of an exquisite sculpture, and Powell’s brush strokes add to the superior craftsmanship of its unnamed master. Directly beneath the dome sits a Buddha flanked by two ferocious lions looking in opposite directions. The fiery tails of the lions rise to frame the niche where the Buddha meditates and are swallowed by Kirtimukha above, who then regurgitates water, signifying rain.Where is the line between the opposites – fire and water? Where does one begin and the other end? Meanwhile wide lotus leaves jut out of the tails on each side. The details are immaculate, each curl of the tails and manes rendered to perfection.The drawing captures the essence of the sculpture in minute scale, carefully measured and rendered on paper. The chaitya itself is of special interest because unlike other Lichhavi era sculptures in Kathmandu, where the niches are empty, this has the Buddha meditating in it. <img width="288" height="560" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d199d9c7e80680e0ac82bjpeg.jpg" alt="">Powell does not just portray what is literal. These are hyper-realistic impressions taken to another realm by his artistic genius. There is an added dimension inaccessible to the human eye, or even to the camera. Reality mingles with the artist’s own impression.Take, for example, his drawing of Taka, a Magar village in Rolpa, which depicts a 3-storeyed structure seen from above. The surface appears as if in motion with the viewer almost hovering overhead, as the hat-like granaries on the flat roof leap out of the frame. The rows of houses represent the Magar marriage system in architectural form: matrilineal unions between cousins across 3 lineages.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/mustang-in-shadows-and-light/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mustang in shadows and light</a>, Kunda Dixit<a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/niels-gutschow-leaves-home/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Niels Gutschow Leaves Home</a>, Ashish DhakalThe painting of a temple with an overgrown pipal shows the carved arch interlocked between the Kirtimukha and the trunk, both vying to devour it. Much of the front façade has crumbled and the bricks lie about as the tree lifts the shrine. Inside is a solitary shivalinga, displaced or at home among nature, one cannot say.The interaction between natural and human structures is what ties together Robert’s work, even though the paintings themselves are not peopled. The houses, windows, lonely temples, and even thowo (row of piled up stones) – all are either placed amidst nature or built of natural materials. Earthy pigments of ochre, yellow, white, colour the canvas in thin effervescent layers. <figure><img width="1114" height="630" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d199e9c7e80680e0ac82cjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The lack of people could make the structures appear forlorn. A house in one of the drawings has visible cracks on its brick wall, looks worn out and abandoned, ready to give up. There is a sense of melancholy, but an aesthetic one. The landscape revels in its objective existence, seen as themselves. Robert is careful not to overlay his own influence onto the canvas, his point of view is reflected solely by what he selects to draw.This is architectural documentation at its best. Historians and conservationists draw lines with sharp pencil or ink, without using a T-square, aiming to depict an objective reproduction of the artefact without manipulating it, or completing the missing details. Powell famously counted the bricks in the courtyard of Kuthu Math in Bhaktapur and meticulously painted each of their colour, texture and size.Such exactitude adds a layer of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455#.YXjm6lVBypo">poetry to Powell’s art</a> which aims not to influence but to uncover what was previously unseen or unnoticed, giving a more holistic image of the structure with surgical precision and mythic elevation.The Taragaon exhibition showcases Robert Powell’s powerful narrative quality that augments an archival contribution to architecture and ethnography, full of aesthetic and historical significance. The eyes on the windows watch us as we pass, and their doors open to remind us of the cities of the old from where we have come. These drawings are vessels for memory, since only the material world is transient. Robert Powell Exhibition<a href="https://taragaonmuseum.com/">The Taragaon Museum</a>, BoudhaTill 12 November 2021+977-01-6201035<a href="mailto:museumdirect@taragaon.com">museumdirect@taragaon.com</a>Pictured right, Rob Powell in his Koh Samui studio.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110161132/636d19a19c7e80680e0ac82djpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1334" height="1000">

Remembering Robert Powell

<figure><img width="3264" height="2448" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5b89c7e80680e096727jpeg.jpg" alt="wooden frame if the new school in bihi"/><figcaption>The school in Bihi that was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake being reconstructed using traditional building methods and designs. Photos: Sonam Lama</figcaption></figure>I was born and raised in Tsum Nubri’s Chhokangparo village in Upper Gorkha, the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/life-times/In-the-Mountain,181">holy valley famous for its Kyiumolung pilgrimage</a>. From when I was in primary school, we used to look up to the mountain above us that we called Lombo.It was only after I came to the city for my higher studies, that I realised the peak above my village is also visible from Kathmandu where people call it Ganesh Himal.From Kathmandu I went on to study architecture in Germany and graduated from the School of Architecture at the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany, and at the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Spain.  I returned not just to Nepal, but to the land of my birth—drawn by a spiritual connection to the holy beyul valley where every monastery, mani wall, khanyi carries a centuries of history and culture.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YLjrnoXUN4The <a href="http://nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=9268#.USXvvB2LA1s">Guru Rimpoche </a>is said to have visited Tsum and there is even a cave where the Mila Repa meditated in the caves of Pirenphug. Tsum is truly a beyul, a hidden valley of such tranquility and beauty that it makes mortals contemplate eternity and transcend to a higher spiritual plane.  <img width="559" height="278" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5bb9c7e80680e096728jpeg.jpg" alt="">The 120km sacred <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=2489#.YH0N6-4zaUl">Kyiumolung circumambulation</a> in Nepal and Tibet of Siringi Himal is now not possible because of the difficulties in travelling to China, but pilgrims still do the partial trek on the Nepal side.Since returning, I have campaigned to preserve the culture and heritage of the Tsum and Nubri valleys, actively trying to shelve plans to build a road that I felt would destroy our traditional way of life and everything that is precious to us. Haphazard highways are causing irreversible damage to the culture, nature, and economy of Nepal’s remote valleys. Driven by greed and graft, roads are being built where one already exists, and where they destroy the region’s culture and tourism prospects. The <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Nation-road-from-nowhere-to-nowhere,549">Tsum road</a> will bulldoze chortens, mani walls and settlements because the alignment would have to follow the foot trails along the narrow valley. Our way of life, language, culture is different from other parts of Nepal. It has been passed down to us through generations by our ancestors and we are duty bound to protect them. We are just temporary custodians of this heritage. We may not be able to improve on what they left us, but we have to at least try to protect it. <figure><img width="6591" height="2592" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5bc9c7e80680e096729jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>I have travelled across the world, and am convinced that Tsum Valley is unique in many respects, and not because my family is from there. As an architect, for instance, I can see that the method of construction of old houses here is suited to local conditions, uses materials such as stone, bamboo, timber and blends with the high-Himalayan environment. All this richness lay in ruins after the 25 April 2015 earthquake. I was in Kathmandu then, and immediately set off on the four-day walk to Tsum along trails that had been wiped out by huge rockfalls. I was devastated, but was determined to do what I could towards reconstruction and rehabilitation.First, I trekked across the valley to assess the damage to the houses, monasteries, trails and bridges. I talked to local builders about their traditional construction methods which had been passed down from the generation before them.I met village elders, and took their advice about seismic resistant construction methods. The challenge was to try to preserve traditional building methods and designs, while making the structures strong enough to withstand future shocks. <img width="350" height="475" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5c09c7e80680e09672ajpeg.jpg" alt="">This was not as easy as it sounded. For example, the new plans had to conform to the government’s 17 listed designs for reconstruction to be eligible for the Rs300,000 grant. None of the designs were suitable for Tsum Valley, neither in terms of material, nor of traditional space requirements. This made my job even more complicated. We concentrated on rebuilding schools and health posts first using designs that matched local architectural traditions, while being earthquake resistant.  <figure><img width="4032" height="3024" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5c39c7e80680e09672bjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Delays due to the government bureaucracy was expected, and it was a given. Even after the designs for the Bihi school reconstruction was completed, for example, it took a year for approval from Kathmandu. We had adhered to every parameter laid down by the government and sourced local materials. We chiseled stones in the traditional way, used the lighter and softer ones  for walls, using longer stones for the middle of the wall sections, known as kyangur or jakkhuyuk. <img width="347" height="462" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5c79c7e80680e09672cjpeg.jpg" alt="">In other places we used overlapping stones called noljyak, and employed only experienced masons. We raised the walls 0.8m above the ground and used treated wooden bands at the plinth, sill, lintel and roof levels, trying them at the corners to wooden members called nas. We changed the gable end walls to timber to lighten the structure.The other areas where we departed from traditional design were in the roof timber trusses. Traditional flagstone and slate roofs were heavy and required thick beams and rafters to support them, which made them unstable during quakes. We also secured the truss by gabion wire to the foundation so the light corrugated metal roofing stays safe from winter snowstorms. <figure><img width="3264" height="2448" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110121148/636ce5c99c7e80680e09672djpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>We also used traditional technique of seismic resistant construction with timber-only design for schools which has a wooden frame inside stone masonry envelope called nang che. In 2015, the timber frame prevented the complete collapse of a building in Shya La in Nubri even though the outer stone walls fell down.Since the classrooms also had to be acoustically sealed, in the Bihi school we filled the gap between wooden wall panels with sawdust to reduce noise, and also insulate the rooms from the cold. By using local materials we were not just preserving traditional architecture, village artisans and carpenters also got jobs, and nearly forgotten building techniques were revived.  Interns from my universities in Germany and Spain have travelled to Tsum and Nubri to see for themselves what we built, and learnt about local Nepali culture as well as the reconstruction process.Despite obstacles we have now handed over the schools and health post buildings in Bihi and Chumling to local communities. Sonam Lama is a native of Tsum Valley and an architect currently pursuing Hubert H Humphrey Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

Building back a beyul in Tsum

<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78809c7e80680e0646a4jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3264" height="2448"/><figcaption>Sir Ed's signed photo hangs in a third floor corridor with Elizabeth Hawley and Boris Lisanevitch pouring over Desmond Doig’s Shangrila Hotel plans 1979</figcaption></figure>As befits a celebration in the time of coronavirus, the party in the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1742#.XmcKJ6Mza71">Shangri~la Hotel’s</a> Shambala garden is muted. Hugs and handshakes are replaced with knuckle taps, elbow embraces and even jazz hands, but I prefer the good old namaste. Numbers are limited to just a few key staff and contributors gathering on the lawn in the unseasonal afternoon chill.“Oh no, I even forgot to invite my sister!” groaned <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/so-far-so-good/mainly-fine-throughout-the-kingdom/">Kunda Dixit</a> our host, clasping a large bunch of chrysanthemums presented by a guest to honour the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/1000-weeks-of-nepali-times/">twentieth year and one thousandth issue of the Nepali Times</a>.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78839c7e80680e0646a5jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="2485" height="3773"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Kunda was in a reflective mood, and not just about contagion and the longevity of the newspaper. “Being here in the Shangri~la garden reminds me of <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=1742#.XmcHh6Mza70">Desmond Doig</a> who was pivotal to my early career. Desmond’s letter of recommendation got me accepted into Columbia – so kind of him, as he didn’t really know me much, but that was his way.”Forty years ago, owner Shyam Bahadur Panday cleverly charged Desmond with the task of building the perfect Kathmandu hotel. Embarking late in life on a career as architect and landscape gardener, the Shangri~la is a living tribute to <a style="letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16164#.XmcKlKMza70">Desmond’s skill, style, taste</a> and, along with the Malla Hotel, the culmination of his talents. <a style="letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/So-far-so-good/the-lyrical-life-of-Desmond-Doig,1052">Celebrated as a writer and artist, ‘Des-la’</a> had retired to his ‘emerald valley’ of Kathmandu from a lifetime of journalism in Calcutta.<a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/In-memorium-of-Dubby-Bhagat,3180">Dubby Bhagat</a>, <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5455#.XmcKyKMza70">Robert Powell</a> and Chino Ronchoroni all made special contributions to mould the Shangri~la over the years, and many more designers and managers have come and gone. The Panday family, father and sons, maintained a watchful eye, and are now expanding beyond Pokhara into Begnas and Chitwan. But the enduring spirit of the hotel, firmly imprinted at its inception by Desmond Doig’s sure hand, is still with us today.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78869c7e80680e0646a6jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="620"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>I glance around the terraces and fountains in the gathering March twilight, a haven of tranquillity remarkably little changed over the years. It does not seem four decades ago that Desmond Doig was striding through the Shangri~la building site, clipboard in hand, pointing imperiously, and issuing strings of instructions to the attentive acolytes in his wake.Utpal Sengupta, the curly haired member of his original entourage, carried on the legacy and ran the Hotel with flair and imagination for 20 years since its opening on 1 July 1979. Desmond hosted Utpal’s marriage to <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=8946#.XmcK7aMza70">Caroline</a> amidst the marigolds, one of the first of many remarkable events in that soothing oasis of a garden.Desmond’s ‘Shang’ was a fixture for many of us local expats. Lingering in the al fresco café, lounging at the hiti pool, or enjoying a hot rum punch by the roaring fire in the lobby bar, one might have run into <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19173">Tony Hagen the Swiss development pioneer</a> who walked the length of Nepal, Dudley Spain long-term British Embassy implant, UNICEF’s Gordon ‘Golden’ Temple before he decamped to Bhutan, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/john-r-edwards-a-life-in-the-shadow/">Jim Edwards</a> the indefatigable owner of Tiger Mountain, or Col. <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/hiking-with-jimmy/">Jimmy Roberts</a> with his floppy-eared spaniels, the founder of trekking in Nepal.<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b78899c7e80680e0646a7jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="3024" height="4032"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>The legendary <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=10754#.XmcLhaMza70">Boris Lisanevitch</a> regularly graced the kitchens as a special guest chef, bearing bones with which to make his famous borscht, and of course Des-la held my 30th birthday party there amidst the newly planted flowerbeds.The burra sahib himself, Sir Edmund Hillary was feted at a garden dinner by a group of Sherpa friends to mark the Everest Golden Jubilee. Suites are named after him and Tenzing Norgay, and a photo hangs in a third floor corridor showing Sir Ed poring over Desmond’s hotel drawings with Boris and Elizabeth. He and Lady June would have preferred the Shangri~la for the main 50th anniversary on 29 May 2003, but only the Hyatt could accommodate the thousand-plus mountaineers, dignitaries, friends, media, well-wishers and hangers-on who turned up.The Prime Minister attended the reception honouring the Himalayan chronicler, <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/opinion/elizabeth-hawley-1923-2018/">Elizabeth Hawley</a>, with 35 years of service to Reuters. Kunda had survived as her youthful intern. Always a stickler for accuracy, to our embarrassment she kept interrupting the regional boss’ laudatory speech with factual corrections. Ten years later in 2004, under an elegant white awning in a peaceful corner of the garden, Bernadette Vasseux and I hosted a small lunch to mark the New Zealand Queen’s Medal that Elizabeth received after 20 years as Honorary Consul and mainstay of Sir Ed’s Himalayan Trust.Desmond could sometimes be prevailed upon to guest-escort tour groups, being especially susceptible to posh Brits with ancient titles. My favourite story was during a sightseeing of his beloved Kathmandu, the tour bus paused in the heart of the Durbar Square to admire the exquisite temple-scape. A fruity British voice boomed disapprovingly from the back seat: “Awful lot of people hanging around doing nothing.”<figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b788d9c7e80680e0646a8jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="519" height="805"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure><figure><img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109101152/636b788f9c7e80680e0646a9jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="515" height="723"><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Freya Stark, writer, Arabist explorer and eccentric, was one of the first to stay at the Shangri~la. Already in her 80s, and a little forgetful she declared vaguely "I feel we must be somewhere east of the Euphrates"  as I helped her check-in. We arranged two treks for her in the early 1980s, with her favourite hill pony named ‘Red Balls’. She much admired the muscle-bound legs of the Nepali porters, and professed a desire to die in the Himalaya. Thankfully, she was not successful. On leaving Nepal for the last time, Dame Freya wrote in the Shangri~la guest book: ‘This is the finest hotel I have ever stayed in with the nicest people in it.’Desmond Doig left us in 1983 but he lives on in his gardens, in our memory, in his books and in his paintings which adorn the hotel walls. I was leading one of the first treks permitted in Tibet that October day when Desmond succumbed to a massive heart attack on the road from Pokhara.I lit oil lamps for him, finding solace in the dim, musty prayer halls of all the surviving monasteries from Rongbuk to Lhasa, knowing how these powerful places would have appealed to him. My group of intrepid European clients included Roman Polanski. It was a stressful trip for me amidst the victim mentality and fragile egos, travelling together in an old truck grinding along the dusty tracks to the north side of Everest, perched precariously on our luggage, food supplies and heaps of camping equipment. Once back in Nepal, I relished introducing Roman to the American Ambassador.

Lisa Choegyal

Remembering Des-la at Shangri~la

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI1CkRG7MxU“Had I not become a woodcarver, I don’t know what I would be doing today,” says <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/featured-videos/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indra Prasad Shilpakar</a>. “I have never thought about it.”Indra Prasad, 38, cannot see himself in any profession besides wood carving, despite having a degree in fine arts and a masters in contemporary sculpture from Tribhuvan University.Not only is wood carving a passion for Shilpakar, his family has been into the craft since the 6th century, and their surname literally translates as ‘woodworker’.Indra Prasad, like his father Indra Kaji, started playing with wood when he was just 12. By the age of 17 he had already learned the basics of carving from his father.“I grew up seeing my father’s woodwork and his dedication to keeping our traditional Newa craft alive. It inspired me to follow in the footsteps of my ancestors and continue what the Shilpakars have always been known for,” he adds.Both Indras have built and restored windows, doors and struts of temples and falcha resting places, and crafted replicas of old masterpieces in Bhaktapur and Patan Darbar Squares. All their work is purely handmade and reflects traditional art, mythology and symbolism. <figure><img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a66879c7e80680e05998cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photos : SHRILUNA SHRESTHA</figcaption></figure> It takes 15-20 days to complete a skeleton of the work. They draw the figures with pencil, and carve by hand using only a few modern implements: electric saw, plane and drill.“We do not use modern machines for production because it depletes the quality. Doing it manually may consume time, but it is much more satisfying,” says Indra Kaji.Adds Indra Prasad, “Wood carving comes only to those who have patience and passion to create, learn and bring art to life. Those who see it as a business do not go a long way.”Indra Prasad has carved 32 Newa masterpieces in the past 18 years, mostly sculptures and traditional windows. He held his first solo exhibition at the <a style="background-color: #ffffff; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/taragaon-museum-boudha,1609">Taragaon Museum</a> earlier this year, and plans another one in Germany next year. It will include carved deities and spirits, dragons and Tantric struts, based on themes of fertility, wisdom, compassion, meditation and music. <img width="1500" height="1000" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a668a9c7e80680e05998djpeg.jpg" alt=""> For both father and son, wood carving means more than using a chisel and designing. It is a detail-oriented process that requires an understanding of traditions, norms and values.“There are some rules for carving the designs onto wood. We cannot just randomly chisel away — every object or creature seen in the toran has its precise significance that cannot be changed. That is why understanding the meaning is highly important,” says Indra Kaji.Both father and son want traditional Newa wood carving taught as a discipline in universities in order to preserve its values and techniques for the future. Otherwise, the father and son may be the last generations of master carvers in <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/clash-of-cultures-in-bhaktapur/">Bhaktapur</a>.“The young generation today is more drawn towards technology and machines. They are in a hurry,” says Indra Prasad. “I cannot guarantee my 9-month son or 5-year-old daughter will be woodcarvers, but I am hopeful they will have new avenues to preserve and promote what my family has been doing for so long.”Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=37782&amp;preview_nonce=9d7ef77938&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Coming out of the woodwork</a>, Kunda Dixit

Crafting a heritage

<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151120/636a667f9c7e80680e059989jpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="843"/>Heinrich Meyer came to Nepal in 1975 to work on the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=19496#.XfIPEZMzbIV" target="_blank" rel="noopener">German government-supported Bhaktapur Development Project</a> to restore the old town and its glorious architectural heritage.As a cultural conservationist, his job was to rescue some of the magnificent but crumbling buildings of the historical kingdom, as well as the devotional art that decorated them: mainly carved wooden struts, windows, doors and eaves.Between 1975 and 1979, Meyer worked to set up a cooperative to revive woodcarving and to make the profession sustainable again. He worked with the Shilpakar clan, the traditional woodcarving family of Bhaktapur, in which the craft has been passed down through generations. By the time he left, the Shilpakars had revived the skills they had nearly lost.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/featured-videos/out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In with the old, in with the new</a>, Sewa BhattaraiAfter the 2015 earthquake, which <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/bhaktapur-shows-the-way-by-rebuilding-itself/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">devastated Bhaktapur</a>, in his hometown in Germany, Meyer took out boxes of slides from his time in Nepal and found photographs taken 40 years ago of the woodcarvings of Bhaktapur.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a66839c7e80680e05998ajpeg.jpg" alt="" width="1500" height="1148">‘The photos were unique because many of them cannot be photographed in the same setting again, and that prompted me to start this book project,’ Meyer writes in his preface to Kasthakala: The Art of Nepalese Woodcarving. ‘Many of the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/learning-from-nepals-past-to-rebuild-its-future/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">valuable historical carvings in Nepal</a> had been lost over time through neglect, decay, earthquakes and theft.’Indeed, the book is an image-rich documentation of what has been lost, and what is still left of this priceless facet of Nepali heritage. The numerous close-ups of the carvings provide detailed information of the grain, the texture and components of the pieces for posterity.Meyer gives full credit to the Shilpakars for setting up the Kasthakala Sajha Sansthan and upholding the tradition. He writes: ‘Today Indrakaji Shilpakar is one of the best carvers in Nepal.’Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-size: 15px; letter-spacing: 0.01em;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/?p=37788&amp;preview=true" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crafting a heritage,</a>Shriluna ShresthaWood carving was a component of the Kathmandu Valley civilisation from at least as long ago as the <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=13528#.XfISUpMzbIU" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Licchavi Period</a> (3rd-9th century CE) till the Malla Period (12th-18th century CE). Thereafter it suffered a decline during the Rana and Shah Periods, and it was not until the revival of Bhaktapur and its artisans in the 1970s that woodcarving came out of the woodwork, as it were.Unlike stone sculptures in Kathmandu Valley, which go back at least 2,000 years, the fact that wood is perishable material means it is less durable. Still, the oldest wood carvings found in Kathmandu are from the 6th-7th century CE, surviving mainly because they were carved in hardwood sal timber.Meyer traces the evolution in the carving style in the bilampu wood struts, as Patan and Bhaktapur moved from Buddhism to Hinduism, including how the designs of the sculptures of the salabhanjika lost their fluidity and elegance, becoming increasingly rigid and flat renditions of Hindu avatars as extra limbs and heads were added to the deities. The golden years of wood carving were during the Malla period (1482-1768), when the most elaborate winged lions in the roof struts, along with the lattice windows and doorways of Bhaktapur, were carved.No book on the wood carvings of Kathmandu would be complete without a discussion of the eroticism depicted there. This one explains how the carvings of figures copulating in twos or in groups became bolder after the 15th century as Tantricism took hold. There are scenes of acrobatic intercourse, oral sex and even bestiality. As Meyer’s compatriot Wolfgang Korn explains in his book, Erotic Carvings Of The Kathmandu Valley Found On Struts of Newar Temples (Ratna Pustak, 2019), the explicit carvings were supposed to be too shocking even for evil spirits, and so helped ward off their wrathful manifestations like lightning and earthquakes. However, could it be that they were just an early method of sex education?Kasthakala is magnificently produced, with page after page of exquisitely detailed photography. The most amazing section displays intricately carved windows (the Nepali word jhyal comes from the Newa jhya), in Kathmandu Valley, which seems to have witnessed an explosion of lattice windows, each more elaborately carved than the next.The photos were taken in the 1970s and the captions, which are simple enough for the lay reader, remind us that many of the carvings no longer exist in the original space. The book is in English and German, but with a little extra effort it could have easily been published in Nepali as a trilingual offering.Overall, this is a hopeful book that shows how traditional woodcarving now has a sustainable future thanks to the 800 or so artisans of Bhaktapur who are training others in Patan and Panauti through the cooperative set up in the 1970s. They can make a living because many of the carvings are meant for post-earthquake reconstruction, or have an export market among collectors abroad and the Nepali diaspora.<img src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151124/636a66869c7e80680e05998bjpeg.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="207">Kasthakala: The Art of Nepalese WoodcarvingHeinrich MeyerVajra Books, 2019In English and German159 pagesRs4,800ISBN: 9789937623889

Kunda Dixit

Coming out of the woodwork

<figure><img width="3510" height="1500" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a651f9c7e80680e059913jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: MONIKA DEUPALA</figcaption></figure>Nepal’s <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/state-of-the-art-rural-hospital/">Bayalpata Hospital</a> has won an international award in the Health Category at the World Architecture Festival held in Amsterdam on Thursday.The hospital in <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17650#.Xens94Mza72">Nepal’s Achham district</a> is a public-private partnership between the group Nyaya Health and the Nepal government, and is built almost entirely using rammed earth technology using locally available material with an ambitious zero carbon construction.‘This is an example of when architecture provides more than a building. Although modest in scale and architectural expression is delivers a massive leap in healthcare provision in a region with scarce resources,’ jury members of the Global Architecture Festival said in their citation. ‘A great example of an architect listening closely and responding intelligently to site and situation. The building is rooted in its site through its use of onsite materials and has impeccable zero carbon design credentials.’ <img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a65229c7e80680e059914jpeg.jpg" alt="">Bayalpata was <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=17650#.XensoYMza71">started by visionary Nepali and American public health experts in 2009</a>, and took over a defunct government hospital to show that accessible and free medical care was possible in a rural Nepal district that had the highest maternal and child mortality and lowest lifespan.Today, the hospital <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/regular-columns/GUEST-COLUMN/upgrading-health-care-through-public-private-partnership-model,582">treats 100,000 patients a year</a> from Achham and six surrounding mountain districts. Paid for mostly by crowd-funding, the $4 million three-phase expansion of Bayalpata Hospital with its <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/starting-nepals-green-school-movement/">state-of-the-art architecture</a> was completed earlier this year.“Our specs were to use local materials as much as possible, keep energy costs low, and respect the local context,” explains Arun Rimal, a Nepali architect with the US-based Office of Structural Design (OSD). “The rammed earth uses local clay and sand from the river. The thick walls give thermal mass for insulation, and the skylights optimise sunlight and ventilation.”  <img width="4416" height="3312" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a65279c7e80680e059915jpeg.jpg" alt="">The reliance on local material turned out to be a huge advantage because the project faced unforeseen logistical problems due to the 2015 earthquake and Blockade. However, the four-year construction was delayed by just six months because it did not rely too much on bricks, steel and other imported material. The facility has a <a href="http://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=5877#.XWZGkOMzaUk">rainwater harvesting system</a>, treats its wastewater and has a network of greywater-irrigated terraces and bioswales to control erosion and recharge the acquifer. A 100kw solar array on the roof meets most of the hospital’s electricity needs, even powering the facility’s only air conditioning unit in the surgical ward. “It was a deliberate design decision to work with the natural environment as much as possible and also to address the cultural context,” says Tyler Survant from Sharon Davis Design in New York, which also conceptualised the unique Women’s Opportunity Centre in Rwanda. “We had to plan for a different kind of hospital from the West: here you have patients and relatives who have travelled for days on foot to get here.” <img width="640" height="828" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108151116/636a652b9c7e80680e059916jpeg.jpg" alt="">Bayalpata has public outdoor spaces and canopied courtyards to serve as comfortable waiting areas, while the operating theatres and wards are recessed. Unlike in the US, staff housing also had to be integrated into the facility since it has fulltime resident doctors, who live with their families.

Bayalpata Hospital in Nepal wins global design award

<img width="1100" height="1105" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a57479c7e80680e0547d2jpeg.jpg" alt=""/>T here are many types of traditional roof tiles in Kathmandu: broad tiles, slender tiles, half-cylinders, or the elegant jhingati. Before concrete buildings started sprouting up with flat roofs, the Valley’s old towns all had distinctive sloping red-tiled roofs.Even though houses with traditional roofs are now rare, tiles are being put to all kinds of creative uses, including to reduce the energy cost of cooling or heating homes and offices. One such example is a rooftop pavilion at the headquarters of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Khumaltar (see box).Terracotta tiles are hard to beat in terms of sustainability and climate responsiveness, compared to concrete slabs or steel sheets. Concrete is all the rage today because of its supposed strength and water-resistance, but it makes buildings costly to heat or cool.  <img width="200" height="200" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a57499c7e80680e0547d3jpeg.jpg" alt="">Well-made roof tiles are common in traditional architecture, dating back to Mesopotamia. In the Middle Ages, the clay was moulded by men on the tops of their thighs, and tapered down to the knee naturally, allowing the tiles to overlap each other. Cuzco in the Peruvian Andes, historic Lijiang in China and Dubrovnik on the Adriatic coast all offer stunning roofscapes, and have World Heritage status because of their tiles.Kathmandu Valley’s roof tile grid is unique in the world. The jhingati has a distinct non-linear feel, almost like scales on a pangolin’s armour. The crafted roof, with its ingenious overlaps and slightly rotated grid, protects the interior of the historic buildings from slashing monsoon rains. The tiles come in a spectrum of carmine, scarlet-red, vermillion and tangerine orange colours. Upon close observation, one can even see palm and thumb prints of the potters who moulded each piece by hand decades, sometimes centuries, ago.Read also: <a style="background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.15px;" href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/starting-nepals-green-school-movement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Starting Nepal’s green school movement</a>, Sheilin Teo <figure><img width="1100" height="1238" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a574a9c7e80680e0547d4jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Wang Shui, the first Chinese to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2012, saw many historic villages had been razed in the area where the new Ningbo Museum in China was to be built. As the architect of the museum, Wang Sui worked with building materials from the houses in the villages.Wang Sui felt that bricks and tiles had memory and identity, and that there was a relationship between people and building materials. The museum was completed in 2008 and recycled bricks and roof tiles in its construction.Each tile and brick in Kathmandu today has a history, a tale to tell about the forgotten potters who moulded them from the Valley’s clay soil, fired and fitted them on roofs. They are a part of our heritage and should be preserved, re-used or upcycled.  Prof Anne Feenstra is a laureate of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2012 (Paris) and set up Sustainable Mountain Architecture in Nepal in 2013. Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/this-is-how-to-upgrade-nepals-rural-health/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This is how to upgrade Nepal’s rural health,</a> Sewa Bhattarai <h2>Upscaling jhingati tiles </h2> <img width="1000" height="655" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a574d9c7e80680e0547d5jpeg.jpg" alt="">At the head office of ICIMOD in Kathmandu, Sustainable Mountain Architecture (SMA) designed an experimental project to upcycle nearly 1,500 tiles salvaged from the ruins of buildings after the 2015 earthquake.The design provides improved access to an open-air meeting room and future individual work stations by carefully cutting open the existing concrete roof slab and adding a light and sturdy steel structure.For safety and orientation, filtered daylight was needed from all four directions of the pavilion and staircase. But making it from glass only would drive up temperatures in summer and make it too cold in winter. This is where the jhingati proved useful.Although it would be best if the jhingati were returned to the roofs they once protected, after the earthquake they were stacked by ruins and were deteriorating. Some had been used to make garden walls to replace bricks.Many schools that were quickly rebuilt after the 2015 earthquakes did not re-use traditional tiles. Children fainted in some cases, as the radiation heat inside became too much under galvanised steel roofs. Monsoon rain made it impossible to hear the teacher.Read also: <a href="nepalitimes.com/business/energy-saving-soaltee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Energy saving Soaltee</a>, Nepali Times <figure><img width="1000" height="575" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221108141116/636a574f9c7e80680e0547d6jpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption> </figcaption></figure>Traditionally, these petite 200 x 105mm fired clay tiles stick to the roof on a fresh layer of clay, while a 8mm linear depression grips two tiles. The tiles absorb heat, are UV resistant and are effective in varying humidity levels.The tiles were collected, cleaned and they are now on all four facades of the ICIMOD pavilion as a ‘brise soleil’. They capture the diffused daylight, while keeping the harsh, direct sunlight out (pictured, above)This climate-responsive design obviates the need for air-conditioning or additional heating. The passive solar energy through the filtered light keeps the pavilion comfortable. An inserted mesh between the roof and tops of the four walls makes natural cross-ventilation possible. In the hottest months, an open door increases the natural chimney effect of hot air going up and out. In the night, four 18W LED lights provide ample illumination.The jhingati tiles are held in light metal frames with two clasps. Each tile forms an evocative mini louvre and is placed in families that make up the superior panels. The subtle diamond-shaped pattern casts soft silhouette shadows, creating a spatial elegance.Upcycling is one of the ways the Nepali non-profit team at SMA gives expression to its designs. They elicit architectural support to Nepali builders while drawing lessons from vernacular wisdom.Read also: <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/building-back-cheaper-and-stronger/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Building back cheaper and stronger</a>, Sapana Shakya and Aman Raj Khatakho

architecture