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The Dilemma of
Traditional Buildings
Dr.
Rohit K. Ranjitkar
IN THE KATHMANDU VALLEY, as development pressures
multiply, threatened monuments far outpace available
resources for restoration as well as restoration
itself. The result is that important historical
buildings, especially historic residences, are lost
every month.
Historic houses have their own value, be it
artistic, aesthetic, sentimental, architectural or
economical. They are important not only because of
their age and configuration, but also due to the
historically original materials and construction
technology used, which can be lost during the
process of reconstruction.
The option of whether one should renovate or
reconstruct a traditional building naturally depends
on the economics of investment and return.
Generally, lack of finance deters improvements and
dampens the spirit to initiate any types of work. In
the case of historic preservation, the availability
of finance is more often the problem instead. If the
house owner has no money, he is compelled to repair
and maintain his old house and cannot think of a
total reconstruction, thereby the building is saved.
But on the other hand, when people have money, they
believe that living in old traditional houses
believe their status and hence it becomes important
that the old building be pulled down and a new and
modern one be constructed in its place. In addition,
the lack of awareness about historic buildings
further prompts the use of modern construction
materials like cement concrete.
In the context of Nepal, there are some key reasons
why the practice to preserve old houses has not been
able to develop more widely. The following points
outline causes why it has been such a struggle, as
well as some strategies for it to become more
acceptable to the concerned.
Contradictions
1.
Taste
Very few people actually like anything that is old,
irrespective of whether it is a dress or a house.
Modern styles and materials are universally
preferred, and in the case of buildings, it is true
for both private as well as public types. Although
the Romantic Movement as in the West to keep things
as they are never reached Nepal, nonetheless, the
new urban elite could develop a taste for historical
architecture even with a small group who are
appreciative of the patina of historical building
fabric.
There
are so many historical houses being replaced by new
structures as a demonstration of affluence and
taste. Many of the houses are not even lived in by
the owners, but are for commercial use.
2. New Copy of Old Style/ Reuse of Historical
Elements in Reconstruction
Since the last few years, a taste for the forms of
traditional architecture has emerged. Unfortunately
this has been largely independent of the historical
fabric, where newly built and over-scaled
interpretations seem to be preferred to historical
elements or to historical replicas. In addition,
many of the replicas used today in residential, so
called traditional buildings, have been borrowed
from the temples, which eventually could be
misleading to scholars in future.
3. No
Respect for Building Bylaws
Building bylaws enforcement remains a pipe dream.
Bylaws have been discussed and amendments made
innumerable times, but there is no concrete tool to
enforce them and hence nobody really follows it.
Hopefully a new draft with some room for flexibility
will bring people to understand and respect the
bylaws as they are designed to serve the people’s
interest.
4.
Traditional Architecture
Traditional Architecture, the indigenous
architectural style (1200-1769), is subtle and
complex, It is also difficult to copy, adapt,
replicate, simplify or reduce. The building
materials are quite sophisticated in their
detailing. It is, for example, much easier to
replicate a plastered Colonial building of this
century than the medieval monuments.
5.
Uncomfortable for Modern Use
Traditional residential buildings may have charm,
but their low ceilings, narrow rooms, and small
latticed openings do not support modern urban
living. However modern facilities can be adapted in
the old house too. Compare it with a Georgian
townhouse in London, where the historic building may
be more appropriate to modern life than a new
structure.
6.Vertical Division
The traditional house use patterns of Kathmandu do
not make for easy divisions of buildings between
family members. In traditional local society, houses
must be divided vertically. As families grow, there
is pressure on traditional buildings to accommodate
different family groups and hence get sliced up
vertically — sometimes comically — where horizontal
flat-like splits would be less invasive on the
historical fabric.
7.
Social Mobility
Most of the people are sentimentally attached to
their ancestral houses or place, and hence prefer to
live in the same house even if it is congested or
has been reconstructed in cement concrete. Sometimes
well- off families shift into a new place, leaving
the old house empty, unused and unmaintained. It is
the local cultural belief that houses are not
commodities but rather serve as a social identity.
This discourages the trading and selling of property
to allow urban pioneers to recapture historic
neighborhoods - a trend which has worked in the
West.
8.
Multiple Owners
Ironically, traditional joint ownership by guthis
and by extended families has saved some buildings
from being vertically sliced. The inability for
consensus prevents them from agreeing to sell,
repair, dismantle or rebuild. However this could
result in the building being neglected, dilapidated
and eventually collapse.
9.
Property Disputes
Many buildings which could be considered for
adaptive reuse are public and semi-public buildings,
which are either inhabited by squatters or illegal
occupants or have remained unused. However as the
government, embroiled in its own superficial
importance, has no concrete policy towards such
matters, any constructive decision on these
structures or occupants becomes very complicated and
hence almost non-existent.
10.
Rana Period Buildings
Although more comfortable and easier to adopt for
modern/ new use, the European-influenced historical
buildings (1846-1951) have been unfashionable and
politically incorrect monuments until recently and
have not attracted local or international
preservation efforts. Many of this period’s houses
have been lost in the last 10 years.
11.
Maintenance not of Equal Merit
The practice of donating or improving structures in
Eastern religion for religious merit has always
prioritized maximum expense and visual impact. The
retention of historical fabric or the regular
maintenance of historical structures has
significantly less association with good karma and
residences are also similarly treated. Hence rather
than repairing the historic houses, they are rebuilt
in modern style and technology.
Recommendations
Private
houses in a living city are living monuments and
hence cannot be expected to remain the same
all the time, especially the interiors. It is
understandable that they need to be adapted
according to the period’s new requirements with
modern facilities, but it should also be desirable
to retain the historic fabrics as much as possible.
At the same time, although public monuments, many of
which are also living monuments, are not used as
living, spaces should also be conserved in
traditional techniques and materials.
1.
Making Spaces Comfortable for Daily Use
Many people complain that old houses have very
limited space and narrow rooms. However, most of
these problems can be solved with an imaginative
space layout. For example, a partition wall could be
removed to make the room bigger. The lattice window
could be converted into an openable one so that the
room receives more light and air. The thick mud on
floors could be removed to increase floor height. Or
an additional floor could be created on the existing
roof if bylaws permit.
There
are many ideas and possibilities which could be
applied to fulfill most of the house owner’s
requirements. However, these are site specific and
need to explored and addressed accordingly depending
on the existing condition of the house.
2.
Solutions for Physical Drawbacks
There are always options regarding solutions for
physical drawback of the building. One simply
requires a willingness to retain the old house. For
example, a narrow staircase could be adequately
widened; proper plumbing system could be
incorporated to address the new use of the building;
rising ground damp could be minimized by simple
ventilation; and regular maintenance should become
mandatory for old as well as new buildings. It is a
general practice that re-pavement of roads are done
over the existing road surface resulting in the road
level rising above the existing plinth level of the
old building. The stakeholders in such cases must be
aware and adamant that the existing finish layer of
the road be removed before the new layer is laid so
that the finished road level does not increase.
3.
Additional Floors
It is natural that as the size of the family grows,
more space in the house is required. Since all do
not have the financial capacity to buy a new house,
a possible option could be to replace the old house
with a new multi-storied building irrespective of
whether the building bylaws allow or not. In fact,
this has been observed to be the general trend since
the house owners are unaware that it could turn out
to be more economical by simply adding a floor or
two, as much as the bylaws permits and of
course in close consultation with the structural
engineer as well. It should also be noted here that
there are always possibilities to reverse the
additional components added to the historic
structure in future if required, whereas a
reconstruction after total demolition will
obliterate its existence forever.
4.
Adaptive Reuse
Although adaptive reuse has become an international
norm as a tool to preserve historical buildings and
bring to life monumental structures, Nepal and to
some degree in South Asia, still lags behind in this
concept. Many fine buildings which could have been
adequate for adaptive reuse are lost each year where
simple reorganization of the interior spaces to
comply with the requirement of the new user would
have been enough. The exterior facade of the
building do not need major intervention; in many
cases it can even stay untouched requiring minor
repairs, resulting in lesser construction period,
reduced construction cost and at the same time
saving the historic fabric.
5.
Private Sector
There are many government buildings, which could be
investigated for adaptive reuse proposes.
Unfortunately the official process to get things
moving takes such a long time that the building in
question remains without maintenance and at times
are known to have even collapsed. In such cases,
involvement of the private sector could bring faster
and better results and hence must be encouraged by
the government. Such development of not only public
buildings, but private properties as well, could
offer
much hope to this discouraging scenario.
6.
Flexibility in Bylaws
Building bylaws are necessary to bring some order
and control. However, it may not be practical when
applying it as a general case for all the buildings.
Each building, specially in the historic zone, has
individual problems and hence need to be addressed
accordingly on site by trained technicians.
7.
Incentive
There are provisions for incentives from
municipalities in the Kathmandu Valley for house
owners who build their houses in traditional style
(for new reconstruction). From the arguments as
above, those opting to retain their existing
traditional buildings, but addressed for its new
use, should be more encouraged so that some form of
traditional architecture is retained rather than
reconstructing in a fake traditional architecture.
8.
Public Outreach
Public awareness and appreciation, which could even
be word to mouth, of important examples of well
renovated residential traditional architecture could
rally new advocacy. There are many house owners who
lack the knowledge of possibilities and techniques
of changing their old houses for modern use which
could be easier and cheaper than rebuilding it in
modern cement concrete. These issues must be
explored by house owners, engineers and architects
before its demolition.
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