|
A Moving and
Sensitive Tribute
Vineeta
Singha
|
Sarosh (third from the left) and
his design
team with the Ambassador |
|
HIGH-LIT and highlighting the landscape of an
embassy appears a tribute and memorial to
camaraderie and to labour lost and found.
The strict and imposing American Embassy in
Kathmandu suddenly gives way to a powerful elemental
sculpture of marble with white light. This
sculpture, made of stone slabs placed side by side
with each other, evokes a sense of nature,
spirituality and thanks giving. Sarosh Pradhan, a
well-known architect, artist and designer of the
sculpture, speaks passionately about his latest
work, underscoring its emblematic aspects and
meanings.
Chosen as one of the best and brightest in his
field, one gets the feeling while listening to
Sarosh that the forces and the materials of creation
have come together to serve as a remembrance. His
careful moulding is clear and insightful.
The move into order and security that the Embassy
itself signifies is unexpectedly complemented by the
presence of the marble sculpture which lends itself
to an art form slowly but surely reviving itself
with ease and meaning.
The work is a fitting tribute for the employees of
the Embassy and enhanced with pure white light, the
form finds substance in the original intent and
final presence of the sculpture itself. Waxing
eloquently about his love for art and art forms,
Sarosh defines his work as a sensitive intervention.
This is very much in keeping with the Ambassador’s
appreciation of the work as ‘a moving and sensitive
tribute’.
|
Architectural Projects of international
nature, however small, are seldom
commissioned to local designers. To try
and understand the Embassy’s process and
response to the design, SPACES asked a
few questions to Mark Larsen, Counselor
for Public Affairs of the U.S. Embassy
in Kathmandu. |
What was the brief given to the invited Consultants
regarding requirements for the proposed design and
what was the criteria for choosing Sarosh’s design?
With the
goal of designing and constructing an appropriate
memorial for those employees, Nepali and American,
who have lost their lives while working for the U.S.
Mission in Nepal, the Embassy invited three
designers to the Embassy to discuss the potential
project. The designers/consultants were selected on
the basis of positive Embassy experience working
with them on other projects.
When the
designers came to the Embassy, they were shown
photos of one memorial at a U.S. Embassy in another
country. They were also shown the areas of the
compound here on Maharaj Gunj where the memorial
might be situated, and invited to come up with
creative designs for a potential memorial. It is my
understanding that only a few things were ruled out
in these informal consultations with the three
designers: no statues, for instance, and no
subterranean designs like that of the famous Viet
Nam Memorial in Washington, DC, would be considered.
Any other design appropriate to the space and the
moral tenor of a memorial could be considered.
The
three designers subsequently submitted as many as
nine drawings/renderings representing their ideas
for a possible memorial. An informal committee of
senior officers at the U.S. Embassy considered the
renderings and selected one as the most appropriate
memorial on the basis of its aesthetic appeal and
the degree to which it captured the essence of
permanence, transition, remembrance, and memorial to
those who gave their lives in service to the United
States while in Nepal.
Once the
winning design was chosen, the designer was
contracted to produce technical drawings and other
documents needed for construction.
Construction of the memorial itself was competed
through a traditional competition in which the
Embassy obtained at least three bids and selected
the lowest bid which met the design specifications.
Any
comments on the final product regarding its design
and implementation - especially with regard to the
embassies earlier work (of the main building) using
foreign consultants and contractors?
Although the very last parts of the construction are
not complete, I believe the initial response to the
memorial has been that it captures the intent of the
Embassy community in memorializing the colleagues we
have lost, that is it well-designed and well-built,
and that the collaborative experience working with
known and trusted Nepali consultants and contractors
has been a rewarding one.
Firms
who were invited to compete were
as follows:
Sarosh Pradhan & Associates
G.P.O. Box 424, Chaunni, Kathmandu
PH: 4270260/4283940
John
Sanday Associates Pvt. Ltd.
Post Box 483, Lazimpat, Kathmandu
PH: 4411671/4438935
Himalayan Builders and Engineers Pvt. Ltd.
G.P.O. Box -9411, Babarmahal – 11, Kathmnandu.
PH: 4242018/4241276
Subscribe
|
