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The new American Embassy in Nepal does reflect
Loeffler’s observation to a great extent, especially
to those outside its ‘domineering gates’. At the
same time, Architect Sarosh Pradhan in his article
on the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok
mentions Architect Helmut Jahn as stating,
“Creativity has to do more with the elimination of
the inessential than inventing something new”. The
architecture of this new embassy seems to do just
that. Although this may be contentious to those
adamant on upholding traditional architecture, what
with seven heritage sites in Kathmandu alone, going
by the type of new buildings coming up in the city,
it seems inevitable that ‘elimination of the
inessential’ is here to stay.
That the Nepal government is planning for a new
international airport in the country is a subject of
deep interest doing the rounds in the architectural
circles here. However, the level of importance given
to the fundamental and essential question of design
is as yet unknown. SPACES hopes that the article
‘Caterpillar in Siam’ featured in this issue will be
an eye-opener to the vast possibility available
through open design competitions, particularly for
significant projects, since airports, after all,
‘give the first and last impression of a city,
region or country’.
Simultaneously, another flutter - in the Engineering
Society - the election for the new governing body of
the Nepal Engineers Association and Nepal
Engineering Council has probably flooded emails of
concerned professionals requesting for votes.
Unfortunately, it seems that most of the prospective
candidates seem to be more politically inclined
rather than professionally, which belies what the
institution’s basic foundation should be rooted on.
An engineer should be what he has studied to be and
work as far as possible in a professional manner in
the best interests of society and country.
With a happy ending note – SPACES concludes the
third year of its publication with this issue! We
hope your journey with us has helped to ‘inform,
educate and make your space as you want it to be’.
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