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Bir
Hospital, the first hospital of Nepal, was
established in July 1889 by Bir Samshere Jung
Bahadur Rana. This hospital started with just nine
beds and a news report in Nepalnews.com put its bed
capacity at 458 in the year 2007. According to the
Ministry of Health and Population, there are 83
hospitals (which includes specialized / central /
regional / subregional / zonal) and 22 teaching
hospitals (8 in the government sector and 14 in the
private sector) in the country. Compare that with
the status of medical science then in 1889 and what
it is now in 2008. What was the space and design
requirements then and what it is now…
This
issue features two prominent health institutions
initiated by the private sector in Kathmandu, which
gives us an idea of what it means to design a health
facility in the present context. Such projects show
that architects in Nepal have now become more
experienced and that in recent years, promoters seem
to finally have confidence in the capabilities of
local experts.
While
the National Institute of Neurological and Health
Science - Ar. Rajesh Shrestha's second hospital
project (Om Hospital at Chahabil was his first one)
- is specific in terms of offered health facility,
the design of Nepal Medical College is a much larger
project in terms of space requirements and services.
"We had to program the design, interact intensively
with each different faculties and also address the
fact that it was a functioning college before
finalizing the concepts for further detailing,"
informs Ar. Biresh Shah. The teaching hospital's
added requirement of meeting the standards set by
the Medical Council of India, over and above those
of Nepal Medical Council, seemed to have made the
project more interesting and challenging.
Regarding events happening the previous few months,
the presentation on Baubiology by the architects
duo, Popo Pingel and Mona Doctor-Pingel of Studio
Naqshbandi from Auroville, India, was especially
noteworthy. At the same time, we hope that the event
to mark the preliminary initiation to form the Nepal
chapter of INTBAU does not end with just that.
Talking about development - design competitions for
important buildings can improve quality of design as
well as attract wider participation. However, as Ar.
Uttam Shrestha pointed out, maybe the decision to
construct the new building within the Singha Durbar
premise needs to be reviewed, what with all the hype
about the proposed Outer Ring Road project. As the
results of previous government buildings design
competitions have not been too encouraging, we hope
that this building which will house the country's
future strategy towards development will not fall
into the same old quagmire.
This
issue, we have introduced a new section on ‘Home
Tips’ where we will be dissecting, analysing and
suggesting materials and methods of making your
living space a little more comfortable than what it
is now. Readers are welcome to send in their
problems regarding designs and materials.
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