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PROFILE§
PROFESSOR SUDARSHAN RAJ TIWARI was born on Asar
18, 2007 (2 nd July 1951) to Late Tej Raj and Premi Devi Tiwari.
His wife, Sunita, is a Lecturer at Padmakanya Campus and
their daughter, 22 year old Subhikshya, a third year medical
student in Manipal Campus, Pokhara. Professor Tiwari
received his Doctorate of Philosophy (Nepali Culture) from
Tribhuvan University in 1995. He was recipient of the Best
Student Medal and Citation from the School of Planning and
Architecture, Delhi, from where he did his B. Arch in 1973. In
1977, he received his Masters in Architecture from East West
Centre (University of Hawaii). He was awarded the Prince
Dipendra Award for Science and Technology (1989) and the
Mahendra Vidya Bhusan Medal and Citation, 1 st Class, in
1995.
His working experience has included tenures as Lecturer
(1974-1985), Associate Professor (1985-1993) and Professor
of Architecture (1993 to date) at the Institute of Engineering
(IOE), Department of Architecture, Kathmandu. From 1988
to 1992, Professor Tiwari was Dean of the IOE. In 2002, he
was Opponent / Ph D Examiner at the Norwegian Institute
of Technology, and Member, Expert Committee of Council
of Architecture for review of B Arch course at IIT, Kharagpur,
India. From 2004 onwards he has been a Visiting Professor
at the Tibet University in Lhasa. From 1988 to 1992, as the
Director, he managed the successful implementation of two
large internationally funded projects, the Engineering
Education Project and the Second Engineering Project. From
1977 to 1985, he was the Architect for the Institute of
Engineering Development Project.
He has been a
Member of
Development
Projects Review
Commission
(1992), Regional
Consultant Architect of Education Quality Improvement
Program, Afghanistan (2004) and Procurement Consultant
for Nepal Health Sector Program (2005). In 2000–2001,
Professor Tiwari was appointed Heritage Specialist
Consultant for the Kathmandu City Development Strategy
Preparation Team. He has been the National Consultant
Architect for Basic and Primary Education Project (1994-
1999), Earthquake Emergency Schools Rehabilitation Project
(1994-1997), Population and Family Health Project (1995-
2000), Basic and Primary Education Project II (1997-2004),
and the Education for All Program (2004).
As a Consultant for UNDP Nepal, he has been the
Environment Improvement Advisor for Quality Partnerships
in Quality Tourism Projects (Nov 94-Feb 98), and National
Team Leader for Urban Environment Management Program
Preparation (1994). He has been also been Advisor for
Preparation of Conservation Plan and Implementation of 55
Window Palace (2003-2005) and in 1999-2000 was Team
Leader for preparing a policy document on ‘Strategic Plan
for Institute of Engineering-2000-2020 AD’. He has prepared
study reports on various subjects for different agencies
including Academy for Educational Development, AED,
(Washington DC), UNESCO and UDLE/GTZ. In 1985 and
1988, he was Expert Committee Member and Architect of
National Fairs Committee for Expo ’85 and Expo ’88
respectively and was involved in design conceptualization
and detailing of the National Pavilions in Tsukuba, Japan,
and Brisbane, Australia.
Professor Tiwari has presented many papers at numerous
seminars worldwide. Many of his articles have been
published in national and international journals. He has
written three books, ‘The Brick and the Bull’, ‘The Settlements
of Ancient Nepal’, ‘Tiered Temples of Nepal’ and a booklet,
‘A Monograph on Marfa’. His next book, ‘Temples of Nepal’
is in the final stages of completion.
“IS IT THAT THE BY LAWS ARE NOT BEING FOLLOWED? OR IS IT THAT THE
BY LAWS ARE IMPRACTICAL? IS IT THAT THE LAWS ARE GOOD FROM A
WESTERN POINT OF VIEW BUT NOT SO FROM THE RESIDENTS’
PERSPECTIVE?”
Professor Tiwari confesses that he has
always been advising organizations like
UNESCO to use a different approach
towards preservation activities in Nepal.
“For instance, here many of the
traditional heritage sites are ’seasonrelated’.
Most of them are focal points
during festivals which are almost all
seasonal in occurrence. So it would not
be a good idea to approach restoration
and other activities from a purely
‘historical-year’ angle.”
Well, this should give an indication as to
the workings of the professor’s mind.
Tangential, no doubt. And maybe, this is
as it should be, considering that he is after
all, before all else, an architect. And as
everybody knows, architects have to have
equal measures of the philosophic and the
practical in their systems in order to answer
to the call of high creativity that this noble
profession requires.
To a question as to how monument zones
here have managed to get themselves into
the ‘Endangered List’, this is what he
thinks, “One reason could be that we have
tried to include too wide an area when
zoning heritage sites. Long time residents
living within the zones cannot be expected
to adhere to standards which will keep
them apace from modern development.”
But then again, the professor does
concede, “However, since the surrounding
environment is vital when talking heritage
sites, perhaps it is also right that a wider
area has been considered. Still, if so, we
have to explore the causes of failure. Is it
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