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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 62 MAR-APR 2006 SPACES
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?” everything down, so what? Vernacular architecture has been proven to be highly resilient and possible to be rebuilt again valuable experience.” This will be in striking contrast to the time when foreign consultants, even those with no experience DEFENDING TRADITION Oh yes, Professor Sudarshan Tiwari is just the sort of authority who can start the ball rolling as far as important debates are concerned. It is also a fact that some of his opinions appear to be rather simplistic at first sight. For instance, he says, “I don‘t agree that we have to take into consideration the idea of ‘permanence’ when doing restoration works.” Elaborating further, he explains, “I mean our traditional architecture has been leveled before in times of great calamities, but the same has managed to be rebuilt in surprisingly short times. So even if a big earthquake were to bring “A TIME COULD COME WHEN CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH ASIA WILL BE HANDLED BY NEPALESE ARCHITECTS. WE HAVE GARNERED SO MUCH VALUABLE EXPERIENCE.” soon. Therefore, spending too much time and resources on such things are not that important. And you can imagine, after a disaster, just the question of clearing up a steel and concrete mess would be impossible, leave alone the question of rebuilding.” The professor has an optimistic prophesy as well, “A time could come when conservation activities in South Asia will be handled by Nepalese architects. We have garnered so much whatsoever, were appointed for restoration projects in the country. “For the Hanumandhoka Conservation Project, John Sanday had been appointed by UNESCO to oversee the work. You can imagine, this was the first such work for Sanday. He had no experience at all then!” he exclaims. The Patan Museum Project is another sore point with the professor. In his view, SPACES MAR-APR 2006 63
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