Spaces Vol 1 Is 6

§PROFILE
draftspersons. Seven
architects who worked in
the office for several
years went on to open
their independent offices.
Robert Weise contributed
to the contemporary
architecture in Nepal by
achieving a blend between
the traditional and the
modern. In 1979, Robert
Weise was commended by the Royal
Nepal Academy for his exemplary works
of preserving the Nepali cultural identity
in modern buildings.
The 1980s was the most challenging
period in Robert Weise’s life. The heart
attacks had severely affected his health.
All the children had left to study or live
abroad and his position as the “Grand
Master” was being undermined by
younger architects who, not finding a
better reason, condemned him for being
a foreigner. Even after providing service
to the country for over 30 years, it was a
struggle to obtain a visa. In March 1989,
Robert Weise was again hospitalized and
had to be flown to Delhi for a double
by-pass heart operation.
During this decade there were
nevertheless over 60 projects that were
designed. Some of the projects that were
implemented were the Annapurna
Arcade, the Coca Cola Bottling Plants
in Balaju and Bharatpur, the Samajik
Sewa Mandir in Lainchour and the
Embassy of the Federal Republic of
Germany in Gyaneshwor. It was
however the Dreamland Resort project
in Begnas that best exemplifies this
period. The grand idea of having
boathouses built on Lake
Begnas for a luxury resort
remained a dream, due to
environmental concerns.
This period of hardship had a deep
influence on Robert Weise, who diverted
his attention towards other activities. He
joined the Free Masons and committed
himself to the Rotary Club of
Kathmandu where he became president
in 1988. In search of a more
philosophical reason for existence, he
started reading the teachings of Shree
Rama Tirtha and meditating. However,
the greatest task that he took upon
himself was a study on the historic
evolution of architecture in the
Himalayan region. The study came to an
abrupt halt with the sudden reoccurrence
of his heart condition, leaving a huge
collection of books and piles of notes.
After the heart surgery, Robert Weise
never recovered properly. He spent
several months in a health resort in
Switzerland. The near death experience
made him a completely altered person;
he turned vegetarian and abstained from
alcohol and tobacco.
Top: Samajik Sewa Mandir, Kathmandu
Above left: Hotel Malla, Kathmandu.
Above right: Dreamland Resort, Pokhara
GERMANY
Robert Weise was in Berlin when the Wall
came down in November 1989. With the
German capital being moved to Berlin,
it became the biggest construction site
in the world. Places such as the
Potsdamer Platz, which was formerly
segregated in two by the wall, were now
centres of commercial power,
surrounded by high-rises designed by the
most prominent international architects.
Robert Weise spent the last few years of
his life doing what he loved mostpainting,
travelling and engrossing
himself in philosophy. In January 1996
he was admitted to hospital for chest
pains. Over the next month his health
steadily declined and he breathed his last
on February 11 th 1996. S
76 SEP-OCT 2005 SPACES