Professional work produced as a Junior Architect with Himalayan Consulting Architects and Engineers in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake | Supervised by Kai Weise and Anie Joshi | Nepal, 2018-19
The Gorkha Earthquake that occurred in April 2015 led to massive loss of life and property and the collapse or damage to almost all the historic Darbar Squares in the valley of Kathmandu. Kathmandu Darbar square, an amalgamation of princely residences, the Throne room of the current Prime Ministers, temples and a designated UNESCO World Heritage site faced a brunt of the damage. By 2018, the phase of first response to earthquake was at its finishing stages, and the approach had shifted to providing long term solutions to the seismic crisis. Earthquakes of this magnitude occur in Nepal every 80- 100 years, and preventive measures were being taken in the process of rebuilding to prevent such crises in the future. This effort was undertaken by stakeholders such as the Department of Archaeology in Nepal, the Nepal Government, international agencies such as ICOMOS and UNESCO etc. The objective of this project was to create resilience to disaster and a methodology to be used in the face of future crises. I conducted damage mapping, analysis of crack patterns, material mapping and surveys to enable us to draw restoration plans for Kasthamandap and Hanuman Dhoka.
Kasthamandap and Kathmandu Darbar Square were almost completely destroyed after the 2015 Gorkha Earthquake. Credits: Anie Joshi
Reconstructed Kasthamandap temple in 2022
Kasthamandap Temple is a 5th Century Temple in Kathmandu. After the 2015 earthquake, the temple was reduced to its plinths, and was severely damaged in the rescue operations. The reconstruction committee, along with consultations from the department of archaeology in Nepal, the government, and a variety of International Universities, conducted research, community consultations, structural analysis, cultural analysis and came up with a restoration plan to rebuild the temple by 2022. The objective of this project was to create a holistic method of reconstructing a cultural icon, in the way that all stakeholders, and most importantly the community for which the temple is being remade has a sense of place and an equal participation in the reconstruction process. Providing seismic and technical support, and ensuring effective execution fell within our purview, but the act of construction itself involved the contribution of people from all over the valley, including sociologists, priests, the Newar community, artisans, researchers and structural consultants.
