Studio Co-ordinator:- Nripal Adhikary, principal architect of ABARI studios, Kathmandu
Gargi Somani
The course was majorly conducted as documentation study in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal and also included a brief 10-day workshop with rammed earth and bamboo in the village of Dhulikhel, an hour’s drive east from Kathmandu. This collaboration with ABARI studios was a unique opportunity for us to explore the historical and cultural context of Nepal. The program then looked into the bigger community and social aspect of it by taking a historical site, Swayambhu, as a departure point.
We began the documentation process by meeting up at the Mahachaitya where we were given an idea of the context, its history and methods to work further on site. To make our work easier we divided ourselves into 6 different groups with two groups making the master plan identifying and geo tagging all the chaityas on the site and the other groups detailed out the specific chaityas around the allotted region where some of them interviewed locals to find out narratives and history of the particulars chaityas that seemed interesting. To bring out the narratives of these chaityas we spoke with the presides within the mahachaitya complex as well as shopkeepers and other families who lived within the site or people who would visit the site regularly. Along with this primary method of gathering information for chaityas we also used secondary sources such as referring to books which had previously documented some of the chaityas within the site as a placeholder for us to begin our process of drawing out illustrations, bringing out other narratives and stories as well as the significance of the different elements within the chaitya. The compilation of the documentation in brief, was made into a pocket map as a reference for those visiting the site. This pocket map contains the various types of chaityas and where they are found on the larger map of Swayambhunath, as well as the total number of each of these types. The symbolisms, meanings and elements of the chaityas are also noted with the typical elevations and their archetypes. A pocket map format was chosen as it was the most convenient and compact method for people to understand the basics of a chaitya, and its location when on site. A group of 15 students from Khwopa Engineering College collaborated with us to help us through documenting the entire site, helping us converse with locals and translate literature.
The program explored the built environment - in particular, using sustainably sourced materials of bamboo and earth. The program then looked into the bigger community and social aspect of it by taking a historical site, Swayambhu, as a departure point.
We then collected stories about them and started classifying them. This process helped us in learning different methods in which a historically and culturally significant site can be documented.
The last 10-days were spent in Dhulikhel at ABARI farms getting hands-on experience in working with rammed earth and bamboo.
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