Should Nepali architects be activists? As a researcher of the traditional performance cultures of the Kathmandu valley, I think this question is worth pondering upon since cities in the valley and elsewhere in Nepal are miserably losing their architectural memories each moment. And, this demands upon Nepali architects to express their concerns about it collectively to the public through campaigns. My personal observation is that people are not happy with the way cities in the valley look these days. They hold great passions and concerns for the traditional faces and facets of the cities. Architects must use this architectural impulse of the people as an opportunity to prove themselves as the custodians of the cities. As a matter of their professional ethics, they should protect and promote memories of the cities in the forms of buildings, lanes, public spaces and streetscapes, and meet the expectations of the people since they belong to a geo-cultural space that is famous around the world for its architectures.

Architects are invisible yet invincible guardians of their cities. It is their pencil and drawing papers that provide shape, size and colors to the cities that we live in. Therefore, they are always and already in the frontline of the manpower involved in the making and maintaining of the cities everyday. Moreover, the architects based in the Kathmandu valley of the present times have reasons to claim this ‘frontline’ space. Ethically, they are one of the responsible parties for the kinds of architectural textures that the cities here have gained so far. For example, when we walk along the streets in Kathmandu, we do not only observe buildings and streetscapes but also decode the ideology of the urban policymakers and read the professional and the cultural ethics of the architects based in this city. And, I think this is one of the meaningful ways of reading cities.

Architects and urban policymakers cannot hide themselves in the concrete jungles that they happen to create because they become as much visible to the people as their works do. People have the right to ask the question: What are the architects and urban policymakers doing when great many memories of the cities, world famous in the past for their architectures, are vanishing into thin air? It can be assumed that they already feel that had Nepali architects created a culture of contemplation on traditional forms of architectures while designing modern buildings and bridges, streets and public spaces, people in the valley would have been walking through more beautiful lanes and watching streetscapes of cultural orders.

Therefore, before it is too late, architects should form a force and reach out to the public. It is an open fact that Nepali bureaucracy has failed to preserve and promote the memories of the cities. We cannot expect much from governments especially at a time when politicians are at loggerheads with each other. But it does not mean that chances for reviving traditional architectures of the valley are bleak since there are people who hold great concerns for the art and cultures of the valley. Together with the public, architects can launch and lead architectural movements, and make the Constituent Assembly pass certain bills on the hygiene of urban architectures and their planning, and create statutes through the new constitution. When the entire nation is engaged in designing new laws and orders, architects too should come up with their own manifestos as guiding principles on how cities in Nepal should look like in future. It is high time that Nepali architects dared to give a solid character to the cities through beautiful lanes, public spaces, temples and ponds, and herald a new era in the architectural achievements of the cities.

Ramesh Manandhar (1954-1992), a genius architect from the Newar community of Kathmandu, died in a Thai Airbus crash 18 years ago. A graduate from Mumbai University and a PhD from an Australian University, Manandhar belonged to a community of many Newar intellectuals who have made various impacts on the community and the country. As an architect, he possessed a critical sense of both the modern and the traditional forms of architecture in this country. The texts and memos he has left behind show that he possessed a tremendous sense of meta-architectural consciousness, and he dreamed about merging pedagogy of architectures with the skills and talents of general public in Nepal. He was not simply an architect bothered to earn money and live life of a celebrity. He was very much aware of the ethics as well as poetics of the architects living and working in architecturally important places such as Kathmandu and other cities of Nepal. Personally, he did not want to work as an architect trained to make big buildings for rich clients as he wanted to reach out to the locals and lend support to strengthen their energy. There are several reasons to remember this Newar genius architect particularly at this critical juncture when urbanization has become synonymous with disfiguring traditional architectures of the cities in Nepal.

The book Alone on the Footpath that contains Manandhar’s journey as an architect speaks volumes about the pedagogy of architectures and urban planning that have gone out of tracks in Nepal. He critiques the way degrees in engineering have become expensive in this country. He frankly expresses his opinion that Nepal does not need expensive degree holder engineers as they have to earn huge amounts of money to pay back the loan that they have to take to complete their academic degree. Because of this uncomfortable reality, several Nepali engineering projects have become rampant with corruption. Manandhar further opines that several academics holding degrees in the discipline of engineering and architecture do not have any significant things to offer to the people living in rural and remote areas of Nepal.
Though I am not an architect to say so, I think Manandhar can be taken as a source of inspiration for the Nepali architects to march ahead at the present critical juncture of urbanization in this country. As stated by Manandhar in the book mentioned above, Nepali architects need to redefine pedagogy of architectures in such a manner that architectures do not remain as urban and academic phenomena anymore. People’s architectures do matter. Therefore, architects need to reach out to the common public, and generate new power and identity for them.

This article is an appeal to the Nepali architects to come out from their well-furnished office rooms to the public with a genuine realization that they belong to a great heritage of architectures. Millions of people are waiting to be guided to the lanes and roads that evoke the past architectural faces of the cities. And, the political situation now is very appropriate for them to work as they represent independent power who can create cellular energy not dominated by politics. Architects may not provide people utopian cities but they can initiate a culture of addressing the issue of architectures publicly. While doing so, they can ensure the power of their profession and secure a safe future for the traditional architectures of the valley. But let’s come to the streets as architectural activists to restore the lost souls of our cities.

SHIVA RIJAL
rijalshiva@gmail.com

Source: Rijal, S. (2010),"Architects, activism & pedagogy",republica, 14 August 2010