Architectural Conservation

• To highlight the theory and practice of conservation.
• To sensitize the students with the issues pertaining the conservation of cultural property
• To familiarize with their problems and the approaches in conservation.
• To focus on limitations of maintenance, repair and restoration.

1. Conservation(12 hours)
• Definition
• History
• Western-Conservation in ancient, medieval and modern periods
• Nepalese- Conservation in ancient, Lichhavi, Malla, Shah & Rana periods.
•  Philosophy
• Authenticity- Materials, Form, Structure
• Principles of conservation – Reversibility, Minimum intervention, Maximum retention


2. Cultural Property(8 hours)
• Phenomenon of deterioration – Natural and human action.
• Needs to repair, maintain and conserve values in conservation – Emotional , Historic, Archeological and Social values


3. Methodologies of Conservation(12 hours)
• Inventory
• Inspection
• Documentation and Interventions- Degrees and Strategies
  Prevention of deterioration, Preservation, Consolidation, Restoration, Rehabilitation, Reintegration, Anastylosis, Renovation, Conjectural restoration, with examples from national and international cases: Hanuman Dhoka Palace, Bhaktapur Development Project, Renovation of 55 windows palace.


• Materials and Techniques (Traditional vs modern)(8 hours)
• Traditional materials and techniques of conservation in Nepal eg; walls and facing, floors and joist replacements, roof structure and Jhingati, Dalans and column/beam sets, Doors & windows, mud and mud mortar, problems in wood works and brick works in traditional buildings.
• Modern materials and techniques in use, roof tar, water proofing, damp proofing, problems in innovation and practice, examples Mayadevi temple at Lumbini, Keshav Narayan chowk at Patan, Chysilin Mandap etc.


• Historic Buildings (8 hours)
• Rehabilitation
• Adaptive Use


• Design and Planning Control(12 hours)
•  Ancient Monuments Preservation  act 1955 and revisions
• World Heritage Site, criteria and procedure for nomination and inscriptions.
• General Bye-laws and specific building control norms applied in monument Zones in Kathmandu Valley WHS, Problems and issues, conservation of urban cultural landscape, heritage spaces and cities, listing in WHS in danger .
• Management plan and regulations of design/construction.

• Feilden, Bernard M, 1982, Conservation of Historic Buildings, London.
• Fitch, James Marston, 1992, Historic Preservation, University of Virginia Press.
• Jokiletho Jokka, A History of Architectural Conservation, University of York
• Parajuli, Yogeshwor, 1986. Bhaktapur, Bhaktapur Development Project Board.
• Sanday, John 1979. Building Conservation in Nepal, UNESCO, Paris.
• Sanday, John 1979, Hanuman Dhoka, AARP, London.
• Sanday, John 1979.  Monuments of the Kathmandu Valley, UNESCO, Paris.