Srinagar & Its Cultural Heritage:Conversation With Conservation Architect

By Aashiq Hussain Andrabi

AS Srinagar is getting ‘smart’ in a massive facelifting exercise at the moment, the safeguard measures of the city’s historic environment has prompted experts to alert authorities about the remodeling work being executed on war-footing.

Architect Saima Iqbal, who carried out the exhaustive cultural resource mapping of Srinagar city in 2004, said that the city’s cultural heritage is already sensitive due to dents caused by the catastrophic quake of 2005 and the devastating floods of 2014.

“Natural hazards and changing climatic patterns and geophysical activities are already causing immeasurable damage to our collective heritage,” Saima, who’s Principal Conservation Architect, INTACH, Kashmir Chapter, said.

Apart from natural disasters, she said, lack of ownership and awareness, vandalism, conflict and potential collateral damage resulting from an escalated event is an everyday challenge or threat to cultural heritage.

“The heritage conservation becomes important as a new sector called cultural heritage tourism is growing very rapidly,” Saima, who handled the camel bridge renovation project in Dal Lake, said.

“Cultural heritage can be a major economic driver for a place to increase tourism footfall and periods of stay. This has to be tackled very sensitively as large tourist influx can also endanger a historic place.”

In an interview with Kashmir Observer, the young conservation architect lists some of the pressing challenges of the industry today and her future research understanding Srinagar’s historic resilience and its relevance today.

Talk us through your journey as a conservation architect in Kashmir?

Right from the word go, I drew inspiration from the grandeur, the detail and technique and yet the vulnerability of historic buildings. A series of experiences and working opportunities eventually directed me to be a full-time heritage conservation practitioner.

I did my architecture degree from Bijapur – a place dotted with historical buildings of the Deccan Sultanate – famously called the Palmyra of the Indian Subcontinent. Spending five years of my life in this sleepy but spectacular town had an indelible impact on me.

Coming back home to Kashmir as a young architect in the early 2000s, the contemporary architectural scene was far from challenging and the scenes of heritage buildings crumbling or being vandalised gradually tip-toed me towards working in this very new profession.

INTACH, Kashmir Chapter was just established at that time and I grabbed the opportunity of being part of the 4-member team that carried out the exhaustive cultural resource mapping of Srinagar city in 2004. The success of this project paved the way for many more conservation projects in Srinagar and this is how I landed into being a full-time conservation practitioner.

Before coming of age, growing up was fun in Kashmir. Given my father’s central government service, we travelled a lot and learned a lot from our travelling experience. We were made to observe and analyse things around us at an early age. I was shy but at the same time quite outgoing and had a fair number of neighbourhood friends. Being the 80s kids we would be out on the streets, playing, meeting friends for long hours. Our parents allowed us a degree of independence which greatly shaped my personality and individuality.

As a conservation architect, how do you ensure that the historical integrity of a structure is maintained while making it relevant and functional for contemporary use?

Well, it really depends on what kind of heritage values we are working with. If the project has very high historic and architectural significance then we only preserve it using the best conservation philosophies and standards.

We use minimum intervention and like-for-like philosophy for such projects but if there is room for adapting a heritage building to a new use, after due value assessments, then we definitely allow ourselves to play with the spaces, form and material of the building or precinct and present it as a functional and architectural space ideal for contemporary use.

Since your work involves addressing issues in areas of architecture, historic conservation, and tourism development, can you elaborate on how these areas intersect?

There is a new sector growing very rapidly and it is called cultural heritage tourism. Cultural heritage can be a major economic driver for a place to increase tourism footfall and periods of stay. This has to be tackled very sensitively as large tourist influx can also endanger a historic place.

We work with authorities and prepare proposals for promotion of cultural heritage tourism and focus on specific themes such as heritage circuits, core historic city and vernacular architecture, historic gardens etc.

These projects then get funded under various government schemes and involve components of conservation, refurbishment, adaptive reuse, heritage walks, interpretation etc.

What’s the role of heritage conservation in promoting culture tourism in Kashmir?

I think community engagement is very important to achieving any large-scale project successfully. There has to be serious intent on part of authorities. Ad-hoc and quick-fix measures will only give temporary results. Capacity building programs and training workshops of various types and at various levels is also important so that informed project deliveries can take place.

For Kashmir, I strongly believe that impact assessments should be carried out before any project implementation. Derelict/abandoned properties should be adapted to viable end-use to reduce development pressure and improve the public realm and quality of our built environment.

What specific project stands out in your mind as particularly challenging or rewarding in your career so far?

All my projects have challenged me and I have tried to give my best to them, be it the conservation of the built elements of the Shalimar Bagh, the conservation of Amar Singh College or the currently ongoing refurbishment of Meeras Mahal Ethnography Museum, but if I have to pick one then I will choose the retrofit of Oont Kadal (Camel Bridge) in Dal Lake.

This project was very challenging because of the protection status of the Dal Lake and the consequent logistical issues of ferrying men and material to the site across the Lake. There were challenges of strengthening the foundation of the bridge which sat under water. We had to drain out water from around the bridge and secure the site with a temporary bund. We had a small window to carry out as much work as possible during the day as the water from the lake would quickly start seeping in and fill the project site up.

Material damage and pilfering had to be repaired, large and heavy stones had to be ferried inside the lake on a boat, which sometimes would be on the verge of capsizing. Because the project was funded by the German Embassy, we were working around a tight deadline and had to carry out the project in sub-zero temperatures in the lake which was not easy for our workforce. We also had to prepare special hydraulic lime that had to set under water.

What do you see as the biggest challenges facing the field of conservation architecture today?

Financial resources, depleting historic material resources and traditional building crafts being slowly replaced by contemporary technologies and material are some of the pressing challenges of the industry. These challenges can be addressed by transfer of traditional building craft knowledge to younger generations through training programs and conducting master classes, documentation of building craft technology is also very important.

The issues of depleting historic building material such as timber can be addressed by using alternate materials and adapting traditional building knowledge to fit contemporary needs. Lack of financial resources can be addressed by raising funds from sources other than the government like private donors, CSR, crowdfunding etc.

I have been myself fortunate to successfully receive generous grants from established international grant-giving organisations. The process is straightforward, you apply on their prescribed format and show the project potential, legacy and prepare a work plan, budget, professional capacity and a detailed methodology. If you can convince the donors, as grants are generally highly competitive, you get the grant. Currently I am trying to raise funds on a crowdfunding platform along with a couple of passionate urban conservationists for a placemaking project in downtown Srinagar for the first time.

What’re the biggest threats to heritage sites and buildings in Jammu and Kashmir today?

You have seen how our historic environment was impacted by the catastrophic floods of 2014 and the larger Kashmir region suffered substantial damage during the earthquake of 2005, so these natural hazards and changing climatic patterns and geophysical activities are causing immeasurable damage to our collective heritage.

Apart from this an everyday challenge or threat to cultural heritage is lack of ownership and awareness, vandalism, conflict and potential collateral damage resulting from an escalated event.

How do you manage to strike a balance between your personal and professional responsibilities? Can you share some of the strategies or approaches that have helped you maintain this equilibrium?

I have to say I have given priority to my profession rather than my personal life. I have chosen to be single out of preference so I have the privilege of living life on my own terms. There is no equilibrium, and striking an ideal balance is impossible. You just prioritise family, friends and profession on any given day and juggle different roles on a daily basis.

What’re some of your future goals in architecture and conservation?

Involving youth, communities and artisans and promoting cultural heritage, especially engaging the so-called Gen Z are some of my future goals. Documentation of traditional building crafts is another area I will be focussing on but most importantly I want to work on traditional knowledge, coping mechanisms and urban resilience during, before and after disasters, especially floods.

In more specific terms, my future research will focus on understanding what made the city of Srinagar ‘resilient’ historically and how much of this knowledge is still relevant and/or in practice today and how we can adapt those mechanisms for meeting today’s challenges of disaster risk management, essentially of cultural heritage.

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group: Join Now

MONTHLY	Rs 100
YEARLY	Rs 1000
LIFETIME	Rs 10000

CLICK FOR DETAILS