New Buildings in Historic Settings: Designing in Context
Speaker : Dr. Sanghamitra Basu
Organised by ICOMOS INDIA and CALCUTTA HERITAGE COLLECTIVE
21 Sep 2019 | 4.30 pm to 6.00 pm
Venue- Alka Jalan Foundation, Daga Nikunj, 25/1 Ballyganj Circular Road, Kolkata 700 019
New Buildings in Historic Settings: Designing in Context
Sanghamitra Basu, Ph D
Organised by ICOMOS India and Calcutta Heritage Collective, 21 September, 2019
Brief of the talk: Historic towns and cities, heritage zones or areas, are places with distinct identity of their own. Characteristic visual culture, townscape elements, associations with events, rituals and practices, sense of place, all contribute to significance of these places. As dynamic entities these places manifest overlay of various periods and impact of changing socio cultural and politic economic forces. Individually or as parts of a larger settlement, these places are generally hub of activities and lived in places which are not meant to become museums frozen in time. New interventions are necessary to cater to changing needs of the residents, visitors and tourists. But in absence of specific guidelines/ design and planning criteria, such interventions often result in incompatible uses, construction of insensitive non-descript structures or poor unimaginative imitations of historic styles; essential living quality of these areas are often jeopardized. In order to retain significance of a historic area / settlement/ town, what is required is an enabling approach of ‘Designing in Context’. The presentation will discuss several examples and case studies to share how it is possible to design in harmony, to meaningfully interpret inherent visual culture and to explore new possibilities. A few case specific studies will be discussed in brief to demonstrate methods / techniques of impact assessment, view potential analysis and simulation techniques and how appropriate rules and regulations, incentives, capacity building and public awareness, are essential for continued identity of Historic Towns and Cities.
Brief Bio: Prof Sanghamitra Basu, Ph D
Sanghamitra Basu, Ph D ,is an architect ( B Arch Hons , JU Kolkata) , Urban Planner from SPA , New Delhi, a DANIDA Fellow ( Housing and Urbanization) in Royal Danish Academy , Copenhagen and a Charles Wallace Fellowfor MA in Conservation Studies from University of York, UK. She worked with HUDCO, New Delhi in Research and Design cell and in 1984 joined in the teaching faculty of Department of Architecture & Regional Planning, IIT Kharagpur. A retired Professor, she has over 35 years’ experience in teaching, research guidance and consultancy projects. She has worked extensively on documentation and participatory planning in built and cultural heritage in the eastern region of India and is currently, as a member of the consultant team from IIT Kharagpur, working for West Bengal Government for declaring Coochbehar as a heritage city.She has several publications in journals, chapters in books, monograph and papers presented in International and national conferences and has authored over 60 technical articles. During 2011 – 2014, she served as a Member of the National Monuments Authority, Ministry of Culture, and Govt. of India and is currently a member, INTACH Advisory Committee. She has organized several training programmesrelated to historic conservation e.g. online course on ‘Architectural Conservation and Historic Preservation’ as a part of National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), a Host Faculty / Coordinator of courses on ‘Heritage Management’ and ‘Heritage and Disaster Management’, under Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) supported by MHRD, Government of India.An active memberof ICOMOS India, she is the coordinator of the National Scientific Committee on Historic Towns and Villages, and a member of NSC Training. She was a part of Scientific Committee, ICOMOS General Assembly and Scientific Symposium: Heritage and Democracy, New Delhi, 2017.
