Blog by Elkane Constructions

Prioritising Conservation Can culture underpin mainstream development? There are many instances and successful endeavours in the past that illustrate it can. cultural reserves must be seen as not on the symbols of past but as anchors of a community's secure future. Heritage can go hand in hand with health, education gender parity and livelihoods. True, conservation theory and practice have always been hurled with the fundamental question, time and again: Who should be conserved and how much should be conserved heritage stands at risk from neglect but more important from misguided interventions. The limited financial, technical and administrative capacities of our authorities need rationale through which we can take decisions. In developing democracy as ours, legislations, protection laws and heritage-related decisions often dictate the lives people. whereas, the prime focus always is to raise the standards of living and improve quality of life...People build perish...Building...

Another vital area to address in physical conservation is the understanding of structural engineering and traditional building construction. Medieval builders explored the 3-D equilibrium creating complex forms which do not follow the equations of determinacy. The knowledge involved in the construction techniques and the structural properties of these sophisticated forms are still scantily understood. Conservation and Heritage Education The aim of education is intellectual capacity building at all of the communities. Ideally, heritage awareness and education should be totally mainstreamed and be functional at educational levels from schools to the technical colleges. the architectural colleges/departments study of tradition building construction and techniques, craftsmanship, historic structural engineering are often unallied. At the graduate le. it is usually hard for the students to conceive anything beyond concrete, brick and glass. The postgraduate courses conservation by Variou...

Thus, many queries remain unanswered and the tendency to fall back on rhetoric is rampant. A lot of this may be the fallacy of the present educational culture where an excessive tress on theory alienates the budding professional from the realities and problems on the ground. The problems are many those related to legislation, protection, conservation, management and implementation: The issues of inadequate legislations; independent listings; inappropriate conservation interventions; unique problems of unique places; the operational issues and others. The Challenges related to training and capacity building are paramount. The problems of conservation in the Indian conditions- climatically and in response to natural hazards must also be seen as topical issues. Certainly, Indian heritage offers immense complexity. conservation and management of such heritage/heritage sites go beyond theory and academic discourse. More so, when no readymade solutions can be applied for specific context...

The Gulf between Theory and Practice The end-purpose of any theory is to achieve ethical results or a principled practice. But what is ethical conservation and who defines it? The parameters, or rather the principles and the methods of ethical conservation are constrained and defined by the context in which it is going to be exercised and are moderated by the temporal dynamics. However, a continuous dialogue on the same helps US grow and build an understanding of the exclusive Indian situations. Who is responsible for defining "ethical conservation'- the international Charters? the national constitution? the bureaucrats? the local authorities? an obsolete conservation manual written half a century back? NGOs? the Scholars/academicians? the conservation professionals? the local building Workmen? or the different and presupposed indifferent people to whom the heritage belongs? There exists a strong widespread and conspicuous culture of arm-chair conservation in our country w...

"Conservation Engineering' is another buzz-word. Ravindra Gundu Rao, a trained engineer and conservationist articulates, "Personally, in years of working, I couldn’t make a distinction between the terms "Architectural Conservation' and "Conservation Engineering in India. Perhaps it is different in countries where more time and efforts are invested in conservation of built environment. Here, normally a client who has real or perceived problems with their heritage building, more often than not related to roof leakage, plumbing, AC conduits, visual blight, etc, would look for a reputed (qualifications, experience, standing in the statutory authorities, Sympathetic approach to client's urgent needs) engineering or architectural firm to help. The selected person would prepare drawings, specifications and estimates and float a tender with various conditions to ensure duality conservation work. The work is allotted according to the lowest quotation basis by...

These values may be tangible or intangible; local, regional or global; subjective or objective or any other possible classifications that any book on heritage conservation will easily espouse. Once these values are discovered, heritage can become an effective tool in engaging the community and its different sections. Historically, Sacred Structures- temples and shrines have been restored as seva (Voluntary service) or dharma (religious duty), while the Shariat law mentions the upkeep and repair of public structures and infrastructure. Family memorabilia and ancestral bequests get preserved without any references to heritage conservation manuals. It is important to understand that every structure does not need to be the White-marbled tour de force to qualify as conservable heritage. It only needs to be valuable in some measure to somebody. Expanding the Domain of Conservation There is a vast range in scale and complexity of conservation projects from restoration of a simple structur...

Indian Heritage - what do the two words bring to the mind? A pictorial jugglery of post-Card images in the first instance: Taj Mahal, the frescoes of Ajanta and Ellora, intricate latticed-screen jharokhas of Jaisalmer, ruined ramparts with formidable bastions, domed mausoleums with sky-touching pinnacles, the animate motifs of the myriad temples, more and much more... Conservation of this heritage is a new-fangled movement in India, formally about three-decades old. Even from the perspective of cultural internationalism, the world has somehow become much more concerned to preserve and protect (and promote) its cultural and natural heritage in the last five decades. With rising global interest in conservation, it is essential to consider more inclusive ways of retaining significance of our heritage; to develop more articulated thoughts and actions for their sustained use and increased life. However, this entails highly specialised skills, poses several challenges and ethical querie...