Kai Weise: “Monument-centric approach is outdated”

In this interview Kai Weise, an architect and an active proponent of disaster risk management for cultural heritage sites, elaborates on his vision and expertise of disaster response in Asian context.

Interviewed by:
Ekaterina Mikhailova

07 April 2017

Interview

Since 2003 Kai Weise has been working as a UNESCO consultant facilitating the establishment of management systems for World Heritage properties in Central and South Asia such as Kathmandu Valley and Lumbini in Nepal, Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Mountain Railways of India and Bagan in Myanmar. The approach of establishing these management systems has been acclaimed as being exemplary by UNESCO and ICOMOS.

– How have you find yourself in Nepal?

– I was born here, though I'm of Swiss origin and received my Masters degree in Architecture at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. My father was also an architect. He arrived in Nepal in 1957 for the Swiss Government and stayed on opening his own office. In early 90s after completing my studies, I came back to Kathmandu and started practicing here. Later I was hired as a UNESCO consultant and became involved in conservation of heritage sites from management and planning side. Thus today I define myself as a conservation planner.

- You are also the President of national committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) in Nepal. What role has this organization in the country?

– There has been two attempts to establish this organization, I was engaged in the second attempt. The role of ICOMOS Nepal has substantially changed in 2015 after the Gorkha earthquake – it became a platform where we've been debating on the diversity of ideas. The main controversy was on the question of strengthening the damaged heritage sites. One opinion was that if we reconstruct a World heritage site, we should make it stronger. The other approach was that if we strengthen it, then we'll loose authenticity due to using modern materials. Some experts were arguing that we could strengthen it by using other materials and avoiding concrete and cement. The other question under dispute was whether we keep the foundation as it is and build on top of it or whether we need to focus on strengthening the foundation (even by replacing it with the new one).

– What was your position in this controversy?

– Initially I was more concerned with keeping the authenticity of heritage sites but then I started differentiating approaches between 'living' monuments and those that are not. For example, in Bagan, Myanmar, we distinguish active and inactive monuments in a sense that some monuments are used for regular prayers, while others are not. Active pagodas that have certain religious significance are reconstructed and restored, while inactive monuments we tend to conserve.

– You've been working in Kathmandu valley and Bagan, at two World heritage sites that were heavily damaged during the earthquakes in 2015 and 2016. Do you find it possible to make a strategy for preserving heritage sites in seismic areas?

– That's a difficult question. First of all, we need to get a better understanding of how we deal with that. In most of seismic areas the monuments have survived previous earthquakes. How did they survive the previous earthquakes? What was done previously to ensure that these monuments have certain resistance to earthquakes? We need to go back, study that more and understand that better.

The problem is that we're using the wrong tools. After we study in university, we try to use methods proposed for engineered buildings in assessment of non-engineered structures. Very often it doesn't quite add up. The whole question of engineering and structural assessment is a question of calculating based on certain assumptions. To make these assumptions you need to know the situation. Lack of understanding leads to total miscalculation.

Think about the most important monument in the Kathmandu valley, Hanuman Dhoka, that has totally collapsed after the Gorkha earthquake. There was a Western architect making after-disaster assessment on the site. According to his calculation, the foundation was not sufficient for the structure. We had archaeological research done and we found out that the foundation was in perfect condition and that it was actually three hundred years older than we expected meaning that the foundation was one thousand four hundred years old. I don't think his calculation was wrong, I think the base for his calculations and the method are not appropriate.

– Is it possible to apply experience from other seismic areas worldwide in Nepal or does disaster-relief work always have to be country-specific?

– I think there's a large part that we can learn from each other. For instance, we're working very closely with Japanese experience. A friend of mine from India leads a course in Ritsumeikan University on disaster management for cultural heritage. At that course there are people from seismic areas throughout the world from South America to Southern Europe. The course has proved that certain methods and approaches are universally applicable. However, when it comes to details, for example in terms of materials, we need to be very specific about the location. In Japan it's mostly wooden structures while here it's a mix of wood and brick, in Italy it's mostly stone and brick.

– How have you been involved in disaster-response activities after the Gorkha earthquake?

– I was part of the team working on the response and rehabilitation strategy for the culture sector. The earthquake was in April, hence we had only two months before the monsoon, so we needed to protect the damaged monuments from the rain. Then during the monsoon we would have had time for planning long-term disaster-rehabilitation strategy. We had good plans but only parts of it were adopted by the government. For example, the rehabilitation guidelines were adopted but the rehabilitation procedures were not. We were advocating traditional craftsmanship however there was a tendency to go for tendering and using contractors who had no idea of how to work on traditional buildings. I later prepared the culture sector Post Disaster Rehabilitation Framework for the National Reconstruction Authority. This document has been officially published but not implemented.

– How do you assess heritage sites reconstruction after the Gorkha earthquake in Nepal?

– I heard that in Bhaktapur there are a lot of community-led projects working mainly with artisans and the projects seem to be going well. The main problem appears to be when external contractors with no knowledge of traditional construction methods are given the work of rehabilitation of monuments. The contractors are there mainly for commercial purposes and they find employing local artisans too expensive. We have found contractors on site who have been given restoration projects and they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing. This is a sad situation for important monuments.

– What is the role of international organizations in disaster relief programs?

– There are two sides to this question: what international organizations should be doing and what they are actually doing. In Nepal instead of supporting the national and local government in implementing programs, UNESCO has been focused on actually implementing its own projects. This doesn't seem to be right for me. I believe the local community and especially local artisans should be given priority to do what they can do. International organizations need to support them to implement these locally driven initiatives and help with technical matters. In Bagan UNESCO really managed to support the government and there the relationship between international involvement and national actors is functioning much better. In Nepal UNESCO could have had a similar critical role but it does not fulfil it yet.

– What is local perception of this international intervention?

– Locally international interventions are seen as a source of funding. On the other hand, many international organizations seem to prefer competing with local experts and artisans. This has led to some negative circumstances. Thus, there is serious scepticism toward international involvement however there also is dependency.

– What is the specificity of World heritage site management in Asian context?

– I think in Europe it's more based on legal framework, while in Asian countries it's a question of consensus-building and community involvement. First of all, the understanding of heritage has changed. Monument-centric approach is outdated. Heritage is not exclusively for the kings and the rich anymore, it is also for ordinary people. This change requires a change in management system too – from authoritarian one when you put a fence around the site and label that it's heritage, it has to be conserved now, nobody is allowed to get in or touch it, to more inclusive, democratic kind of management system where community is involved. We still are trying to figure out the way how to do it. We need to learn how to combine these approaches. There are still some monuments that we might need to put a fence around to protect them but when we have towns, villages, landscapes considered to be heritage, then we need to have community as a part of the heritage and caretakers. We need to find consensus when community is involved. For example, in Bagan for a long time the monuments were in the center of conservation policies but now we understand that the management shouldn't be only about the monuments, we have to consider the community as well.

– Was this consensus-finding approach successful in Nepal?

– In Kathmandu heritage sites are not as linked to the community, as they are in Bagan or Lumbini. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, perhaps has the most complicated situation due to heterogeneity of communities living there. Till recently there were only Hindu and Muslim groups living there, the Buddhist community came in from abroad not that long ago. When creating a World Heritage site management system, we were identifying which community we are talking about – the local one or the international one. The local community perhaps wants to profit from the heritage, while the international Buddhist community wants to use the site for religious purposes. Therefore, we tried to look at Lumbini in a broader sense – to perceive it as an archaeological landscape that encompasses all early Buddhist sites.

– Some experts find the notion of UNESCO's 'universal value' contradictory (the contradiction lies in over- and under-representation of some countries/regions in the UNESCO World Heritage list). What would be your response to this critique?

– There are several ways of looking at this. If we consider the World Heritage List as those sites that really are of values that are outstanding and universal, then we possibly have many sites that should not be on the list and there are many that are missing. However I believe the World Heritage Convention was established to help conserve heritage and not necessarily to prepare a representative list. As a conservation tool, it might be more effective in some circumstances than in others. We should use it only where needed.

– How do you assess Nepalese representation in World Heritage list - is it adequate to its cultural and natural diversity?

– The World Heritage properties in Nepal do represent the most outstanding and universal heritage properties of the country: Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini Birthplace of Lord Buddha, Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park and Chitwan National Park. There are of course several more sites that could be considered for both natural and cultural or even mixed sites.

– What are the prospects for sites included in the Tentative List? Shall we expect any new nominations any time soon?

– There were seven heritage sites placed on the Tentative list in 1996, one of them being Lumbini which was later inscribed on the World Heritage List. I was involved in the preparation of the 2008 amendment to the Tentative List for Cultural Sites, then we added nine more heritage sites. The tentative list was prepared in a manner that considered diversity and ensuring that all parts of the country were represented. However clearly many of these will never get on the actual World Heritage List.

Potential new properties would be such sites as Medieval Earthern Walled City of Lo Manthang and Tilaurakot, the archaeological remains of ancient Shakya Kingdom. The nomination process of Lo Manthang seems to have come to a halt due to certain community members not wanting to be listed. The listing of Tilaurkot will depend on the outcome of ongoing archaeological investigations. Another very interesting potential mixed World Heritage Site would be Shey Phoksundo National Park and surrounding ancient monasteries that need to be protected from infrastructure development, theft and general deterioration.

– What is special about Nepal as a country for architects to work in?

– Are we talking about architects who make new things or those who work with the heritage?

– Both.

– They are in two very different situations. Conservation is a sphere where you really need to understand local circumstances and local people. It is very difficult for anyone to just quickly come in and start working here. We're trying to mark off fields where we require international involvement and where it's better to have just the local involvement. Such differentiation allows channelling certain expertise when it's necessary - in methods of conservations, technical and organisational issues. I think in Nepal that distinction hasn't been made clear enough yet. We are having international involvement on the same issues where the national involvement is taking place.

– You are a part of the Society of Nepalese Architects (SONA) and the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA). Is there anything in common between these two professional networks?

– I'm not too involved with the Swiss society, even though I'm a member of a section for architects working in foreign countries. That is interesting as Nepal is not a foreign country for me. The SIA works on design competitions and norms. That's something we've been also working on here in Nepal. SONA is a bit politicized, as everything in Nepal when you have numerous people bonded together. On the other hand, one should not underestimate its role. SONA became a place for discussing ethical aspects of architecture in Nepal. There has to be some quality control in Nepal because a lot of constructions are not acceptable even when we have an architect involved. Another important achievement of this professional network is adoption of design competition guidelines that make it possible for young architects to receive commissions and good publicity.

07 April 2017

Interviewed by:

Ekaterina Mikhailova

Headlines now

Object

The Golden Crown

The concept for a dental clinic in Yekaterinburg, developed by CNTR Studio, revolves around the idea of a “mouth full of gold”: pristine white porcelain stoneware walls are complemented by matte brass details. To avoid an overly literal interpretation, the architects focused on the building’s proportions, skillfully navigating between sunlight requirements and fire safety regulations.

News

Flexibility and Integration

Not long ago, we covered the project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential complex, designed by APEX. Now, we’ve been shown different fence concepts they developed to enclose the complex’s private courtyards, incorporating a variety of public functions. We believe that the sheer fact that the complex’s architects were involved in such a detail as fencing speaks volumes.

Object

A Step Forward

The HIDE residential complex represents a major milestone for ADM architects and their leaders Andrey Romanov and Ekaterina Kuznetsova in their quest for a fresh high-rise aesthetic – one that is flexible and layered, capable of bringing vibrancy to mass and silhouette while shaping form. Over recent years, this approach has become ADM’s “signature style”, with the golden HIDE tower playing a pivotal role in its evolution. Here, we delve into the project’s story, explore the details of the complex’s design, and uncover its core essence.

Object

Gold in the Sands

A new office for a transcontinental company specializing in resource extraction and processing has opened in Dubai. Designed by T+T Architects, masters of creating spaces that are contemporary, diverse, flexible, and original, this project exemplifies their expertise. On the executive floor, a massive brass-clad partition dominates, while layered textures of compressed earth create a contextually resonant backdrop.

Object

Layers and Levels of Flight

This project goes way back – Reserve Union won this architectural competition at the end of 2011, and the building was completed in 2018, so it’s practically “archival”. However, despite being relatively unknown, the building can hardly be considered “dated” and remains a prime example of architectural expression, particularly in the headquarters genre. And it’s especially fitting for an aviation company office. In some ways, it resembles the Aeroflot headquarters at Sheremetyevo but with its own unique identity, following the signature style of Vladimir Plotkin. In this article, we take an in-depth look at the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) headquarters in the Moscow agglomeration town of Zhukovsky, supplemented by recent photographs from Alexey Naroditsky – a shoot that became only recently possible due to the fact that improvements were finally made in the surrounding area.

Object

Light and Shadow

In this article, we delve into the architectural design of the “Chaika” house by DNK ag architects, which was recently completed in 2023 as part of the collection of signature designs at ZILArt. As is well-known, all the buildings in this complex follow a design code, yet each one is distinct. This particular building stands out not only for its whiteness and minimalism but also for the refined use of a limited number of techniques that, together, create what can confidently be called synergy.

View

Casus Novae

A master plan was developed for a large residential area with a name of “DNS City”, but now that its implementation began, the plan has been arbitrarily reformatted and replaced with something that, while similar on the surface, is actually quite different. This is not the first time such a thing happens, but it’s always frustrating. With permission from the author, we are sharing Maria Elkina’s post.

Report

Treasure Hunting

The GAFA bureau, in collaboration with Tegola and Arkhitail, organized an expedition to the island of Kilpola in Karelia as part of Moskomarkhitektura’s “Open City” festival. There, amidst moss and rocks, the students sought answers to questions like: what is the sacred, where does it dwell, and what sustains it? Assisting the participants in this quest were landscape engineer Evgeny Levin, artist Nicholas Roerich, a moose, and the lack of cellular connection. Here’s how the story unfolded.

Object

Depths of the Earth, Streams of Water

In the Malaya Okhta district, the Akzent building, designed by Stepan Liphart, was constructed. It follows a classic tripartite structure, yet it’s what you might call “hand-drawn”: each façade is unique in its form and details, some of which aren’t immediately noticeable. In this article, we explore the context and, together with the architect, delve into how the form was developed.

Object

Fir Tree Dynamics

The “Airports of Region” holding is planning to build an airport in Karachay-Cherkessia, aiming to make the Arkhyz and Dombay resorts more accessible to travelers. The project that won in an invitation-only competition, submitted by Sergey Nikeshkin’s KPLN, blends natural imagery inspired by the shape of a conifer seed, open-air waiting spaces, majestic large trees, and a green roof elevated on needle-like columns. The result is both nature-inspired and WOW.

Object

A Brick Shell

In the process of designing a clubhouse situated among pine trees in a prestigious suburban area near Moscow, the architectural firm “A.Len” did the façade design part. The combination of different types of brick and masonry correlates with the volumetric and plastique solutions, further enhanced by the inclusion of wood-painted fragments and metal “glazing”.

Report

Word Forms

ATRIUM architects love ambitious challenges, and for the firm’s thirtieth anniversary, they boldly play a game of words with an exhibition that dives deep into a self-created vocabulary. They immerse their projects – especially art installations – into this glossary, as if plunging into a current of their own. You feel as if you’re flowing through the veins of pure art, immersed in a universe of vertical cities, educational spaces – of which the architects are true masters – and the cultural codes of various locations. But what truly captivates is the bold statement that Vera Butko and Anton Nadtochy make, both through their work and this exhibition: architecture, above all, is art – the art of working with form and space.

Object

Flexibility and Acuteness of Modernity

Luxurious, fluid, large “kokoshniks” and spiral barrel columns, as if made from colorful chewing gum: there seem to be no other mansion like this in Moscow, designed in the “Neo-Russian-Modern” style. And the “Teremok” on Malaya Kaluzhskaya, previously somewhat obscure, has “come alive with new colors” and gained visibility after its restoration for the office of the “architectural ecosystem” as the architects love to call themselves. It’s evident that Julius Borisov and the architects at UNK put their hearts into finding this new office and bringing it up to date. Let’s delve into the paradoxes of this mansion’s history and its plasticity. Spoiler: two versions of modernity meet here, both balancing on the razor’s edge of “what’s current”.

Interview

Yuri Vissarionov: “A modular house does not belong to the land”

It belongs to space, or to the air... It turns out that 3D printing is more effective when combined with a modular approach: the house is built in a workshop and then adapted to the site, including on uneven terrain. Yuri Vissarionov shares his latest experience in designing tourist complexes, both in central Russia and in the south. These include houseboats, homes printed from lightweight concrete using a 3D printer, and, of course, frame houses.

Object

Moscow’s First

“The quality of education largely depends on the quality of the educational environment”. This principle of the last decade has been realized by Sergey Skuratov in the project for the First Moscow Gymnasium on Rostovskaya Embankment in the Khamovniki district. The building seamlessly integrates into the complex urban landscape, responding both to the pedestrian flow of the city and the quiet alleyways. It skillfully takes advantage of the height differences and aligns with modern trends in educational space design. Let’s take a closer look.

Object

Looking at the Water

The site of Villa Sonata stretches from the road to the water’s edge, offering its own shoreline, pier, and a picturesque river panorama. To reveal these sweeping views, Roman Leonidov “cut” the façade diagonally parallel to the river, thus getting two main axes for the house and, consequently, “two heads”. The internal core – two double-height spaces, a living room and a conservatory, with a “bridge” above them – makes the house both “transparent” and filled with light.

Object

The White Wing

Well, it’s not exactly white. It’s more of a beige, white-stone structure that plays with the color of limestone – smoother surfaces are lighter, while rougher ones are darker. This wing unites various elements: it absorbs and interprets the surrounding themes. It responds to everything, yet maintains a cohesive expression – a challenging task! – while also incorporating recognizable features of its own, such as the dynamic cuts at the bottom, top, and middle.

Object

Urban Dunes

The XSA Ramps team designed and built a three-part sports hub for a park in Rostov-on-Don, welcoming people of all ages and fitness levels. The skate plaza, pump track, and playground are all meticulously crafted with details that attract a diverse range of visitors. The technical execution of the shapes and slopes transforms this space into a kind of sculptural composition.

Object

Proportional Growth

The project for the fourth phase of the ÁLIA residential area has been announced. The buildings are situated on an elongated plot – almost a “ray” that shoots out from the center of the area towards the river. Their layout reflects both a response to Moscow’s architectural preferences over the past 15 years, shifting “from blocks to towers”, and an interpretation of the neighboring business park designed by SOM. Additionally, the best apartments here are not located at the very top but closer to the middle, forming a glowing “waistline”.

Object

The “Staircase” Building

In designing the “Details” residential complex in New Moscow, Rais Baishev spiced up the now-popular Moscow theme of a “courtyard” building with an idea drawn from the surrealist drawings by Maurits Escher. He envisioned the stepped silhouettes and descending slopes as a metaphysical mega-staircase, creating a key void within the courtyard that gave the project an internal “spine”. This concept is felt both in the building’s silhouette and on its façades.

Object

Projection of the Quarter

No one doubted that the building that Vladimir Plotkin designed as part of the “Garden Quarters” would be the most modernist of all. And it turned out just that way: while adhering to the common design code, the building successfully combines brick and white stone, rhythmically responding to the neighboring building designed by Ostozhenka, yet tactfully and persistently making a few statements of its own. This includes the projection of the ideal urban development composition “14–9–6”, which can be found right next door, mathematical calculations, including those for various types of terraces (and perhaps the only reminder of the Soviet past of the Kauchuk rubber factory!), and the white “cross-stitch” pattern of the façade grid.

Object

Domus Aurea

In this issue, we examine the “Tessinsky-1” house, designed by Sergey Skuratov and completed in 2023. Located in the middle of the Serebryanicheskaya Embankment district, at the intersection of its main streets, this house assumes a sort of “nodal” role: it not only responds to everything around it and preserves many memories of the former EMA factory within itself, but it weaves all this into a newly directed pattern, reconciling bright “gold” and dark-colored brick, largely with the help of the new, modern-yet-archaic Columba brick, which, come to think about it, is the most precious element here.

send.project

The Chimney of Nikola-Lenivets

In this issue, we are examining the “Obelisk House” designed by KATARSIS and built for the Arkhstoyanie 2023 festival. However, it was only finished later on, and this is why we are examining it now. It seems to us that after the “Obelisk House” appeared in Nikola-Lenivets, a dialogue and a few inner connections appeared between the temporary structures built here. These houses no longer look like “accidental neighbors”, more of which below.

Periscope by the Bay

The jury awarded the second place in the competition for a public and cultural center in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to the companies GORA (“Mountain”) and M4. In the consortium’s proposal, the building resembles a sperm whale with a calf swimming next to it or a periscope, whose lenses capture the most spectacular views from the surrounding landscape.

Contest Results

From Arcs to Dolmens

While working on the competition project for Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, ASADOV Architects prioritized the value of the natural and urban environment, aiming to preserve the balance of the location while minimizing the resemblance of the volume that they designed to a “traditional building”. The task was challenging, and the architects created three versions, one of which having been developed after the competition, where their main proposal took third place. However, the point of interest here is not the competition result but the continuity of creative thinking.

Object

Hide and Seek

The ID Moskovskiy house, designed by Stepan Liphart in St. Petersburg, in the courtyards near Moskovskiy Avenue beyond the Obvodny Canal and recently completed, is notable for several reasons. Firstly, it has been realized with considerable accuracy, which is particularly significant as this is the first building where the architect was responsible not only for the facades but also for the layouts, allowing for better integration between the two. On the other hand, this building is interesting as an example of the “germination” of new architecture in the city: it draws on the best examples from the neighborhood and becomes an improved and developed sum of ideas found by the architect in the surrounding context.

The Big Twelve

Yesterday, the winners of the Moscow Mayor’s Architecture Award were announced and honored. Let’s take a look at what was awarded and, in some cases, even critique this esteemed award. After all, there is always room for improvement, right?

Object

Above the Golden Horn

The residential complex “Philosophy” designed by T+T architects in Vladivostok, is one of the new projects in the “Golubinaya Pad” area, changing its development philosophy (pun intended) from single houses to a comprehensive approach. The buildings are organized along public streets, varying in height and format, with one house even executed in gallery typology, featuring a cantilever leaning on an art object.

Report

Nuanced Alternative

How can you rhyme a square and space? Easily! But to do so, you need to rhyme everything you can possibly think of: weave everything together, like in a tensegrity structure, and find your own optics too. The new exhibition at GES-2 does just that, offering its visitor a new perspective on the history of art spanning 150 years, infused with the hope for endless multiplicity of worlds and art histories. Read on to see how this is achieved and how the exhibition design by Evgeny Ace contributes to it.

Object

Blinds for Ice

An ice arena has been constructed in Domodedovo based on a project by Yuri Vissarionov Architects. To prevent the long façade, a technical requirement for winter sports facilities, from appearing monotonous, the architects proposed the use of suspended structures with multidirectional slats. This design protects the ice from direct sunlight while giving the wall texture and detail.