The Bold and the Brave

Rajesh Shrestha is Principal Architect of Vastukala Paramharsh, the firm he established in 1991 after having worked with Design A Consultancies in Delhi, Astra and DOM Consultancies in Kathmandu, and four years with Bhavan Bibhag.   With over 56 successfully completed projects (worth Rs. 150 crores) under his belt and with on going construction of 21 projects (Rs. 110 crores) as well as 15 (worth Rs. 47 crores) in the designing stage, Rajesh and Vastukala can be said to have ‘arrived’. This is, of course, an understatement, but as the 43 year old bachelor architect says, “I have risen from a humble background and feel that each day and every project is still a struggle.” Rajesh’s father is a retired bureaucrat who lives with his wife and only son in Pulchowk. The architect has two sisters who are married.

He also admits frankly that his bachelor status allowed him to take a lot of risks in his career. Risks like investing in one of the first large scale housing projects, Comfort Housing (P) Ltd. and rising to the challenge of designing a multifunctional private hospital, Om Hospital in Chabel. The first has been an outstanding success and has garnered a lot of appreciation while the second gained him huge experience. As he recollects, “The hospital has been by far my most challenging project but all that effort resulted in a lot of valuable experience.” However, Rajesh and Vastukala’s turning point towards fame seems to have been two works done in the year 2000, that of the Great Lotus Stupa in Lumbini and the HISEF building in the Capital. Regarding the Stupa, Rajesh informs that the clients initially had plans to make only the stupa but expanded it to include the huge meditation hall on the architect’s advice. He remembers, “It was my idea to construct the massive circular dome above the hall and beneath the stupa, without using supporting pillars.”

The HISEF building situated in Hatisaar has generated a lot of attention with both admirers as well as critics evenly divided. The admirers, which include primarily younger architects, are all praise for his boldness while the detractors’ main bone of contention is that a lot of structures have been unnecessarily created. From a layman’s point of view, the HISEF building flaunts the designer’s identity and serves as a signature of his work. In fact there are many other examples of Rajesh’s works that are easily identifiable because of this fact. Anyway, criticism has never stopped this SLC Board 3^rd (1978, AVM school) from being daringly innovative in his designs. The fact that there were more lucrative fields for the asking didn’t stop him from choosing architecture as his subject under the Colombo Plan scholarship after he had finished I. Sc from ASCOL in 1980. As he says, “Choosing this particular subject was a very conscious choice because I have always been interested in architecture. And that year I was lucky because there were five architectural seats.” He passed out with B. Arch from SPA, Delhi in 1988.

While working in Bhavan Bibhag Rajesh also volunteered his time to the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, Nepal (INSAN) where he did a pilot project in Biratnagar that involved design for low cost housing. Because of this, he was invited to be an Ashoka Fellow. As a member of this elite organization Rajesh is conscious of his responsibility and promises, “I will develop low cost housing projects in the future.” Of course by this he means at least five to six years down the line because he knows that there is still a lot left to be done to be more solidly established so that he can do more for society. This is not to say that Vastukala Paramharsh is on shaky ground at the moment. On the contrary, the firm today is on rock solid ground and has 1 senior architect, 5 architects, a model maker, a 3D model maker, 3 draft persons, 5 civil engineers, 2 civil overseers and 3 administrative staff on its payroll with Rajesh heading the management team of four that includes one person each looking after Administration and Finance, Project Management and Q.S. and Co-ordination and Electrical. Clients’ waiting time could take up to six months to avail of the firm’s services. The firm’s list of completed, on going and in-design projects include commercial and office complexes, apartments, hospitals, hotels and resorts, schools, religious buildings, factories and warehouses, three housing colonies as well as well as a substantial number of residences.  He adds, “We also designed the St. Xavier’s Campus auditorium and I think it is the first one to have a roof using concrete blocks”.

While Rajesh’s first two works in Nepal were residential designs, the third was the well known Peanuts showroom in New Road. No doubt Vastukala has wide and diverse experience, but presently, after being so closely involved with three highly successful housing colonies, it can claim to be specially proficient on this particular subject. Just to give an idea of its exposure it is interesting to note that the first Comfort Housing project in Sitapaila consisted of 76 well planned houses on 42 ropanies of land, the second, that in Budanilkantha, 42 bigger houses on 29 ropanies and the third, in Ichangu, 68 houses on 42 ropanies. As a developer-architect Rajesh is in a unique position to advice the government on housing issues and in fact admits that he has given the same when asked for. However, one does feel that concerned authorities should take the initiative to make more use of the architect’s expertise so that building bylaws concerning housing could be further streamlined to better serve the public.

For instance, the architect rues the fact that there are no proper laws for high rise apartments, the correct development of which would be of immense benefit to lower income people. “I feel the authorities are not taking this subject seriously.”  He further elaborates on the example of Comfort Housing’s plans for an apartment complex in Ichangu which has been stalled because bylaws require open space of at least six meters around the building. “The land is not rectangular so six meters of open space cannot be allotted uniformly all around.” In his opinion, “Why six meters? If it is meant for allowing access to rescue vehicles, then four meters should be sufficient.” About housing colonies, he believes that the bylaws requirement of a seven meter access road is not always practicable. In fact for their Budanilkantha project, two smaller one way access roads were made use of to compensate for the lack of a seven meter one.

The architect-developer’s experience justifies his view that developers should be categorized according to their past work and that they should have a say in urban development issues such as land pooling and even issues of long term importance like the outer ring road projects. As he says, “If not well planned properly in advance, such projects will give rise to speculators scrambling all around and will ultimately lead to creation of urban slums.”  It is not only such subjects which worry Rajesh. He is equally concerned about the devastation of traditionally built buildings and has an ambition to resettle residents amicably from densely populated traditionally structured localities such as the one in Maru Tole, so that he can design and restructure the historically important neighborhoods. As he says, “You cannot expect people to preserve if their localities and homes are un-inhabitable. They have to be made more habitable without destroying heritage values.”

Nonetheless, the fact cannot be hidden that Rajesh Shrestha is admired more for his invigorating boldness and in fact one can expect to see an increased number of his signature trademarks all over the city in the years to come. As if to emphasize this, the architect says, “What I am really interested about now is to design a museum and an international airport.” This, more than anything else, is an indication of what heights Rajesh and Vastukala have reached today. And one can be sure that the museum will be no ordinary one and that the airport will have a generous smattering of high tech structures which the architect says he is excited about using.

Rajesh Shrestha is sufficiently bold and brave enough to do just that.