KVPT’s Patan Darbar Earthquake Response Campaign - Work to Date - September 2016

Left (Top and Bottom)
Structural improvements to masonry
walls created by tying the inner
and outer wall plates together to
introduce continuity and to hold
walls together, at Radha Krishna
temple project (upper and lower
left).
Right
Upper right sketch shows stainless
steel corner reinforcement between
adjacent plates at Uma Mahesvara
(upper right).
Sketches by Rohit Ranjitkar, 1992
the masons and carpenters to identify places to add unobtrusive
or concealed strengthening.
and Radha Krishna, was reviewed by the visiting Wood
Conservation Mission of ICOMOS, who described it as
exemplary of how high quality restoration and repair
projects could be achieved in the the Kathmandu Valley.
The development of additional and innovative ways to
strengthen timber joints and make vertical connections
was an important advance in the general measures to improve
connections in repairs and rebuilding. Ranjitkar’s
achievement, notably, followed from his having spent
many hours on the building scaffolding working with
Among these measures were the extension of inner wall
plates, the inclusion of additional timber joints to connect
the inner and outer wall plates, and steel reinforcing
angles to add stiffness and continuity to the structure at
the top of brick masonry walls (eg, at Uma Maheshvara
temple). The addition of timber corner posts extending
down from these stiffened wall plates also added vertical
continuity to the timber framing, helping reinforce
the brick masonry and increasing the adaptability of the
structure by adding some redundancy to the load path.
Innovative thinking, largely spurred by the difficulties of
procuring lead and stainless steel in the Nepali market,
also led to the use of copper sheeting as a damp proof
course during preservation work at Ayuguthi Sattal.
Since chemical treatment and reinforced concrete damp
proof courses were unprecedented in Nepal at the time,
the use of copper sheeting to separate timber elements
from masonry elements to inhibit water flow was implemented.
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