ARCHITECTURE The Tara Gaon Hostel During 1971, the chairwoman of Nepal Women’s Organization was planning to build a small village with little bungalows for foreign visitors, preferably young researchers or artists who were staying several weeks or months in the valley for professional reasons. Carl Pruscha convinced her to choose a special house type for temporary usage which became the standard unit for the Taragaon Hostel in Boudha, Kathamndu. As a result, a central small plaza was created with the cluster of 16 small units grouped around a communal building, for which the brick vault commonly used for pilgrims’ lodging was selected instead of the pitched roofs commonly found in the valley. The building was constructed outside of the large stupa of Boudha, one of the most important centres of the northern Lamaism. Be it Taragaon hostel or CEDA, in most of the buildings he designed during his stay in Nepal, Pruscha was continuously experimenting to evolve a new form of architecture using bricks. Gradually, he was successful to prove that it was truly possible to build traditional and modern both at the same time. All these projects, for which he did not charge any fees as an architect, were actually not part of his obligations to the United Nations. But for him, they were important examples to demonstrate practically what he was to talk and propose as the adviser in physical planning. Later, he was also asked by the Government to prepare a plan for the development of Lumbini. But after visiting Lumbini, he realized that it was still an untouched site almost unchanged since the days of Buddha. It was a place of such sacredness that he felt overburdened to touch it. Thus, he requested UNESCO to ask the architect Kenzo Tange, whom he knew from his studies at Harvard to serve as their consultant. Tange visited the site and invited him to join his planning team in Tokyo, where both of them collaborated for several months. Unfortunately none of the proposals became implemented. Thanks to Pruscha, apart from his own contributions to Nepal he also proposed many personalities of outstanding reputation like Sekler, Tange, Kahn, Zielinsky, who otherwise would not have been put in the position to contribute in Nepal. Beyond Himalayan Vernacular After spending about ten years in Nepal, Carl went back to Vienna where he served his following ten years teaching architecture at the Academy of fine arts. Another twelve years he served as the Rector of the University of Arts. Upon retirement, he was invited by the Getty Institute in Los Angeles as a head of Studio for Habitat, Environment and Conservation research scholar to spend six months there. The outcome of this research was the publication titled as ‘Himalayan Vernacular’. He is also an honorary member of the Senate of the Academy of fine arts, an honorary professor of the Technical University, Vienna and the chairman of the Austrian committee of the arts. “More than any of the other arts, Architecture is place-specific. This is why Nepal has been so crucial in the development of Carl Pruscha...Like birds that migrate every winter from Siberia to North India, and then back again, some instinct brought him out to Kathmandu. There he came to life. Perhaps it was because he was young and full of creative energy, but somehow his work in Nepal is truly extraordinary, producing in his architecture a sequence of brooding monumental images, as mythic and enigmatic as the Himalayan ranges that lie all around.” mentions Charles Correa in the book ‘Himalayan Vernacular’. Pruscha’s contributions in Nepal were more like the telescope of Greuber. They gave Nepal, a new vision to see beyond its existing boundaries. It was a fresh new beginning for the country to understand and appreciate what a planned regional development can do for a nation. Tara Gaon Hostel Master Plan www.spacesnepal.com 38 <strong>September</strong>-<strong>October</strong> <strong>2010</strong>
ARCHITECTURE <strong>September</strong>-<strong>October</strong> <strong>2010</strong> 39 www.spacesnepal.com