PROFILE§ from Kanya Mandir in 1965, and B.Sc from Trichandra Campus in 1969. She won a scholarship under the Colombo Plan and went on to Bengal Engineering College in Kolkata. However, due to the prevailing Naxalite problem, she shifted to Baroda a year later and joined ranks with her yetto-be husband as well as with Jyoti Sherchan, along with whom she jointly became the first lady architect of Nepal. Matsyendra, on the other hand, has always had some engineering influences in the family. His elder brother Kanhaiya is not only structural engineer but also, an architect. Another elder brother, Sambhu, is a structural engineer as well and holds the singular honour of being the first to receive the Mahendra Vidya Bhusan in the country. A younger brother, Narendra, is Kayastha Residence, Kupondole. an agroeconomist and is an associate professor in CEDA. Matsyendra himself studied in J.P. High School and passed his SLC in grand fashion, becoming Board 5 th . In college too, he continued with his winning streak and became Board 3 rd in I.Sc. Matsyendra credits his father for the academic vein in the family, “He was an administrative officer in the irrigation department and used to be in close proximity with engineers which could have made him push us in that direction.” After returning to Kathmandu the couple started teaching at the Institute of Engineering while at the same time, working in KUBA Associates, a joint venture firm of K.L.Kayastha Associates, United Builders and BDA that had come into existence for the USAID funded Rampur Campus project in Chitwan. During the 2 nd phase of the project, the Matsyendra / Chandralekha team c o m p e t e d independently in the design contest. They won, and the rest is history. From then on there was no looking back. The couple went on to win many more design contests and landed such prized projects as the AHW campuses in Birgunj, Lamjung and Pakhlihawa; the NTC projects in Naxal, Sundhara, Tripureshwor, Pokhara, Hetauda, Bhairawa, Nepalganj, Janakpur and Dharan. Matsyendra remembers, “During the great earthquake of 1988 the Nepal Telecommunication building in Dharan was used as a temporary shelter- such was its structural strength.” Other milestones included B&B Hospital including its extension, Nabil Bank Corporate Headquarters, Harisiddhi Brick and Tile Factory, Vaijaydeep Laboratories, Nepal Bayern Electric Building Complex, Kathmandu Plaza, UNFPA/Training Health Post Project, Kathmandu Tourism B & B Hospital, Lalitpur Service Centre, HMG/UNFPA National Health Training Centre Project and TU/ USAID/World Bank IAAS Development II Phase-Agricultural Manpower Development Project besides a host of other similarly large facilities like the Nepal Electricity Authority Complex at Durbar Marg, Municipal Infrastructure Improvement Project, Rigpe Dorje Institute in Phullahari, ‘Abenteuer Land’ Senior Citizen Home Project in Lalitpur and Maternity Hospital Development Project as well as the USAID/ Integrated Rural Health and HMG/UNFPA/ Integrated Community Health Services Development Projects. Among their largest projects have been the Sanchaya Kosh Building (1,80,000 sq. ft.) and the Agricultural Development Bank Centre in Thimi (1,00,000 sq. ft.) Although the former is in continuous limelight because of its location, the latter is not so much in the public eye even if it is an architectural achievement any architect would be proud of. Testimony to this effect has come from political leaders who have been housed there from time to time. As Chandralekha says humorously, “ Many of them have admitted that they didn’t want to come out. So pleasant was the environment and so convenient the facilities!” The couple’s own house in Kandevtasthan, Kupondole, is marvelously designed and has a solid 54 NOV-DEC 2005 SPACES
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