Conservation Newsletter T ABHA NARAIN LAMBAH Few buildings have a chance of rviving the vagaries of time, athering, age, neglect, and dilapidation to be restored back to health by the caring hands of cal craftsmen, probable descendants of those who had built them hundreds of years. 290. The restoration of Chanwar Palkhiwalon-ki-Haveli in Rajasthan is one such rare case that has undergone careful toration and been born again, not once, but twice under the design supervision of two very different teams of architects in the short span of a decade. Situated amidst the ruins of Amber, the medieval capital of Jaipur, Chanwar Palkhiwalon-ki- Haveli belonged to a family of palanquin-bearers in the royal court of the Kachhwaha Rajputs. Having passed from one generation to another, it had been abandoned for many decades before it was purchased by JP. Singh and Faith Singh, the owners of Anokhi, a famous handcrafted textiles and garments chain. The stabilization and conservation of this ruin was a first step in the larger objective of conserving the 80-year-old historic town of Amber. The new owners’ architects Nimish Patel and Parul Zaveri were able to ice Born: The Restoration of Chanwar Palkhiwalon-ki-Haveli and Anokhi Museum 1. View of the lightweight covering over the central courtyard convince the clients that the ruins of the historic city of Amber were not beyond repair and that restoration could be done inexpensively without requiring huge financial resources, using local traditional materials and indigenous craftsmen The task of structural stabilization and conservation of the dilapidated haveli began in 1989. Local teams of building craftsmen were involved in the restoration work. Instead of commissioning a contractor, the master craftsman and his assistants were employed directly by the clients. A local unemployed graduate was given the responsibility of manager of the works to purchase materials and carry out day-to-day administration, under the supervision of the architectural team. Consequently, many of the site decisions, design as well as construction, evolved as a team effort, with the participation and involvement of the craftsmen and local residents. The project incorporated the exclusive use of traditional materials, basing the entire conservation approach on appropriate materials and time- tested traditional technologysuch as Rajasthani araish plasters and lime-based mortars. Since the objective was to re-establish the relevance of traditional materials and technologies in the contemporary context, it was decided to use only locally sourced traditional materials and artisan skills in leading the design process without the use of any architectural drawings. Ihe project set out simple objectives - to establish a pilot project that would demonstrate the efficacy of local material and traditional technologies in the restoration of historic building stock in Amber; to restore the structural and architectural integrity of the building; to make each room habitable thereby facilitating a flexible usage, and to demonstrate that heritage conservation could be a low-cost and achievable target, encouraging others to follow suit. The restoration work met all the set targets with a total project cost under Rs 2,800,000 and created a whirlpool effect the surrounding areas t a rise in real estate values havelis. Owners of abando havelis suddenly began to an interest in their upkee look out for prospective b who would be willing to them. The team of local craftsmen found employm within this newly created m with many of them settin their own contractual dealing in lime mortar and restoration work. The lir mortars used for this resto were adopted by the O! group of hotels in the construction of their luxury hes properties in Rajasthan, Giving a fillip to tradit construction materials and the contemporary use, and to the project. The project of the re of the Chanwar Palkh Haveli won the first Unesco Pacific Award of Excellence § an Indian project in 200% project was successful in standards for conservation India, starting up a new t heritage conservation Rajasthan. However it w to convince the local administration to establish conservation by-laws for For many years, t refused to put the build commercial use unle government was wi their demand for the of special conservation cont for historic Amber. When this 4 not happen, they abandoned their original idea t guest-house and d celebrate the build: converting it intindian textile printing }ology, Work on planning for the jokhi Museum of Hand Printing began in March 2003. The initial oject proposal was created in about six months after inputs from museum professionals and textile experts such as Martand Singh and Rahul Jain, and the curator of the museum, ‘omed Kumar was in touch with international experts, curators, d conservators from the V&A n London, the Textile Museum in Washington, and the National llery in Canberra. The main source of the ollection was the Anokhi archives at Jaipur, established by John and Faith Singh who had maintained extensive records of textiles and original fabrics from the traditional prints of Jaipur, Sanganer, and Bagru. The final collection at the museum is of about 150 pieces, selected from nearly 10,000 garments, 20,000 fabric swatches, and 40,000 wood printing blocks that have been part of the Anokhi collection since 1968. For nearly a year, the archives were carefully screened for the final collection to be displayed at the Anokhi Museum and selection was based on the importance of a piece or printing technique and its relevance to the revival of the craft. The museum's inaugural collection titled Print progress ~ innovation & revival, 1970-2000, documents this resurgence in the craft of textile printing in india. ‘As important as curating the collection was the architectural Vision required to convert the haveli from a residential building to a functioning museum. The architects for this second phase of the revitalization and adaptive reuse project for the building were Stephane Paumier, a French architect, in collaboration with ABRD Architects, a Delhi-based architectural firm commissioned in 2004 to create an appropriate architectural setting for the collection of textiles. The brief given to the architects was to incorporate an architectural programme involving ticket areas, museum shop, galleries, displays, and toilets, and to provide a conducive setting for the preservation of the valuable and fragile textiles, sensitively adapting the building to its new use. 3, Traditional Rajasth