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 technologysuch 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 intindian 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