On 13th August 2021, SONA sub-committee on architecture education organized a webinar series by Ar. Sonam Lama on the title “Cutural Heritage of Himalaya: in Tsum and Nubri, Manasalu Conservation Area, Gorkha Nepal”.
Ar. Sonam Lama is an architect and urban planner with an interest in sustainable and resilient communities. He is also a recipient of Hubert H. Humphrey fellowship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. A native of Tsum valley, he is the founder and director of Tsum Nubri from 2015-2020, a non-profit organization which worked in architectural planning, designing, overall supervision on reconstruction of earthquake resistant two schools and three health posts in Tsum and Nubri, Gorkha District. He has a wide range of national and international work experiences and is also involved in research, documentation and advocacy of cultural heritage in the Himalayas and settlement planning of newly emerging towns.
The session started with a welcome note by Ar. Sunita Subedi, vice- president of 14th executive committee of SONA. Ar. Sonam Lama started his presentation with a background of his research area followed by the methodology he adopted to document the cultural heritage of Tsum and Nubri listed in Manasalu conservation area. During his presentation, he explained different typologies of heritage that reflects the area’s cultural richness. He also raised concerns regarding the highway construction in the name of development will ruin the valleys authenticity and traditional way of life. Further, he highlighted that through this research, the benefit was better understanding of cultural heritage of Himalayan region and increasing awareness among policy makers, media and community people which was useful during the reconstruction aftermath of 2015 earthquake.
The presentation was followed by question and answer session in which attendees actively participated resulting in fruitful discussion. The session ended with the comment and conclusory remarks by Ar. Rajesh Thapa, President of SONA. The webinar was moderated by Rishna Thapa, an architecture student from Khwopa Engineering College.
