It consists of 61 buildings, pagoda-styled temples and monuments, covering approximately five hectares of land.  The Nepal earthquake in 2015 affected most of the buildings and monuments of which 11 structures had completely collapsed and the rest were subject to varying degree of damages.

The project sets out to study three aspects of the disaster. One, map the extent of damage witnessed in various heritage buildings and monuments and grade the level of destruction. Two, through the embodied affective experiences interrogate sensory registers. In particular, the loss of buildings and spaces is interpreted as an assault on the individual as well as collective identity given these buildings and spaces carry significant religious, emotional and cultural value. This explored and explained the extent of damage; and how do people view the violent reengineering of their city? How do people remember buildings and spaces and how what is remembered shapes reconstruction? Third, the project considered the institutional dynamics that governs the post-disaster rebuilding in a developing, donor dependent country.

The project evaluates our relationship with city’s architecture and its symbiotic relationship with  people, culture and religion. A place captured in people’s imagination and their sensory registers is an overlooked, but a critical element of inclusive and effective rebuilding, especially in a deeply traditional city. At the heart of the project is an interactive user-researcher experience as the monuments in Kathmandu are considered living heritage with deeply intertwined tangible and intangible heritage. The project was delivered collaboratively user communities, priest communities, local government and UNESCO. What emerged were differences in the basic understanding of architectural heritage and how one responds to change, particularly in terms of what heritage is; what is unique and; why it is unique.