New heritage properties in Karachi
By Ayesha Agha Shah
Listing of heritage artifacts is a thoughtful process which provides legal protection to buildings of interest. The preparation of list of significant buildings is a necessity to the conservation of historic urban architecture. The Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University was involved in one of the prestigious research project of the resurvey of Karachi Heritage Buildings. The project was assigned by the Department of Culture, Government of Sind in 2005. After the approval of the project and brief working paper, the project was launched from January 2006.
In 1964, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) prepared a list of 42 limited historic buildings, which was confined itself to prominent govermental buildings. "Most of these were either public amenity or religious buildings, thus having a monumental scale and high degree of architectural and/ or historic value" (Naeem, 2003). In 1995-1997, almost 600 buildings of Karachi, located inside its historic core, were declared protected under the Sindh Cultural Preservation Act of 1994, by the Ministry of Culture, GoS. With this legislative tool the 600 or so buildings became protected but ground realities show that many of these historic structures are still under threat of demolition or collapse due to purposeful negligence and lack of maintenance. Heritage Foundation initiated the Heritage Documentation Programme and published first inventory of heritage buildings named 'National Register of Historic Places of Pakistan' in 1990s. The documentation of listed building meant to constituent the basic information about the building; like their name, address and picture historic structures are still under threat of demolition or collapse due to purposeful negligence and lack of maintenance. Heritage Foundation initiated the Heritage Documentation Programme and published first inventory of heritage buildings named 'National Register of Historic Places of Pakistan' in 1990s. The documentation of listed building meant to constituent the basic information about the building; like their name, address and picture.
During 2006-2011, the Heritage Cell, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University, continued Karachi Heritage Building Resurvey Project (KHBRP). During this research project, 1061 more buildings have been identified, as worthy of preservation and hereby proposed for being declared as protected heritage properties. The official notification was approved on 15th of April 2011; however, the press release was issued after a month on 14th of May 2011.
The research made by HC-DAPNED, obtain detailed data of heritage properties. Prior to carrying out this project comprehensive criteria for listing as well as grading of heritage buildings was designed. The KHBRP used analytical methodology to classify and identify the historic edifices. The team also identified some other historic structures that had been over looked during the listing of 1995-1997. The documentation resulting from this research project, now contains thorough inventories on listed as well as newly identified historic buildings. This includes detailed photography, location map, present condition, ownership and occupancy status, architectural features and any alterations. This statistic has, consequently, helped in evaluating the degree of value of heritage buildings considering their importance, integrity and context in the historic manner.
The project was supervised by Professor Dr. Anila Naeem, Co-Chairperson DAP-NED; its quality and contents were greatly enhanced due to her dedicated efforts and expertise in the field. In order to develop a comprehensive methodology for identification and conservation of listed heritage buildings, she also proposed the criteria for listing and updated the existing listing according to ground realities. She also proposed to extend the listing process to Historic areas and quarters that were not covered in initial lists.
Methodology and Process
Developing the criteria for listing, a literature review on the history and development of Karachi was done and through this an understanding for the variety of historically significant places within the city was developed. Previously, attempts have been made by members of the Technical Review Committee for developing the criteria for listing. These were also studied in detail and feedback from these has been incorporated in the new criteria developed through this exercise. The criteria for listing thus developed from the process takes into consideration the different periods of history for the city of Karachi, the variety of building types and cultural spaces in the city, and the different aspects of interest from the point of view of history, culture and architecture for any of the identified properties. The final version of the listing criteria thus developed was submitted to the Technical Review Committee for feedback in 2010.
The KHBRP covered seventeen historic quarters of the city and identify more than thousand buildings as protected heritage. Before starting the task of re-surveying these quarters, background work of compilation and verification of existing data and collecting information from the different available sources was done. For this purpose the documents published by Lari Research Centre named as the National Register for Historic Places, and published in eight volumes were taken as the starting point. In addition to these the official Gazette notification of 1994, 1995 and 1996 declaring the properties as protected heritage, the records of delisting appeals, the KBCA notifications for Dangerous Buildings, etc. were used to compile a basic database for the historic buildings. Once this initial database was developed the listed buildings and the demarcation of quarters was done on an updated base map of Karachi downloaded for the purpose from Google Earth. For the purpose of survey three maps are being juxtaposed, i.e. the key map shown in Lari documents, the Google map and most importantly the detailed survey sheets of each quarter obtained from the record of KBCA, that provide the demarcation and plot number for each parcel of land division within the quarter. With the help of these maps exact location and complete address of each heritage property is being recorded and fed into the database. Once all the information from various documents on each quarter is compiled, the field survey is conducted through which the updated information is recorded and the database is updated accordingly. For the purpose of field survey a field survey form has also been designed which allows a quick, on site recording of information on each heritage property.
This project is still ongoing project which also considering those historic quarters of Karachi that have not been covered in the previous listings. According to available information there are around 44 historic quarters of Karachi, out of which only nineteen have been covered in the listing. The KHBR project identified new historic properties for enlistment, however, Queens and Manora Quarters are still pending due to the unavailability of photographic permission. The remaining 27 still remain to be surveyed and documented. Information on demarcation and detailed survey sheets for only a few of these is so far obtained from KBCA. The survey of these areas will be undertaken in the second phase of the project.
The notification of these 1061 heritage buildings is the great achievement of the Heritage Cell, Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University. It also reflects the diversity of. institutions, which can play a vital role in these real projects and contribute for the country's cultural heritage.
The Project Team Project Advisors
* Arif Hasan,
Architect and Urban Planner
* Professor Dr. Noman Ahmed,
Chairman DAP-NED, Project Team Leader
* Professor Dr. Anila Naeem,
Co-Chairperson, DAP-NED,
Project Manager
* Ar. Ayesha Agha Shah,
Lecturer, DAP-NED,
Project Architects/Surveyors
* Ar. Tahira Shoukat
* Ar. Mahesh Jiwani
* Ar. Hira Owais
* Ar. Wajeeha Laiq
* Ar.Tania Ali Somro
* Project Database Manager
* Muhammed Kashif
AutoCAD and Data Entry Support
* Samina Arfeen
* Anila Rahim