Binita Magaiya, MA, is an architect specializing in the conservation of monuments and heritage structures. She completed her master’s from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium with a degree in Conservation of Monuments and Sites. She recently finished the project to reconstruct Kasthamandap, a city icon in itself. Located in the heart of Kathmandu, Kasthamandap (whose name means ‘wooden pavilion’) is a three-story public rest house that dated to the seventh century and contains a shrine consecrated to Gorakshanathin. The structure had collapsed entirely during the Gorkha earthquake on the 25th of April, 2015 and re-opened again to the public in April of 2022. A former heritage activist, Binita is now engaged in the preservation of intangible heritage via her work as a storybook writer for children. She is also a co-founder of Baakhan Nyane Waa (Come, Listen to Stories!), a non-profit organization that documents and converts oral histories and stories into illustrated children’s books.
Within Heritage as Placemaking, Binita is a research assistant based at Social Science Baha. Her project looks at Mukundapur, a historic, ‘forgotten’ ruin that is geographically located in the inner plains of Nepal between Lumbini and Kathmandu, with strong art historical ties to India.
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Binita Magaiya and Manindra Shrestha (2023). “From Past to Future: Learning from Reconstruction of Kasthamandap.” In: Hilal, S., Bedir, M., Ramsgaard Thomsen, M., Tamke, M. (eds) Design for Partnerships for Change. UIA 2023. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36993-3_20
Rija Joshi, Alina Tamrakar, and Binita Magaiya (2021). ‘Community-Based Participatory Approach in Cultural Heritage Reconstruction: A Case Study of Kasthamandap’, Progress in Disaster Science 10 (April).
In conversation…
What was the gravitational pull that got you into Heritage as Placemaking?
For an architect, space is always fascinating. Space entices the mind and the soul of any creative being. And when the notion of heritage comes into play, it doubles the fascination. Since I am trained in both defining space and giving meaning to it, when combined with the heritage-making factor, Heritage as Placemaking is challenging and fulfilling in its own ways. There are so many elements that come into play while defining a heritage with its spatial context, as diverse as the group of HaP itself.
What more do you see doing as part of the project?
Lots and lots of travel, meeting new friends and hiking in the dense jungle of Nepal to find its forgotten history, that is what I am most excited about. The rigorous brainstorming inside our team really challenges me to expand my horizon and the belief system that I have been previously bound by.
What defines your personal ‘me’ time these days?
Apart from the usual, I am drawn to the exploration of various bahas in the Kathmandu valley.