What is required to be a good restorer of heritage building: the knowledge of history or a sense of aesthetics?
Patience is important, as also an observant eye. So that the patina ambience of the old buildings is respected. We dont hurry and we dont like to standardize, but our love for aesthetics is important when interventions have to be made. Eventually, since the whole exercise is to honour history, a knowledge of history is essential. Also, working from a distance is only possible if you can develop and trust an architect with similar sensibilities. What was the biggest challenge while working on the Baradari palace? Our consulting architect Sandeep Subhash feels that since The Palace only had one toilet on the second floor, and we had to create four more, laying the drainage pipes without damaging the building was one big challenge. Termite infestation in the mud masonry wall meant that many of the roofs were ready to fall down. Exhaustive and expensive anti-termite treatment as also re-laying the wooden batons in the ceiling that were up to 28 high is not easy! Was finding floor tiles whi
