On the concluding day of the international conference on South Asian Vernacular Architecture (SAVA) jointly organised by the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, and Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development, first-ever charter on SAVA was declared.
The charter was declared by Professor Sarit Kumar Chaudhary, Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya, Bhopal, Meera Das from Indian rural heritage and Development Trust, Padamshri Shrimati Sunita Kohli, (Chairperson, School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal), KK Chakravarti, retd IAS, Prof Rachna Khare, Prof Jinan K and other eminent members present.
Vernacular Architecture is a body of knowledge, symbols, and plural traditions of buildings. It is used here an inclusive way and embraces all indigenous , folk and traditional and community architectural practices, from a single building to the entire settlement constructed out of local materials and by indigenous people (singly or collectively) with their inherited knowledge of culture materials, technologies and resources.
The theme of SAVA with the intention of formulating guiding principles in the form of this charter for the propagation of Vernacular Architecture to undertake integrated habitat development in the region and meet the Socio-economic aspiration of the society. This document is the beginning of a dynamic process of collaborative consensus building.
The charter aims to develop knowledge and strategies for protection and sustenance of vernacular architecture traditions rooted in traditional communities.
The Charter has been prepared collectively by more than 100 stakeholders and experts engaged from across the country and abroad, during series of events on the above dates. Those who were involved in the preparation include artisans, craftsmen, academicians, researchers, students, policymakers and representatives from Government and voluntary organisations. They represented disciplines of architecture, sociology, anthropology, history, ethnography planning. The Charter contains in making, guiding principles for policy, practice, pedagogy and research.