Integrating Cultural Landscapes for Community Museum Development: Architecture, Design, Strategies

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Aftab Rana who introduced me to the community, Atta Ur Rehman for his efforts in getting the project approved, the community in Laspur for their hospitality and the team at Laajverd who worked alongside me, especially Zeeshan Ghani.

Notes

1 The UNDP defines ‘institutional arrangements’ as ‘the policies, systems, and processes that organizations use to legislate, plan and manage their activities efficiently and to effectively coordinate with others in order to fulfill their mandate’. For example, countries can move from ‘brain drain’ to ‘brain gain’ by creating incentives to encourage skilled workers to remain, to return after university, or to come on a short-term basis to engage in specific projects. Such an effort could involve universities, public administration and the private sector, and could include supporting the development of meritbased recruitment criteria for civil service. Available at: http://ggim.un.org/ggim_20171012/docs/meetings/4th%20HLF/DEFINITION%20FOR%20NATIONAL%20INSTITUTIONAL%20ARRANGEMENTS.pdf

2 A figure that bears a religious significance, ‘72’ denotes the number of people who served Imam Hussain for Kerbala.

3 ‘Starchitects’ was coined to designate architects who have gained celebrity status due to their buildings that, albeit iconic, do not bring the social and cultural considerations into the design and execution of the building. Frank Gehry’s Bilbao museum is often used as an example to describe this concept. Whilst designing Laspur Museum, instead of taking a ‘starchitecture’ approach, inspiration came from vernacular homes that blended in and reflected the cultural landscape.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zahra Hussain

Zahra Hussain is an architect and cultural geographer. Her research focuses on architecture and sustainable development particularly in the mountain communities of northern Pakistan. She leads the ‘Academy for Democracy’ Laajverd Visiting School programme, which is invested in documenting and conserving cultural landscapes and incorporating local architectural pattern language in contemporary mountain architecture.