Return of the Watchman

08 2005

BEACONHOUSE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

Instructor: Dr Gulzar Haider

Project - Dwelling

Status - Academic Project

Location - Abbottabad, Azad Kashmir

Program - Housing

Building area - 170 m2

Still recovering from the fatal accident that took away his wife and two school going children, Baider woke up with this feeling that something even more tragic has happened ….that the news will only confirm what he felt with such a jolt. During the morning of October 8, 2005, Baba Khadim and Bibi, his old father and mother, got buried under the falling stones and collapsing roof in Abbottabad, Azad Kashmir. So did three hundred and thirteen children and their teachers. Baidar Bakht had been in the middle of his career, teaching architecture in California and had specialized in building on earth that trembled often. But neither career nor money made much sense anymore. He is lost and wants to startover.

He has returned, to do what his father used to do... watch, protect, serve, guide…be the anchor of young hopes. But with a difference….resolving that what the earth and the building did to Baba Khadim and his children and teachers…. will never happen again. The entire land and the debris of the fallen old buildings has been given to Baidar by the government. A school will be designed and built on the site. Baider will be the planner, designer, construction manager and as the project is back to its new life, he will also be one of the teachers and a live-on-the-site Watchman, guardian, mentor, scientist, artist and like his father…. an anchor. Baider is designing his own little architectural domain somewhere on the large site.