Winter School, School of Architecture CEPT University

From the 4th to the 13th of December 2024, the Post Disaster Heritage Re-construction in Bela Winter School was held at CEPT University, Bela and Bhuj.

The winter school focused on designing retrofit measures for some vernacular structures in Bela, using 3D data already available. This was informed by the seminar contents and on-site, hands-on building of the earthquake-responsive retrofits of a historic structure, following a process of damage assessment. It helped participants understand how the documentation through 3D LiDAR scanning supports the development of culturally sensitive post-earthquake re-construction. The course also included learnings from disaster management and risk preparedness plans.

The activities started with a lecture by Bernadette Devilat explaining the relevance of heritage intervention in post-earthquake contexts, the research project, what we have been doing thus far for the last three years, and the activities to be done at Bela, our case study. Jigna Desai gave a talk regarding the ethical considerations we have included while working with the local community. Saatvika Pancholi explained earthquake considerations for non-engineered structures. Nigar Shaikh explained structural considerations and gave a safety brief to the students.

The activities also included visiting our case study, Bela, and the Hunnarshala Foundation in Bhuj, where the students had lectures and saw the 1:1 examples of construction methods and techniques built as part of the Hunnarshala facilities.

On the last day, the students presented their proposals at the School of Architecture, CEPT University, receiving feedback from all the tutors and the local research team involved in this project.