NEW DELHI: Delhi’s crumbling havelis are set to get a protector: a mobile app. As urbanisation gobbles up the rich and varied heritage of Delhi, a group of people from the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) are taking steps to ensure that the havelis don’t go the same way. Not only are they aiming at protecting and preserving the heritage structures, they are thinking of ways to restore them.
For this, the Design Innovation Centre at the SPA is coming up with a mobile app, wEConserve.
“People mostly feign ignorance as an excuse to demolish or restructure havelis. By doing this, they destroy the heritage and history associated with it,” Anuradha Chaturvedi, head of department, architecture and conservation at SPA, said. wEConserve will help an interested person to locate the structure, understand its heritage, identify its defects, procure materials for reconstruction and link him/her up with professionals.
“Some users readily agree to devote time and money for the restructuring but are caught in red tape. The app will help users get through the long procedures easily by guiding them on rules and regulations on construction and revamp,” Chaturvedi said.
Awareness needs to be generated among residents about their priceless heritage so that they conserve the structures, she said.
The app is the brainchild of the SPA and is based on the concept of face recognition. “We wanted to use technology, with which the youth is well-versed, to conserve heritage. Also, the concept helps us and the user understand the extent and magnitude of the defect/damage that the structure has incurred.”
The app, which is likely to be out in the next three months, will assess the extent and type of damage to the structure based on an uploaded photograph. “Even unwanted vegetation on the properties is a defect, and the solution to that is available on the app,” Jithin, a research associate at SPA and a member of the wEConserve project, said.
He said structures like the Khajanchi Haveli, Chunnilal Haveli and Ghalib Haveli have been identified as part of the project. “We are also designing a website. It will be launched with the same features as the app.”
The Design Innovation Centre plans to tie up with Italian architects and conservationists to execute their plans.
“Though nothing has been finalised, talks are on with Italian and some prominent Indian conservationists from INTACH,” Jithin said.
Recently, as part of the India-Italy bilateral conference on conservation, Italian conservationists had taken some samples from the havelis to test the materials, Jithin said.
“They will soon send us materials that can be used to fix the defects and will also withstand Indian temperatures,” he said.