On Friday, the 8th of Baisakh in 2080, Khwopa Engineering College and Khwopa College of Engineering jointly organized a one-day national conference titled the "2nd National Conference on Trends in Architecture- Nepal: NCTA-Nepal 2023." The conference was held to commemorate World Heritage Day and was inaugurated by Sunil Prajapati, the Mayor of Bhaktapur Municipality and Chairman of the colleges, torching the Panas.
During his speech at the inauguration, Mr. Prajapati expressed his best wishes for the grand success of the conference and emphasized that the colleges, which are undertaken by Bhaktapur Municipality, are committed to conducting national and international conferences on different topics, focusing on research and publication. He stressed the importance of conserving heritage structures, which are invaluable assets from our ancestors to humankind worldwide. He also explained the conservation works that the Bhaktapur municipality is conducting and how they are benefiting tourists from all over the world who visit such heritage sites.
Architect Rajani Joshi, Deputy Mayor of the Bhaktapur Municipality, provided the keynote speech at the conference. She shared her experiences regarding the conservation works on heritage structures after the devastating Gorkha earthquake of 2015 and highlighted the opportunities and challenges faced during reconstruction and renovation works on world heritage structures. She also explained the conservation of intangible heritage and focused on how the Bhaktapur Municipality is taking the book entitled "Bhaktapur after Century" by Com. Rohit, Chairman of NWPP, as the guiding book in every development work.
Er. Sujan Maka, Principal of Khwopa Engineering College, and Er. Sunil Duwal, Principal of Khwopa College of Engineering, addressed the conference and highlighted the objectives of organizing the conference. They expressed their gratitude to all the stakeholders who made the conference a grand success.
In the conference, presenters representing academia, researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, and others presented 14 papers. More than 100 participants from various fields attended the conference, which focused on various aspects of architecture, such as sustainable architecture, conservation of heritage structures, modern architecture, urban planning, etc.
The conference provided a platform for the participants to share their experiences, knowledge, and ideas and focused on promoting sustainable architecture and conserving heritage structures. The conference helped raise awareness about the importance of preserving heritage structures and promoting sustainable architecture. It was successful in achieving its objective of promoting trends in architecture in Nepal.