019 - Exhibition Hall,
GICT Building, Central Campus
Ahmedabad University
Our speaker for the event is Mr. Abhay Mangaldas, founder and director of The House of MG, a cluster of four heritage properties in Ahmedabad that have been restored by him and now operate as Heritage Hotels with restaurants, galleries, museum shops, and curated experiences. For the last two and half decades, he has been revitalizing tangible and intangible heritage in the city by actively documenting and supporting crafts and cultural activities. He has, in the process, contributed significantly to Ahmedabad’s certification as India’s first UNESCO World Heritage City. His current passion project is designing the next-gen of building technology. The first prototype from this venture is a parametric metal tent that can be used as a multi-disciplinary space (Making of Bucky).
He is also the Managing Trustee of Shreyas Foundation, a progressive educational institution for children, an advisor to Ahmedabad Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Jt. Secretary, Heritage Tourism Association of Gujarat and Treasurer, Heritage Hotel Association of India.
He holds an MSc degree in Mass Communication from Boston University with a Computer Graphics Major. He lives and works in Ahmedabad.
He will be in conversation with Professor Neel Kamal Chapagain, Associate Professor and Director, Centre for Heritage Management. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (USA). He also has an Architecture Doctorate and Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (USA), a professional conservation course at ICCROM in Italy, and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Mr. Abhay Mangaldas, founder and director of The House of MG, a cluster of four heritage properties in Ahmedabad that have been restored by him and now operate as Heritage Hotels with restaurants, galleries, museum shops, and curated experiences. For the last two and half decades, he has been revitalizing tangible and intangible heritage in the city by actively documenting and supporting crafts and cultural activities. He has, in the process, contributed significantly to Ahmedabad’s certification as India’s first UNESCO World Heritage City. His current passion project is designing the next-gen of building technology. The first prototype from this venture is a parametric metal tent that can be used as a multi-disciplinary space (Making of Bucky).
He is also the Managing Trustee of Shreyas Foundation, a progressive educational institution for children, an advisor to Ahmedabad Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Jt. Secretary, Heritage Tourism Association of Gujarat and Treasurer, Heritage Hotel Association of India.
He holds an MSc degree in Mass Communication from Boston University with a Computer Graphics Major. He lives and works in Ahmedabad.
Neel Kamal Chapagain joined Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University in 2013 to develop the Master in Heritage Management programme, which eventually was launched in 2015. Along with his continuous role as a key faculty in the programme, he has been leading the Centre as its Director since 2017. Prior to joining Ahmedabad University, he taught at University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (USA) as full-time teaching faculty and at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as a Doctoral Teaching Assistant. His professional journey spans Nepal, Bhutan, India, and the United States. He has co-edited a book titled Asian Heritage Management: Contexts, Concerns and Prospects (Routledge, 2013). He also coordinates a publication series from Nepal titled Reflections on the Built Environment and Associated Practices, of which the first volume was published in 2013, the second volume in 2016, and the third volume in 2019. He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Heritage Management - second academic milestone of the Centre for Heritage Management following the launch of the Master's programme, and has also been the conference chair for the series of International Conference on Heritage Management Education & Practice at Ahmedabad University. He also serves as the bureau member in the Asia Pacific Higher Education Network for Intangible Cultural Heritage (APHEN-ICH) as well as an executive committee member in the Asian Academy for Heritage Management (AAHM). Recently, he has been elected to the executive board of the Association for Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS).
He has been a Visiting Fellow at the UNESCO Category 2 Centre on World Natural Heritage Management and Training at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun; a fellow at the East West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and advisor to the Master of Science in Heritage Management at Wildlife Institute of India. He obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (USA), where his dissertation focused on rethinking cultural heritage conservation at traditional settlements. He also has an Architecture Doctorate and Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (USA), a professional conservation course at ICCROM in Italy, and Bachelor of Architecture from Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
