Change of land use, urban pollution and inappropriate renovation efforts are some of the causes of this alarming and tragic loss of architectural heritage. For things to improve, efforts have to be initiated on a number of fronts. To begin with, there is an urgent need to document, in a comprehensive manner, using modern documentation tools and strategies, the various aspects of the historical and architectural sites.

An initiative to address this deficit has been undertaken by architect Marvi Mazhar and her team. In the project of Historic Bungalow Research (HBR), she is heading a team that is documenting and profiling century old bungalows across Pakistan for archival purposes, looking at immigrant architectural style of bungalows belonging to the pre- and post-partition eras, with a strong focus on Karachi. Mazhar strongly feels that educating current and future generations about the existence and beauty of these historic bungalows is imperative for understanding the history of our nation.

She explains that the roots of South Asian bungalows lie in the early attempts of British engineers to design standardised and permanent dwellings based on indigenous domestic structures. Currently, documentation is taking place of historic bungalows depicting varying styles, particularly Hindu, Sikh, colonial and Art Deco. The research process involves using historical records and meeting people and institutions for identification of bungalows, understanding their history, doing extensive field work, photographic documentation and sketching.

According to Marvi, while they have received support from government departments, such as the antiquities and culture department, the success of the project is based on building relationships based on trust with the users of the historic bungalows and having a two way learning process to understand the history of a particular bungalow in terms of how users and functional uses have changed over time and how such structures can be best preserved for the future.