Materails & Techniques of Vernacular Architecture
Materails & Techniques of Vernacular Architecture
Materails & Techniques of Vernacular Architecture
ARCHITECTURE
MATERIALS AND
TECHNIQUES
ROHIT DEVGAN
ASHMEET SINGH
DEFINITION
Vernacular architecture is an architectural style that is designed based
on local needs, availability of construction materials and reflecting
local traditions.
At least originally, vernacular architecture did not use formally-
schooled architects, but relied on the design skills and tradition of
local builders.
Vernacular architecture can be contrasted against polite architecture
which is characterized by stylistic elements of design intentionally
incorporated for aesthetic purposes which go beyond a building's
functional requirements.
This article also covers the term traditional architecture, which exists
somewhere between the two extremes yet still is based upon
authentic themes
MATERIALS
Building material is any material which is used for construction purposes.
Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, and
wood, even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings.
Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products
are in use, some more and some less synthetic.
The manufacture of building materials is an established industry in
many countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented
into specific specialty trades, such as carpentry, insulation, plumbing,
and roofing work.
MATERIALS
There is quite a range of materials used in vernacular construction .
However it depends on native land or typology of area which are plains
, hilly , coastal or desert.
Some very common are :
Timber
Stone
Mud
MATERIALS
Thatch
Adobe
Bamboo
TIMBER CONSTRUCTION
Wood construction is common for many single-family houses
throughout the world.
In areas where timber and wood materials are easily accessible,
wood construction is often considered to be the cheapest and
best approach for small housing structures.
The advantages of timber housing construction stem from the
use of timber, a lightweight and ductile building material.
A critical issue in timber construction is related to the
connections (floor-beam, columnbeam or panel-beam) and their
ability to transfer the forces from one building member to
another and then down to the foundation.
It should be noted that the wood is quite vulnerable to the
effects of humidity and insects.
Types of wood construction techniques
These types use all forms of timber available from logs
to sawn/shaped timbers to smaller branches and leaves. These types
also utilize various types of wall coverings from plant-based coverings
to timber materials to earthen materials, such as mud or stone .
Thatch construction
post-and-beam
Frame construction
Wood Panel
construction
Stud-wall frames
with plywood
wattle and daub
EXMAPLES :-
HOUSE IN KERALA
WOODEN HOUSES IN ZIRO,
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
Cob
Wattle
and
Daub
method
Pise or
Rammed
earth
Adobe
WHY MUD IS PREFERRED ?
Environmental impact
To save natural resources.
Using neither cement nor rock (Save our mountains.
To save building materials
Main materials are soil and water, mixed to be mud, if the mud
is too sticky, we can add up with paddy husky or rice straw or
local fiber weed or bamboo.
Energy use
To save energy
Cool in summer (Inside building temperature is about 24c to
26c
Warm in Winter (Automatic control temperature by passive
cooling system)
Capital Expenditure
To save money .
No air conditioning, no electricity bills.
DISADVANTAGES:-
Humidity is the crucial factor, mud-house will easily be fungus.
The brand- new mud-house may have foul odor of crushed
green leaves
Termites usually buildup on mud structure
EXAMPLES : MUD AS A CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL
MUD HOUSE AT ANANGPUR VILLAGE, HARAYANA
1. The Mud House at Anangpur Village, Surajkund,
Haryana, is located on land that was once a quarry,
mining quartzite and Badarpur stone dust.
2. The architecture of the house is based on the
premise that the purpose of human culture is to
accord dignity to all forms of life, to recognize the
holistic nature of the environment and to value its
regenerating and self-healing capabilities.
3. The design process has actively been guided towards
the evolution of an ecological architectural
vocabulary informed by indigenous building practices.
4. The creating of space, form and visual
characteristics is based on the rearrangement of
natural materials found on the site and its
surroundings, with a minimum, judicious use of non-
renewable, non-bio-degradable and fossil resources
such as metals, stone, stone slabs, plastics, cement,
lime etc.
MUD HOUSED IN VILLAGE OF HODKA
ON THE WAY BACK TO
BHIRANDIYARA (Gujarat)
VILLAGE OF HODKA
STONE CONSTRUCTION
Stones are traditionally used in hilly areas like Himachal
Pradesh, Shimla, Ladakh etc.
Stone is highly durable, low maintenance building material
with high thermal mass.
It is versatile available in many shapes, size, colors and
textures.
It is used for floor, arches, walls and roofs.
Stone blends well with natural landscape and can easily be
recycled for other building purposes.
Stones have been considered as one of the popular building
material from the olden days due to their availability in
abundance from the natural rocks.
STONE IS USED IN CONSTRUCTION IN
THE FOLLOWING FORMS :
RUBBLE
DIMENSION STONE
FLAGSTONE
CRUSHED STONE
STONE CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
FOUNDATION AND PLINTH :-
Stone plinth is filled upto a meter from the ground level and higher
in case of tower temples. The depth of the trench is relative to the
height of the structure. For two storey the depth is 0.6 to 1m and
incase of tower temples it may be as deep as 3m.
ROOF :-
The roof structure is constructed out of
wooden beams followed by purlins and
rafters, topped with slate or wooden shingles.
The slate stones also weighs down the
structure against strong winds.
EXAMPLES : STONE AS A CONSTRUCTION MATERIAL
KATH-KHUNI VERNACULAR CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES :-
A typical house in himachal pradesh is built using
kath-khuni construction technique and is usually
two or three storey high. The lower floor is for
cattle and the upper floors are for residence,
kitchen and storing.
It shows a typical house with guashala
at the bottom, and living area on
the top capped off by a pent-and-
gable roof. Temple has similar
features with different proportions.
Temples of kath-khuni
BAMBOO
Bamboo is available in abundance in
North-east states of India.
Riang houses, Mizo houses and Adi
Gallong houses use bamboo as
the primary material for construction .
Sometimes even the thatch is made of
bamboo leaves.
There are typical hill houses constructed
on bamboo stilts and have woven bamboo
mats for walls. Flooring is made of splits
or flattened bamboo.
In south india bamboo was used majorly
in roofing structure for both sloped and
flat lime surki roofs
In the coastal belt, bamboo is used for
walling and roofing structure, as also for
fencing mostly by the fishermen. The
walls are made of woven mats from
Bamboo.
Famous Kerala house boats use bamboo
for their complete superstructure in
bamboo
BAMBOO
Splitting Bamboo
To prepare bamboo for use in construction, the culms (stems) must
be carefully split.
Tools and Materials
Iron or hardwood bars, 2.5cm (1") thick Ax Steel wedges , Wooden
posts ,Splitting knives
Several devices can be used for splitting culms. When bamboo is split
the edges of
the bamboo strips can be razor-sharp; they should be handled
carefully.
Splitting Small Culms
Small culms can be split to make withes
(strips) for weaving and lashing:
A traditional yomata with Thatch roofing on timber and burnt brick masonry wall
thatched roof in Malawi
PREPARATION
After cutting and loosely bundling, each bundle is shaken briskly to
dis-lodge all loose material.
The bundles are then cleaned by passing a sickle through them. This
removes the remaining leaf growth from the lower two thirds of the
stalks.
The grass is then remade into bundles. These bundles are each tied with
a thong of twisted grass or with twine and packed in heaps about 2m
high and 3 m in diameter at the base.
When the thatch is to be used for the area immediately above the
thatching battens, where the underside will often be exposed within a
room, the material should be combed to ensure that the stalks are
perfectly clean.
A comb is made by driving a number of round wire nails into a
approximately 300 mm length of horizontal pole.
Thatch construction :
ADOBE or MUDBRICKS
Mud brick, also referred to by the Spanish name of
'Adobe' which means mud or puddle earth, generally
refers to the technique of building with sun-dried mud
blocks in either load bearing or non load bearing
construction. Mud bricks are becoming increasingly
commercially available in a range of stabilized and non
stabilized bricks.