VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE AND IT'S RELEVANCE FOR POST ...

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE AND IT'S RELEVANCE FOR POST -

DISASTER HOUSING REHABILITATION: THE CASE OF MAHARA SHTRA,

INDIA

SADHU VENKATA KRISHNA KUMAR

Associate Professor of Architecture, School of Planning and Architecture: Vijayawada, Nagarjunanagar, District Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

Architecture was always a derivative of Climate, Geology or available building materials,

people’s beliefs and Socio-economic character. The relation is thus inherent and eternal. A HOUSE and

thereby the HABITAT was an epitome of such vital aspects, as evident through architectural history viz.,

Harappa Housing, Traditional Indian habitat, batter walls of Egypt, Narrow rooms of Assyria, Columnar

architecture of Persia, Classical orders of architecture, wall arcading of Romanesque architecture etc.

were reflective of the vernacular issues of a place.

In the context of the rehabilitation exercise (in Maharashtra, India) undertaken after the

earthquake which occurred in 1992-93, the beneficiaries disowned such irrelevant housing envelopes

which lacked HOMESTEAD and which hardly matched their original traditional habitat. Agreeably, re-

creating the organic neighbourhood may be difficult but designing a neighbourhood which at least has

relevance to the vernacular / indigenous architecture can very much be the way forward to evolve a

meaningful habitat.

KEYWORDS: Vernacular Architecture, Homestead, Participatory Planning .

INTRODUCTION

“To Adam, Paradise was HOME. To the good among his descendants, Home is Paradise. In an

attempt to relocate the survivors after a disaster, my steps to bank on a reasoned proposal shall seem to

be possible by all means. However, restoring people’s confidence at the then hour of disaster shall be

very challenging…!” - Unknown

Human mind, vision and heart are integrally linked to THINGS that one may have used for

sometime, so much so, that one soon develops affinity to continue to use / have the same THING. Out of

many such THINGS in life, Space is the foremost THING that a human being likes to be continuously

associated with. The SPACE may be a House, Plaza, Avenue, Restaurant, a Public square or even a

Classroom. Precisely due to such strong human instincts, one develops a feeling of MINE / MY SPACE.

In particular, as the context is of a habitat, the theme in focus can be “a living neighbourhood”. One’s

instinct itself establishes psychological and visual metaphors with such house / neighbourhood. In this

Journal of Civil, Structural, Environmental, Water resources and Infrastructure Engineering Research (JCSEWIER) ISSN 2278-3539 Vol.2, Issue 2 Sep 2012 16-32 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.,

17 Vernacular Architecture and it's Relevance for Post-Disaster Housing Rehabilitation: The Case of Maharashtra, India

genre of a human behaviour, it becomes an utmost necessity, to take due note of the same while re-

designing, relocating or rehabilitating a user in a built envelope that would be physically different to the

one which one was associated with.

CONTEXT

There have been many natural calamities in India, in the recent past and in fact from the early

'90 s. The aftermath of a natural calamity was always focussed on re-housing the survivors who lost their

people, property and essentially, a House. The site selected for rehabilitating them may be the same or a

different site. The state governments / authorities concerned, pave way for a housing proposal, to house

the living souls in a permanent abode. In the process, utmost care would also be taken to see that the

technology supports construction of quake-resistant structures. When the proposal is financially

supported by Govt. and N.G.Os, the new neighbourhood starts to take shape and one day, the new space

is ready for occupation. The above process and order of happenings being the same, examples have

proved that the homeless people (for whom the neighbourhood is built), who in spite of a genuine need

of shelter, preferred to reject the HOUSE they are allotted with. The house is technically sound, deems to

offer better resistance to earth quakes but the user feels ALIEN to the form, spaces and very appeal of the

new house. The new house does not stand closer to the house that existed before the quake.

But, the old house was an organic structure and was a part of organic development. Whereas the

new house is a part of a totally designed neighbourhood, wherein, things work as per a pre-conceived

pattern of development. Hence, it was always the same gulf that could not be bridged. The designers are

taken aback when they would have to shape a house, visually closer to the old house of the user. In the

event of this possibility too, visual contacts are specific and building for say, 250 families, would mean

building 250 different types of houses, as against the government approved type housing. This was

definitely a living issue, because of which, the new relief colonies wore a deserted look despite “people”

using them.

Examples of Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Greece, Italy etc. of the ancient period, Neo-classical, Art

Nouveau etc. of the medieval, pre-modern age provide adequate evidence of treating climate as the first

and foremost issue that dictated architecture. This was informally a theory, which was put to regular

practice. It’s quite alarming to see the contemporary architectural scenario where architecture has

become a mere flat aesthetic visual.

This paper shall be studies under four heads namely,

I. Reconstructed Settlement in question – a case study

II. Traditional settlemet – a case study

III. Analysis and Findings

IV. Proposal

Sadhu Venkata Krishna Kumar 18

THE SCENARIO AND AN EXAMPLE The example can be of an earthquake that occurred in Latur district of Maharashtra, India, in

September 1992 with Khillari as the epicentre. It was a quake that took toll of thousands of people’s life,

livestock and property. Thousands of survivors were rendered homeless and it was only sobs of the

people amidst a great chaos. In a reasonable span of time, new villages were shaped with houses, public

spaces, village square(s) and other necessary infrastructure. The village colonies were fragmented with

labels of Type-A, Type-B and Type-C, on the basis of the users’ income.

For Engineers and Architect-Planners, not much seemed to have gone wrong but everything

went wrong as per the user’s perception. The villager was in stark surprise to see his/her house as it

looked (insensitive building blocks, forms resembling a geodesic dome, a pyramid, a hemisphere etc.).

The villager was sure that the house / neighbourhood was far different and alien to the house /

neighbourhood that existed before the quake. As a result, the villagers denied to accept that house as their

”home”. Everyone knew that rebuilding a village as it was, was far from possibility, as the devastated

village was developed organically and every space that mattered, was only a need-based organic

response. Still, that house / neighbourhood was close to their hearts and involved a deep sense of

“belongingness”. The same was missing in the new, reconstructed village. It was logical that the new

village can’t be a replica of the old, organic settlement. In spite of that, the villager could not accept to

stay in the new house, which was technically quake-resistant (to the extent to which they are designed),

engineered and designed as per the building norms.

RECONSTRUCTED SETTLEMENT – A CASE STUDY The quake-hit villages of Talni, Nadihattarga, Latur etc. and infact all of them, were to

be rebuilt ! Many N.G.Os came forward, encouraged and participated in the reconstruction. The

reconstruction guidelines and structural details of proposed houses were drafted by MHADA.

Soon, each N.G.O / each local body has developed their own type designs with the consultancy

of Architects / Engineers, formally approved by MHADA and started to build. The core idea

behind the structure was to tie the constituent members of a dwelling / building together with

R.C.C bands, braces etc. so as to render firmness to the structure with the ground and within

itself.

The visual plight started to surface when the reconstruction programme was taking

shape, minute-by-minute and day-by-day. A few types of reconstructed houses are shown in

fig.1. The theme of concern is that neither the layout, nor the dwelling unit design, nor the very

appeal, had anything to do with the rural style of building. The houses and the settlement as a

whole looked typically urbane, much to the shock of villagers.


… The kind of shelter forms chosen and adopted are typically urbane and are alien to the end-users…the villagers !!!

Figure 1. Buildings constructed by the Government, by Typology of Form The state of affairs was observed to be similar, in the reconstruction scene of Bhuj earthquake in

Gujarat, Jabalpur earthquake in Madhya Pradesh, all in India. The reconstruction exercises do not reflect

any sort of nativity and identity of the place and people for whom they were built. As shown in fig. 2, the

reconstructed dwellings of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat can’t be distinguished either.

LAYOUT

A typical layout (refer to fig. 3), is a simple grid-iron example and is very unlikely of being

accepted as a rural settlement, how much ever planned it may be. The same layout can be projected as

that of a neighbourhood in Navi Mumbai, Cochin, Mysore, Visakhapatnam, Bahir Dar, Nazreth,

Auckland or Mexico. That is the extent of its distance from having the feel of a rural planned settlement

too.


… The reconstructed villages are predominantly grid-iron layouts, in stark contrast to the ambience, organic and cluster forms of a rural settlement.

Figure 2,3. Layouts of Disaster Rehabilitation Housing Schemes of the Government at Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat

CONSTITUENTS OF THE SETTLEMENT Each of the reconstructed settlements has the following provisions:

i. Type-A house

ii. Type-B house

iii. Type-C house

iv. Gram Panchayat office

v. Consumers’ co-operative society

vi. Health Centre

vii. School

viii. Anganwadi (Playschool)

ix. Police station

x. Post office

xi. Telephone exchange

xii. Village Library

xiii. Percolation and Overhead tank

xiv. Community hall

xv. Function hall

xvi. Convenience shopping area

xvii. Open space(s)


xviii. Place(s) of worship

Table 1. Space Programme for Reconstruction of Residences

House Type No. of Houses Plot Size (in sq. m)

Built up area (in sq. m)

Cost (in USD)

A 10,000 145 23 1,500 – 1,800 B 8,000 232 37 2,300 – 2,800 C 2,000 290 69 4,200 – 5,500 Source: Office of the District Collector, Latur, Maharashtra State, India

Note: Cost variations and range are due to varied specifications considered

CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

The Construction details were supplied by the competent authority while the same were

to be adhered to, by the agencies of reconstruction, unless there is a change in the plan form

and overall scheme. Construction details and typical house plans are as seen in fig.4.

Figure 4. Drawings of Maharashtra State Government Housing Scheme


Clockwise from top left: Plans and Details of - Type-A House; Type-C House; and Type-B House THE END RESULT The new house can neither be accepted by the villager nor can it be built to resemble the

organic, age-old, indigenous house. The only way is to adopt a via media, in all such future

situations. The via-media would be, to take care of the critical vernacular aspect of settlements, while

designing new settlements. Also, Architect-Planners & Engineers may have to adopt a very natural

process, which shall yield a desirable result … !!!

THE ONLY EXCEPTION South Indian state Kerala’s Malayalam Manorama group, one of the N.G.Os working on

reconstruction, appointed eminent architect Laurie Baker for Banegaon village of Latur district. There

were 107 families to be re-housed. He used to spend day and night working / discussing with the people,

in an attempt to convince the villagers with a plan that is greatly rural, improved over the other

reconstructed villages and even improvise on an authentic rural settlement. This attempt of Laurie Baker

to encourage public participation, would have yielded better results, than the bomb-shelter like structures

that came up in and around Latur district.

TRADITIONAL SETTLEMENT – A CASE STUDY The old settlement no more exists, but geographically a nearby existing / less-affected

settlement may be considered for case study. In the wake of planning for a new settlement, the following

qualitative and quantitative aspects (out of many) may be taken care of:

i. Organic structure of the old settlement, so as to understand the vernacular and visual character of

structures that one was living in; Socio-economic character of the people

ii. Density of the settlement, building / housing typologies etc.

iii. Building annexe to house livestock (cattle shed), separate kitchen, Toilets etc.

iv. Building materials used, Structural configuration of the house, ornamentation etc.

v. Architectural character of the old settlement dwellings, building elements, motifs etc.

vi. User - Space ratio / per-capita space

vii. Public spaces viz., village square, Panchayat office, circulation network etc.

viii. Physical infrastructure, perennial sources of supply, extent of dependence etc.

ix. Users’ perception, thereby initiating public participation

PLAN OF ACTION

A clear and critical study comprising the aspects as aforementioned shall lead to a better

understanding of the nature of rural settlement that has to be reconstructed. The structural details of the


proposed dwellings shall be standardised for mass implementation, while the architectural-vernacular

aspects can be broadly adhered to, so that the settlement may bear a visual-physical relevance to the old

rural settlement that would have existed before the quake. The entire exercise consists of a series of

developments within which, one may be a corollary to the other.

THE APPROACH

The settlement planning process should integrally involve public participation, devoid of which,

users may find the new settlement as alien. Studies and housing projects handled in India and abroad

have revealed that public participation / participatory planning yields desirable results. And, the

traditions and lifestyle of users differs from one’s community, geographical area and socio-economic

status to that of the others. Hence, public participation is imperative to any settlement planning. Eminent

architect Laurie Baker has adopted the participatory planning approach and the settlement thus designed

was better acceptable to the villagers / end users.

Each or most of the steps above, were carried out in the process, so as to achieve a better and

acceptable alternative to the villagers, society and as an ideology too. The broad stages of pre-proposal

are as follows:

i. Case Study of an existing village, unaffected by the earthquake

ii. Analysis and findings of the Case study

iii. Design Guidelines for Proposal

Balsur, a traditional village was selected for the said case study, in view of its proximity to Talni Tanda

(one of the proposed villages for reconstruction). This was away from the quake epicentre and thus, was

not affected in the disaster. A few photographs, taken to expose the vernacular elements, typical rural

lifestyle, typical house-forms, community spaces, facades etc., are as shown in Fig.5. and Fig. 6.


Figure 5. Vernacular Architecture as seen in the Traditional Housing of Maharashtra, India.

Clockwise from top left: Typical Roof-light of a traditional House; Façade of convenience

shops; Facade of a residence with relief work on arched window, repetitively used as a Motif; Lady of

the house at work in the Courtyard, facing the Tulsi Vrindavan; and Wooden Post and Lintels in the

corridor around courtyard and support to the projecting eaves,


Figure 6. Clockwise from Top: Type-A & Type-B Traditional house; Type-C Traditional house; View of the courtyard of a Type-C Traditional House; and View of a Hindu Temple foyer looking towards the holy Tulsi plant like in the residential courtyards.


ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

i. A typical traditional village has a highly organic form

ii. The central chowk (square) and the bazaar are dotted with huge banyan trees

iii. The community space is marked by places of worship, shops and incidental spaces that act as

spill-over for the adjoining ones

iv. Residential Clusters are a result of mostly caste / community and a few such clusters voluntarily

give rise to the total village form, either marginal from the highway or a fragmented ribbon along a

district road

v. Housing subsystems are identified to be a result of clustering w.r.t caste, financial status and

acquaintances

vi. A typical house preferably has kitchen and toilet, detached from the core house, keeping cattle

shed ahead in the premises

vii. Verandahs, exterior seating platforms etc. are the principal joints of visual and verbal interaction,

also establishing a strong-mute link between the street and the people sitting along, which eventually

established “the street character”

viii. Street Character is an indicator of a living settlement

ix. The case study also revealed many architectural-traditional elements on the facades of a

residence, shop, temple etc. which are understood to be reflections of their lifestyle, homestead,

which in turn withstood time-bound visual and physical transformation of structures as illustrated in


Figure 7. Traditional and Vernacular Architectural motifs as seen in the traditional settlement of

Balsur, Maharashtra state, India – a Collage

Source: Primary Survey of Traditional Settlements of Maharashtra state, India, during 1994-95 Note: The above architectural motifs were interestingly repetitive, omnipresent

In an attempt to generate a congenial, responsive and humane habitat, guidelines for a proposal

involving public participation were preceded by “Village Activity-Time-Space chart” as below:


Table 2. Village Activity-Time-Space chart to show the activity of family members

S.No Time Male at Female at Children at

1 6-8 AM Arugu, Cattleshed Kitchen Courtyard

2 8AM-12 NOON Work Courtyard School

3 12-4 PM Work

Kitchen / Arugu, Cattle shed School

4 4-5 PM Village Square, Cattle shed Kitchen

Play (at home or outside)

5 5-7 PM Arugu Kitchen

Play / Study (at home or outside)

6 7-9 PM Arugu / Courtyard Inner Courtyard Living

7 9-11 PM Temple / Sleeping area

Temple / Sleeping area Sleeping area

8 AFTER 11 PM Sleeping area Sleeping area Sleeping area

Source: Primary Survey of Traditional Settlements of Maharashtra state, India, during 1994-95

Notes:

a) ‘Arugu’ is a seating platform found either outside the house or adjoining the compound

b) The time slots are fixed, based on a brief observation during case study of the existing traditional

village(s).

Inference: Arugu, Courtyard, Cattle shed and Kitchen seem to be under frequent use and over long

duration. The proposal shall definitely take care of these spaces, so as to let the users relate themselves to

the reconstructed house.

GUIDELINES FOR DESIGN PROPOSAL The proposal for a vernacular housing illustrated in this paper may not be flawless but

the idea is to sensitise the human approach in general. The Table 3 below, shows the

distribution of spaces among immediate provision and incremental development to be taken up

by the users themselves. This was derived after a reasonable interaction with the villagers.


Table 3. Stages of Incremental Building Development

House Type

Ver 1

Kit 2

Liv 3

Stor 4

Catl 5

Toi 6

Rm1 7

Din 8

Ct.yd 9

Rm2 10

Dwg 11

Rm3 12

A

B

C

Immediate Provision

Incremental development after nearly 10 yrs. or as deemed appropriate by the users

Based upon the observations through the Village activity-time-space chart and Stages of Incremental

Building Development (Table 2 and Table 3) the chart above, the following guidelines are drafted, for

implementation at Talni Tanda, the proposed study site:

i. The structural details and Space norms for reconstruction can be broadly similar to that of the

Government proposal

ii. The prime objective is to evolve HOMESTEAD and not a mere house or even a mere home.

This would mean that the built envelope shall be designed to take care of the users’ utilitarian concepts

from earmarking space for cattle shed till separate toilets, Arugu, spill-over areas etc.

iii. The proposed village shall have a form that may not be organic but yet a well grouped cluster,

as this is a planned development.

iv. Resemblance of the proposed village to the then old village shall be attempted at micro

(dwelling unit) and macro (village/community) levels

v. Chief building material can be decided after a thorough discussion with the users, i.e., villagers

vi. The layout shall be a composition of housing clusters, intercepted by community utility spaces

viz., Infrastructure facilities, Village Square, Main Streets etc.


vii. All streets may lead to the village square or any such community space, thus found to be

occupying the highest user pattern

viii. Hierarchy of spaces, circulation streams (roads, streets, sub-streets, walkways etc.)

ix. Drainage network shall be designed as per site/village physiography

x. The immediate proposal shall be continued with addition of spaces in incremental pattern and as

desired by the individual user group, as a need based response over space and time, but on the basis of a

Master Plan.

xi. The Master Plan shall establish building controls at the micro and macro level as well. The

hierarchy of settlement structure, geometrically designed roads etc. shall be made compulsory and

violation of the same may be discouraged. As a result, the reconstructed rural settlement shall respond to

the changing needs of the user and also will be a planned village, thus satisfying the via-media approach.

xii. In a nutshell, the proposed village shall reflect the right degree of traditional/vernacular set-up

xiii. The proposal as an example can be as seen in Fig. 8 and Fig. 9

Note: The proposals in Figure 8 and Figure 9 are part of the author’s B.Arch Design Thesis titled,

“vernacular Housing for quake-prone areas, Talni Tanda”, Maharashtra state, India, done during 1994-95

GC)

APPLICABILITY OF THE CONCEPT The same process, approach and development stages can be applied to any geographical

location, state etc., but only after a careful study of the local vernacular architecture, traditions, lifestyle

and socio-economic structure of the village in general and the user in particular. As an approach,

participatory planning can be successfully implemented for slum-squatter rehabilitation, architectural

conservation, redevelopment of existing settlements etc.

CONCLUSIONS In a nutshell, evolving a Humane Habitat must be facilitated by the understanding of sensitive

human aspects, environmental concerns, location specific features etc. coupled with public participation,

technically supported building methods and humane building forms. Because, we are ultimately

designing for human beings, who bear the ability to respond to a congenial built envelope that is not

alien, but is mere HUMANE…!!!

REFERENCES

1. Journal of the Indian Institute of Architects, published October 1993, November 1993 and

March 1994

2. Office of the District Collector, Latur, Maharashtra India

3. Indian Architect and Builder, 1993 Special Issue on Latur earthquake.


ANNEXURES

Figure 8. Drawings of Proposed Type-B House Clockwise from top left: Plan of Type-B House at provisional stage; final Plan of Type-B House through incremental development; final Elevation of Type-B House through incremental development; and Elevation of Type-B House at provisional stage.

… The above Plans are for proposed Type-B house, and also seen is the rustic ambience, arched window motifs and stages of development through which the beneficiaries incrementally add as per a Master Plan which will be handed over to the beneficiaries themselves. In the process, a building regulatory body is proposed to be formed, which will monitor the abidance of a proposed Master Plan.

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