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| Traditional Chettiar home,Chettinad,Tamil Nadu, S. India. thrillingtravel.in |
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| Traditional Chettinad house, Tamil Nadu. pinrest.com |
Above image::Thinnai in the Tamil language (porch) overlooking a Muttram in local parlance (courtyard) of a traditional Chettinad house in Tamilnadu India. Chettiar community is traditionally involved in business and invariably, most of them are rich. The Chettinad region is well known for its 19th-century mansions, whose wide courtyards and spacious rooms are embellished with marble and teak. .Many of them are built using a type of limestone known as kara.. The homes have tiled flooring, using what are called Athangudi tiles of impressive and stunning colors . These tiles are locally made. by using traditional methods. The wood is mostly teak wood imported from Burma (Myanmar)............................
Unlike normal architecture that emphasizes imaginative designs of buildings with decorated doors, entrances, windows, roofs, features of domes, gables and turrets, etc.,stairways, facade, balcony etc., with right embellishments, the vernacular architecture is a reflection of local materials and knowledge with simple design, normally without the guidance or supervision of professional architects. Quite common in the pre-industrial societies, a preponderance of buildings and settlements fall under the category of Vernacular architecture. It covers a wide spectrum of buildings of different styles and traditions, and methods of construction, using locally available materials. The distinctive aspects of such buildings are simplicity and down to earth practical - be they for residential purposes or for other uses. The Vernacular architecture encompasses cultural building traditions that have been passed down through several generations. As the styles and techniques evolve, each vernacular structure is modest, cost-effective, and sustainable, serving the basic needs.
As far as Indian vernacular architecture is concerned such informal, but functional structures with basic necessities are more often found in rural or semi urban areas built with local materials to meet the needs of the people there. Though their knowledge of basic architecture is minimal, their construction methods and design bring out the rich diversity of India's old tradition and practical application in relation to climatic changes and terrain. The variations and distinctive designs follow the local social customs, norms and craftsmanship. It is estimated that globally about 90% of all building is vernacular, meaning that it is for daily use for ordinary, local people and built by local craftsmen.
Across India there are numerous traditional styles native to a region. In the northern Indian states the style is more or less common. In the NE and in the SW parts, the traditional style is different in tune with the geography. Comparing to Hindu temple architecture and Indo-Saracenic architecture, in the past much more use of wood than stone was quite prevalent But in the modern era brick and concrete structures dominate the landscape, but aesthetically they are not appealing unlike wooden structures. In the past couple of decades Indian architectural structures are built with Western styles and they dominate the urban spaces.
The building materials vary depending on the terrain. In the hilly areas, houses have sloping roof in places where monsoon rains are heavy. Example: Kerala and NE India and in the Himalayan region that receives snow at higher elevation. Wooden houses are common with extended sloping roof. Further, houses on hills normally have two stories, with the livestock living on the ground floor. Often a verandah runs along the side of the house. They are built on a raised platform to avoid water run-off in the rainy season. On the flat lands, adobes are built with mud or sun-baked bricks, and then plastered inside and out, sometimes with mud mixed with hay or even cow dung and whitewashed with lime.
Where bamboo is available it is widely used across India as it is flexible and resilient. In the plains, bamboo poles are used to support thatched roof or country- mud -tiled roof as in the rural and semi rural areas. Some semi -pakka houses have mud-tiled roof over a series of thick bamboo poles. In the case of bamboo poles used for roof construction, periodic checking and upkeep is a must as they lose durability over a period of time. Despite the variations and diversity across the land, Indian Vernacular architecture can be classified into three categories with some overlapping.
The simple classification of Vernacular architecture is s follows:
Kachcha
A kachcha is a simple structure and needs to be replaced periodically. Such structures are not strong and found in the rural areas.The buildings include natural materials such as mud plaster, bamboo, thatch and wood over the mud wall. Materials may vary from place to place. In the hilly places, locally available stones are used for wall construction.
Pakka
A pakka type is a structure with good durability made from materials resistant to wear, such as forms of stone or brick, clay tiles, metal or other strong materials, sometimes using mortar to bind.The building does not need to be constantly maintained or replaced. These structures are expensive. In the past invariably wooden rafters were used for terraced ceiling supported by either wooden pillars or polished stone. This type ceiling is called Madras terrace, quite common in South India. The binding material is lime and sand mixed with what is locally called Kadukai and Jaggery ( country sugar made from sugar cane) to improve the binding. Thin clay tiles are used for this purpose.
Semi-Pukka
A blend of the kachcha and pukka styles, The semi-pukka style mostly seen in the rural landscape and the structure includes better and durable construction materials; it means the structure will last longer. The interesting part is such a structure is organic and the design changes as the needs and income resources of the people change. Most of such traditional structures come under semi-pkka category of Vernacular architecture.
The following are the images of many of the traditional houses'buildings built across India in the past:
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| Toda tribal hut, Ooty, Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu en.wikipedia.org |
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| Toda tribal hut, Ooty, Nilgiri hills, Tamil Nadu Alamy.com |
Above images: Toda tribal hut, often compared to ancient Gavaksha roof and arch
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| PolHouse, wooden carving, Gujarat .en.wikipedia.org |
Above image: Wooden carving outside Pol house, brick and wood joinery walls with lime plaster, Gujarat.
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| Rows of sandstone haveli,Rajasthan..en.wikipedia.org |
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| Kitchen in a simple South India home. en.wikipedia.org |
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| Agraharam houses near Kumbakonam, TN, Alamy com. |
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| Traditional Brahmin homes (Agraharam),Thanjavur,dist,TN indiamart.com |
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| Kerala-Kalpathy agraharam houses, Alamy.com |
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| Traditional Chettinad homes, Tamil Nadu, Tripadvisor.com |
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| gujarat rural homes offbeat-destinations.com/ |
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| Traditional home, Assam, NE India. slideshare.net / |
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| Assam rural home, NE India Alamy.com |
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| Karnataka, Godava home. kodavame.wordpress.com |
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| Traditional home for a large family, Kerala. caleidoscope.in |
Above image Kerala state; Nalukettu or the traditional homestead where generations of family lived together as single large family.
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| rural Bengal hut, Flicker.com |
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| Heritage old Goan house, Goa,W.India. traveladventuresgoa.com |
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| old house in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, N. India. pinrest.com |
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| Traditional home in the Himalayan region, India..bigstockphoto.com |
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| Old Mylapore house,chennai.citizenmatters.in |
Abova image: Ornate wood work and a sleek balustrade adorn the façade of house on South Mada Street, Mylapore, part of Chennai city. Many of this type of houses have disappeared.. Pic: Seetha Gopalakrishnan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_vernacular_architecture
https://www.thespruce.com/vernacular-architecture-4801653
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