VERNACULAR

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

KULLU HOUSES ARE

MORE EARTHQUAKE RESISTANT
MUD CONSTRUCTION
The mud house uses minimal energy, is comfortable year
round.
The mud house construction uses only simple natural
materials, which are any digging soil from the earth mixed
with water.
Mud house construction is durable and can be easily
recycled .
Mud construction also provide air conditioning system
which provide cool air from the massive walls.
MUD CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
These are Various Construction Techniques used for mud construction
of buildings. Techniques as follows:

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)

THE HOMES OF VILLAGERS ARE

HANDICRAFT AND CONSTRUCTED
WITH THE MUD
BANASURA HILL RESORT DJENNE MOSQUE
IN KERALA

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.

WALL (WOOD AND STONE WALL):-

The walls are constructed with alternate course of dry
masonry and wood without any cementing mortar.
This types of wall construction involves two wooden
wall beams parallel to each other with a gap in
between. The gap is filled with rubble stone.
 FLOOR AND STAIRCASE :-
The ground floor is raised above the stone plinth and finished with
adobe. It functions as an insulating layer and at the same time
remains warmer than stone finished surface.
The floor beams are shear pinned with the wall logs.

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

Naga Heritage Village

House at Brahmaputhra river
bank

House of Adi Tribes,

House Boat ,Kerala
Arunachal Pradesh
 WHY BAMBOO IN NORTHEAST?
Light weight
Available in abundance
As region experiences heavy rainfall houses on stilt are prefered as
a flood precaution ,which are easily constructed with bamboo .
Has good tensile strength
Does not require very skilled craftsmen
Very durable
Cost effective
B
A
M
B
O
O
TECHNIQUES USED
PREPARING 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:

Use a splitting knife with a short handle

and broad blade to make four cuts,
at equal distances from each other, in the
upper end of the culm
Bamboo parts are usually lashed
together because nails will split most
culms.
The withes (strips) for lashing are
often split from bamboo and
sometimes from rattan.
When all local bamboo yields brittle
withes, lashing must be done with
bark, vines or galvanized iron wire.
In bending bamboo--for example, for
the "Double Butt Bent Joint"can
help to keep the bamboo from
splitting by boiling or steaming it
and bending it while it is hot.

Local artisans often know the best

species of bamboo and they have
frequently worked out practical
methods for making joints.
 Thatch
Thatch is a roof covering made of dead plant material - other
than wood. Grasses and palm leaves are the most widely used
materials; many others, such as seaweed, herbaceous fibres and
large leaves provide roofing material for traditional building in
some countries.
It was used in many states in India because of its easy availability
and almost no cost .
It was mostly used by rural tribes or lower class of people
(shudras) to build there kaccha houses.
Examples of use of thatched roof can be seen in Gugrat, Punjab
,Kerela , Assam .
Thatch examples

House by Nyishi tribe

Arunachal pradesh

Kukis house in Manipur

WHY THATCH IS USED :
First, it uses locally produced material. Supplies can be increased at
very little cost to the community and without risk of upsetting the
local economy.
Grass or palm leaves grow again every year and with the simplest care
will provide abundant thatching material.
Thatching can provide the basis for small business where people have
few or no resources, and can thus increase prosperity and
independence.
Farmers and thatching craftsmen would both benefit directly and in
turn help the local economy.
The technique provides aesthetically better looking and more durable
roof: .
Provides safety on the long run.
Reduced maintenance expenditure.
Long life which is expected to be between 12-15 years.
The technique can usher in an atmosphere of self help and cooperative
spirit at the village level.
TECHNIQUES USED
Roof Slope and Thatch Load :

The two fundamental sspects of a thatching material are the minimum

roof slope it needs (measured in degrees/), and its weight (measured
in kilograms per square metre/kg/m2).

Thatch should be laid on a roof

pitch of at least 45,
preferably 50.
This applies to all grass and
palm thatch.
The steep slope is needed so
that water will run off from
the roof surface with minimal
penetration into the body of
the thatch coat.
At a pitch lower than 45 the
thatch will decay very rapidly
Thatch construction
Thatch construction is generally a traditional construction type.
Wood is used as main supporting members as cover it by thatch.
A lightweight roof, such as the thatched roof typical for traditional housing
construction in Malawi (Figure 3, left), results in much superior seismic
performance when compared to the heavy roofs found in the traditional
adobe construction.

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.

Sun Dried Mud Bricks

Or Adobe

Mould size for making of

Adobe
WHY ADOBE IS USED ?
Mud brick has several advantages over conventional fired clay or concrete
masonry. The advantages include:
1. Low in embodied energy
2. Utilization of natural resources and minimal use of manufactured
products
3. Good sound absorption characteristics
4. High thermal mass
5. A claimed ability to "breath"
6. Suited to a wide range of soils
7. Easily manufactured and worked
8. Flexibility in design/color/surface finishes
9. Insulation properties similar to those of concrete or brickwork
 ADOBE
Mud bricks are typically 250 mm
wide x 125 mm high x 375 mm
long and normally made from
earth with a clay content of 50
to 80% with the remainder
comprising a grading of sand, silt
or gravel. Kaolin clays are the
preferred clay types due to their
non expansion characteristics.
Blocks shall be kept covered with air tight
polythene sheets for first 48 hrs with
relative humidity up to 100. Wet Bricks
Polythene sheets shall be removed after Moulds Mud
48 hrs and the blocks shall be kept in
shaded area like having enough air
circulation
Sprinkle water over blocks daily, as many times needed,
during 28 days.
Write date of production on block corner.
Cover stacks top with coconut leaves or any other cover to KAOLIN CLAY
avoid direct sunlight.
Principle is that blocks shall not dry for 4weeks.
ADOBE

The Great Mosque of

Santa Fe, New Mexico
Djenn, Mali is built in adobe

House in Sa'dah , Yemen