Vernacular Architecture in Karnataka

Vernacular Architecture in

Karnataka

Submitted by:
Ar. Rubina Mehraj
M.Arch 11nd semester 2013-2014
D. Y. Patil College of Engg. And Technology
Kolhapur

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

What is vernacular architecture?
•The purest definition of vernacular architecture is simple…it is
architecture without architects.
•It is the pure response to a particular person’s or society’s building
needs. It fulfils these needs because it is crafted by the individual and
society it is in.
• In addition the building methods are tested through trial-and-error by
the society of which they are built until their building methods near
perfection (over time) and are tailored to the climatic, aesthetic,
functional, and sociological needs of their given society.
•Because the person constructing the structure tends to be the person
who will be using it, the architecture will be perfectly tailored to that
individual’s particular wants and needs.

Is Vernacular architecture perfect?
•Vernacular architecture is perfect because it is derived through the
application of local materials and building techniques to create
buildings that function as what they are meant to function as.
•Because the building’s design and construction is intimately inner

twined with the person who will be using the structure, the final
product functions exactly as intended.
•These building maximize the local knowledge of how buildings can be

effectively designed as well as how to effectively use local materials and
resources.

•Vernacular architecture of Karnataka symbolizes houses designed and built
by people for their own use. It is the form that a neighborhood or
community has arrived at, through a system of development, in a precise
cultural, climatic and technological context.
•The architectural scene after independence presents some overwhelming

changes, most significant being the influence of the western culture.
•The most notable development in the recent years has been the idea of
vernacular architecture, which is unique form of design. The architecture in
India is constantly changing and the prospect of the modern and the
vernacular coming together points towards an exciting period of new
creativity in our architecture.

Significance of the Term-Vernacular Architecture
•Probably the term `vernacular architecture` was initially used only on a
negative sense by that it is not designed by architects.
•Later people came to understand that vernacular architecture is

predominantly the architecture of houses designed and built by people for their
own use.
•It is the form that a society has arrived at, through a process of growth and
expansion, in a particular tradition and climatic.
•The forms are not stagnant, they grow continuously, in response to literary
and technological changes. In view of the progressive nature of this method, it
is often possible to claim that the vernacular achieves total rapport between
lifestyle and built-form.
•The house provides a canvas for the individual to express his artistic
leanings.
•A piece of `rangoli`, a carving on the doorjamb , or the ornate design around

the `niche` for an icon are all situations that lead to decorative folk art.
•It is significant that there is a very high degree of participation by the

owner in the act of embellishing his house. The house becomes an intimate
part of his life in the process.

Open Verandah-Platform or the Jagali
•The jagali is the Kannada word for what may be rather inadequately
described as an open verandah with a raised platform.
•This is invariably located in the front of the house.
•It is associated with a large number of functional and symbolic values.
• It is the buffer between the shared community area in the front of the
house and the privacy of the inner house.
•The pleasant and relaxed feeling which a jagali often suggests is indeed an
expression of the invitation and hospitality extended to a visitor.

•In its simplest form, it is a semi-open raised platform.
•In a rural household it is the major domestic activity space.
•One can rest here on a hot afternoon, friends can gather for a chat on the
jagali and at other times one may find children playing on the jagali.
•It may also be used by a weary and unknown traveller for resting, and
with no questions asked.
•The variety of uses to which this space can be put is really endless.
•It is probably the most versatile living space of the house, giving symbolic
expression to its inner character.

Courts and Courtyards
•A court, which is open to the sky and surrounded by a building, is a fairly
common architectural feature throughout the tropical world.
•It serves essentially as a modifier of the local climate by providing lighting

and ventilation in an area of complete privacy.
• It provides circulation space, knitting closely as it were the different parts

of the household.
•There could be several household activities peculiar to the court even as it

serves as a spill-over space for other activities in the interior.

Courts and Courtyards

•In the case of naturally evolved row housing in small towns, a backyard
court is a familiar feature.
•It provides space for extended kitchen activity and for washing and drying
chores.
• Besides, it also accommodates the ubiquitous Tulsi altar, focussing on the

religious activity of the household.
• Finally, it is the circulation space in order to reach the bath, the water
closet, the well and the cowshed.
•There is the other, more extrovert, variety of court, which is situated in the
front of the house, acting as a garden-cum-activity space, separating the
house from the street.
•This variety can also be found in some contemporary, architect-designed
bungalows.
•The last and the most interesting variety is the semi-private courtyard,
providing a common space for several independent households or the semi-
independent members of a joint family.
•For agricultural or pastoral families it is a space for storage, grain

processing and a shelter for animals at night.

Certain Adoption were:
• Laying out of individual structures over a large area with tree space
around than permitting air flow and orienting the building at an angle of
450 to the dominant wind direction.
•Central courtyard for lowering internal temperature in the hot season and
for light and ventilation
•Verandahs stretching around the exterior and interiors with low eaves to
keep out sun and rain.
•Walls and roof made of stone and wood having low thermal capacity,
helped the building to keep cool in summer and hot in winter.

ROOF:
•The construction of roof is always in wood. It consists of
beams,joists,slabs of shahabad stone and lime concrete.
•The beams rest on columns and walls and support the joists placed at about
12” centre to centre.These in turn support 1” or 1.5” thick planks 5” to 6” in
breadth and 12” long or slabs of shahabad stone never less than 1.5”in
thickness.Above this is a layer of lime concrete about 6” in ht and finished
after consolidating with lime mortar.
•In somecases mud is used instead of shahabad stone.Many old houses with
mud roof are still in good condition.
• Stone,lime and timber are the chief building materials used in al domestic
buildings.
Features, Forms and Texture of Vernacular
Architecture of Karnataka
•The roofing of rural houses, in general, dominates the expression of the
form of the house as well as the village cluster itself.
•Depending upon the climatic situation, we have the gabled tile and the
gabled thatch, or the flat mud roofs of the drier tracts using stone slabs or
wood as supports.
•The tiled villages are probably more common, the gables being of different
proportions and elevations jutting out of the earth in a very, harmonious
fashion.

•No two roofs are completely alike, even when they carry the same cultural
stamp.
•The cluster of village houses is always of low profile, the succession of

gables nestling in the surrounding greenery.
•This is significantly an expression of man as the child of nature and not as

its master.
•The rural scene thus presents an image of harmony between man and
nature

•There are other roofing forms to be found mostly in cities, such as the flat
roofs of the Madras terrace and the Jack-arch terrace variety.
• These roofs used mainly local materials like brick, lime and wood while
steel was introduced in the Jack-arch roof for the supporting structure.
• Soon after Independence, the freedom of form provided by reinforced

concrete proved very attractive and the Madras terrace and the Jack-arch
terrace made a quick exit.

•The textures of the walls and roofs in rural houses express the earthiness
and simplicity of rural life-styles.
•The rural craftsman is in total control, producing a variety of textures. In

areas which abound in stone, the rough-hewn stone in mud mortar with
natural colours, covering a wide range, is generally left completely exposed.
•These wall textures have a kind of perennial beauty in spite of the coarse
finish.
•Where mud mortar and whitewash are used, one finds a reposeful
smoothness and whiteness which contrast with the natural strong colours of
the roofing.

•In areas which abound in bamboo, very thin bamboo walls with elegant
clay plastering immediately show the quality of the local craftsmen.
•The use of brick and laterite very often also goes along exposed masonry,
which provides a harmonious match to the red tiles.
• The down-to-earth colours of the walls again suggest a strong affinity to

nature. This approach to natural colouring may be contrasted with the
modern urban taste for mass-produced paints and colours of every shade.
•The freedom in choice of colours and textures has actually led to a chaotic
situation, where the houses in a street are coloured as per the tastes of
individuals

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Vernacular Architecture in

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•Because the building’s design and construction is intimately inner

•These building maximize the local knowledge of how buildings can be

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•The architectural scene after independence presents some overwhelming

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•Later people came to understand that vernacular architecture is

•A piece of `rangoli`, a carving on the doorjamb , or the ornate design around

•It is significant that there is a very high degree of participation by the

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•This is invariably located in the front of the house.

•It is associated with a large number of functional and symbolic values.

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•In a rural household it is the major domestic activity space.

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•It serves essentially as a modifier of the local climate by providing lighting

• It provides circulation space, knitting closely as it were the different parts

•There could be several household activities peculiar to the court even as it

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

• Besides, it also accommodates the ubiquitous Tulsi altar, focussing on the

•For agricultural or pastoral families it is a space for storage, grain

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•The cluster of village houses is always of low profile, the succession of

•This is significantly an expression of man as the child of nature and not as

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

• Soon after Independence, the freedom of form provided by reinforced

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

•The rural craftsman is in total control, producing a variety of textures. In

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

• The down-to-earth colours of the walls again suggest a strong affinity to

Vernacular architecture in karnataka

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