colombo_last_version_July_5th_(2).doc

8/9/2019 colombo_last_version_July_5th_(2).doc

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Introduction

/ig 1: 0ap sho!ing Kerala and its location (not to scale) (source: http:!!!pro"eralacom"eralamaps)

Kerala (in 2outh India) architecture is one of the most evolved e%amples of

!ooden construction and timber $oinery having had multiple foreign influences1

Kerala has seen transformations and changes in cultural and economic landscape#

especially in the last century The traditional construction practices evolved

accounting for local needs# materials and s"ills The production process !as

dominated by artisans themselves*

3e&uirements of thermal comfort in thetropical climate as !ell as the inhibitions and restrictions governed by social

structure and cultural practices defined the evolution of typology of spaces and

roof forms and construction details ut they !ere also governed later by

construction details ordained by the indirect influence of classic treatises

propounded by priestly pundits- To this e%tent# a classic vernacular evolved

The common use of the term 5vernacular6 is not the same all the times Thereforeit is imperative to e%plain the meaning of that term as used in this paper

'onsidering a !or"ing meaning# vernacular8 houses are 5those built of

traditional materials and in the style of the locality6 They are designed generally

by amateurs# in this case the local masons# artisans and carpenters or occupants

themselves# going by the local conventions and their o!n re&uirements as !ell as

1P 52-56,the legacy of kerala Dr A Sridhara Menon,20082

P 1-3,Traditional architectral for!" of the Mala#ar $oa"t, Dr A"halathaTha!%ran,20083P 52 the legacy of kerala A Sridhara Menon,2008


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the means available !ith them4 Therefore# the function becomes the most

important feature Tradition guided the construction and the local materials !ere

an obvious choice for construction It is architecture !ithout an architect8 (any

other professional as "no!n today) in contrast to other buildings designed by an

architectengineer# !ho are formally educatedThe case of Kerala is as indicated

a case of classical vernacular# !hich may be contrasted !ith more amateur o!ner

built forms else!here The carpenters !ere original professionals there in that

sense

The natural building materials available for construction in Kerala ie stones#

timber# clay and palm leaves have anchored and guided the construction practice

since ages ,ue to the limitations of building materials# a multi modal approach

of construction !as evolved in Kerala 2tone !or" !as restricted to the plinth

even in prestigious buildings including temples and palaces The indigenous

adoption of the !ood (available in plenty) for architectural e%pression thus

became the dominant feature of the Kerala architecture The carpenter !as the

presiding artisan# often governed by the detailed rules of traditional $oinery called

thachu shastra; The vernacular tradition has evolved giving rise tomany house

forms longitudinally and latitudinally along the Kerala region&


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and architecture9 The mason became the prime artisan usurping the place of the

carpenter >et# the imagery lingers and is being reinvented# in various !ays often

in a curious mi%ture The autonomous# (!ithout conscious professional design)

changes in the house forms seem to undergo changes in smaller &uantities at a

time retaining some features and changing some others There are conscious

efforts to deviate substantially and at the same time there are conscious efforts to

retain the traditional features The &uestion to be as"ed# ho!ever# is !hat is the

critical mass of the features !hich retains the original flavour and !hat features

deviate a!ay

The paper is to bring to light the changes that have happened in the vernacular

traditions in Kerala over the years and to analyse the morphological and

typological transformation of domestic architecture special reference to post

independence period 0ore in a conceptual frame!or" analysing "no!n sources

and not !ith elaborate field !or" The case studies analysed has been identified

from# Kollam region of Kerala state in 2India The primary data !as collected by

documenting some cases in this region ? number of cases !ere analysed to

identify the elements that contribute to the visual memory of vernacular

architecture among !hich the roof !as identified as the predominant one

ased on this# the t!o commonly found house typologies of Kerala region are

1. Independent house with single aroodam, (about 8!"(otta thai1"

#. $ingle house with courtyard (a %alu&ettu. (less than #!"11

$ingle Aroodam houses (otta thai"

?ll the morphological variations found in this region are invariably an

improvised morphological variation of any of these typologies The single

aroodam house is the most common and easily adoptable typology that has

continuously been reinvented from 9thcentury to the present day1* The study is

-P 297 cultural heritage of kerala ,A sridhara Menon10Arudam is also known as thai uttaram,thai means mother in southern kerala as noted in p no

10,traditional architectural forms of Mala!ar "oast #r Ashalatha thampuran11P $0,%raditional architectural forms of Mala!ar "oast #r Ashalatha thampuran12P $0&$2%raditional architectural forms of Mala!ar "oast #r Ashalatha thampuran


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Beripheralsuperficial changes are changes in the aspects of built form that

suggests that the fundamental ideologies or beliefs of the user group have not

changed 2uch changes !ould therefore not be seen in the core spatial

distribution or concept and physical elements There can be superficial s"in

changes in the !ay elements are detailed out !ith regional dialectic variations

This constitute mostly of scenographic elements

In this paper !e are focusing largely on the fundamental changes that

happened in thesingle aroodamtypology

/ig- Traditional house form of "erala# 0aveli""ara (#?rchives# ritish library)the figure sho!s a

typical single aroodam house of central "erala region !ith a poomugham in the frontthe predominant

identifying feature is the thatched roof

-ouse form

The early single aroodam house models !ere huts made of bamboo

frame thatched !ith leaves in circular# s&uare or rectangular plain

shapes The rectangular shape !ith a h ipped roof appears to have

been finally evolved from climatic and functional consideration

2tructural ly the roof frame !as supported on the pi l lars on !alls

erected on a p l in th raised from the ground for protect ion against

dampness and insects in the tropical climate


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ma"ing the rafters funct ion as an ? f rame Cse o f t russes !as

total ly avoided The !eight of the rafters and the roof covering

created a sag in the ridge !hen the ridge piece !as made of fle%ible

materials l i"e bamboo1 Th is sag ho!ever remained as the hal l @

mar" of roof construction even !hen strong timber !as used for the

roof frame /urther gable !indo!s !ere evolved at the t!o ends to

provide attic ventilation !hen a flat ceiling !as incorporated for

the room spaces This ensured air circulat ion and thermal control

for the roof The lo!er ends of the rafters pro$ected much beyond

the !al ls to shade the !al ls f rom the sun and d r iv ing ra in The

closed form of the Kerala houses !as thus gradually evolved from

technical considerations The main door faces only in one cardinal

d i rec tion and the !indo!s are smal l and are made l i"e p ierced

screens of !ood The rectangular plan is usually divided into t!o or

t hr ee a ct iv it y r oo ms ! it h a cc es s f ro m a f ro nt p as sa ge Th e

pro$ecting eaves cover a verandah all round# protecting the !all

from both sun and rain

The roof !as the decisive factor for the development of the t!o@dimensional layout The tradi t ional t imber roof architecture !as

h igh ly evo lved designed $o inery deta i ling The thatchan (master

carpen ter ) !as the ch ief person !ho decided the s iDe shape and

height of the structure The aroodam (rectangular base plate) !as

assembled f irst and used to be raised at the predetermined height

above the plinth !ith the help of temporary !ooden supports & The

rafters (forming the roof cal led "oodu) !ere made at ground !ith

precision The !alls !ere raised to touch the ?r oodam and then the

koodu i s assembled above Thampuran8s s tudy a lso ma"es this

point 1; ?d di tion al spaces !ere c reated a ro un d the cen tral

rectangular ?roodam by the !ay of lean@ tos local ly "no!n as

chayipu & These construction practices !ere based on highly evolved

geometrical pat terns of roof ( t imber) based on authentic t reat ises

1!

+!ser'ation from the "ase studies conducted !y author as a part of , Ph# programme at"P%Ahmada!ad1"-oodu is the composed wooden frame of the roof form of traditional !uildings


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(classical vernacular roofs) and !as strictly follo!ed in design and

construct ion ?ll e%tensions to the basic ?roodam !ere lean@tos

!hich provided for individual innovations

/ig 4: ? s ingle aro odam house !ith pa thayappura.granary/ # K u la n ga r a h o us e #

' ha va ra # K ol l am # K er al a Th e " oo du i s s up po rt ed b y t he a ro od am (! al l p la te

supported by the !all and the !ooden p i l la rs

The plan

The plan form is basically a rectangle divided into segments These

plan forms are self contained independent residential units !hich

ta"e care o f d if feren t ac tiv it ies associa ted !i th a residence ?s

,rT hamp uran p oint s o ut the core o f the e"ash ala i s u sed for

storage# living and sleeping !here as the e%tensions ta"e care of the

supporting activities1 7 T he cen tral seg ment !as the p ro minent

space called akathalam connecting all the peripheral segments The

!alls of the central segment support the aroodam The surrounding

segments are created by e%tending the rafters from the aroodam to

the periphery of the !all These segments are technical ly cal led

chayippu These chayippu in the entrance side (usually from East or

Forth) is u su al ly n a me d a s irayam # o r " ola for r eceiving and

seating guests The pinnapuram behind for multipurpose related to

the household or rooms for sleeping (ara) or

1(P 12,traditional architectural forms of Mala!ar coast ,#r Ashalatha %hampuran


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storage( pathayapura) 1 =on the s ides In cer ta in cases some of the

chayippu a re " ep t o pen as 'ernadahs used by female and ch i ld

members of the family 2ome earl ier s tudies have recorded many

variations of this basic roof configurations

ig )(a schemat ic ske tch showing the typ ical space layout of a s ingle Aroo dam house(

%he central p lace conta ins the three rooms here. %he posi t ion o f the k i tchen could !e

in any o f north east or northwest corner usual ly (

1%his is the grain store of traditional house in kerala


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ig 3aria t ions seen in the "ore and e4 tension o f s ingle aroo dam houses .ot ta thai/ ,

* ou rce 5 . %ra dt io na l A rch it ec tu ra l f or ms o f M al a! ar " oa st , # r A sh al at ha

thampuran,2001/


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Transformations: Th is bas ic p lan o f cen t ra l segment (akathalam

and the surrounding spaces genera ted by e%tend ing the rafters

(chayippu ) !ere 'ommon features in the single aroodam houses of

the past as noted The rectangular geometry !as "ep t in tac t fo r

most t ransformations unti l the early half of last century The ne!

spaces or rooms !ere added as e%tensions to al l the sides !ithout

changing the akathalam and aroodam In other !ords the "ooduthe

tradit ional raf ter roof !as the guiding factor in the planning of a

d!elling space# a single room house to multi room houses

/ig 7 a schemat ic p lan sho!ing the spa t ia l d i spos i t ion o f the segmen ts in a s ing le

?roodam house

The colonial influence brought in a number of changes li"e increase

i n t he s iD e of t he r oo ms # c on ce pt o f f ur ni tu re a nd a tt ac he d

bathrooms and relative increase in the height of the structure the

basic single aroodam !ith central segment continued as a

typological pat tern ?ttached e%tensions !ere made to the centralspace to a ll t he s id es to incorpo ra te n e! n eeds as ical ly t!o


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fundamental changes can be observed# 1 The introduction of formal

spaces for receiving guests later came to be commonly termed as

dra!ing rooms or spaces This happened largely as a transformation

of the -ola or irayam * The introduction of larger e%clusive bed

roo ms and b ath roo ms and toi le ts T he b aths and toi le ts f ir st

in troduced in the region as independent appur tenances s lo!ly

became part of the house mostly attached at the bac" of the house

The cha nges i n occ upat ions r es ulti ng in a gr o! th of ne!

m id dl ec la ss ! it h n e! o cc up at io ns o r g ov er nme nt $ ob s ! it h

develop ing socia l norms !here gues ts o f o ther castes are a lso

received to the house re&uired the in troduction of formal dra!ing

rooms# once considered a modern8 re&uirement 2o !as the case of

bath rooms

ig(spat ia l e4 tent ions to the s ingle Aroo dam house towards the s ide (%he essent ia l

central space and the e4 tent ions .chayippu/ to the s ides is cont inued as seen


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The second half of t!entieth century sa! tremendous changes in the

construction sector !ith changes in socio@ economic conditions# out

migration# e%posure to other construction practices and changes in

construction technology and materials The ma$or factor for change

!as the introduction of 3'' as the material for roofing There !as

fle%ibi l i ty in terms of the planning !ith respect to the roof The

role of thatchan (master carpenter !as reduced to $ust production of

$oinery for door and !indo! frames The mason became the master

The !all became the prominent feature and the traditional sloping

!ooden roof !ith 0angalore Battern tiles !as replaced by 3'' flat

roof /or a !hile at least part of the house !ere made of 3'' or

0adras terrace # la rgely as thing o f s tatus value Even then the

general p lanning concept of the central segment !ith e%tending

segments around !as "ept in tact The f le%ibi l i ty provided by the

ne! material combined !ith the ne! needs of attaching toilets and

private personal spaces lead to interesting e%tensions from the

con vent io na l p lans T he mon oton y o f the !al l !as t reated b y

ornamentation and designs of fenestrations Fe! elements such as

sho! !all# parapet fins# buttress !alls etc started appearing These

styl ist ic changes became necessary as the 3'' made the !alls o

bare and became the main elements and importance of the roof !as

reduced This fundamental change could not replace the aesthet ic

idea o f deta i l s in every segment o f the ear l ier !ooden !al l +e

suggest that !ithout the caping roof# perhaps people felt the house

bare and introduced these stylis tic elements on the !alls

T he mid dle o f the l at te r h al f o f * G t h century sa! massive out

migration to gulf and the 0iddle East and tremendous change in the

so ico@economic p rof ile o f the region This added a number o f

spaces li"e pantry "itchen# poo$a rooms# attached dressing spaces to

bathrooms for each bedroom# office space# family living etc There

!as a r ethin" in g in the roo f form 3'' s lo ping roo f ! ith the

t radi tion al f ea tu res s ta rt ed reapp earing T he 3'' roo f ! ith0angalore Battern t i les on top became an essential feature of the


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houses of th is period The elements l i"e gables ( monthayam ) and

roofs !ith mult ip le heights al l !ere repeated but !ith 3'' The

ornamental features l i"e f in ials # ma"udam# eave boards al l !ere

repeated us ing cement ? la ter vers ion o f f la t roof !i th s lop ing

steel truss !or" !ith 0angalore pattern tiles are seen in many place

in the region


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ig59&%he case s tudies conducted at kol lam re gion, kerala shows the changes in

spat ial conf igurat ion d iscussed( %he concept o f core and the periphery i s seen in a l l

the cases with 'aria t ions in re la t i'e posi t ions


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ig 115 %he fol lowing cases show the typological t ransformat ion occurre d in 'arious

periods s tar t ing from 19)0 to the pre sent day( "ase 1 re pres ents the f i rs t sh i f t f ro m

the t rad i t ional roof and case 2 and $ represen ts the d i f f e ren t t ypo log ie s o f s lop ing

roof on the s ingle Aroodam( n case to case 9 the change from s loping roof to f la t

roof can !e seen (

ig125 'arious *tages showing the t ransformations( %he rea ppearance of the s loping

roof can !e seen from case 11 and cont inuing t i l l case 17 in 'arious forms


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)onclusion

The discussion above# point out to the !ay in !hich vernacular architecture (the

!ay people build unselfconsciously) ma"es cyclical evolution The changes in

economy such as occupation pattern# incomes and their distribution etc# resource

situation li"e land availability and easy availability of ne!er materials# the

e%posure to other cultures through various means resulting changes in living

styles and patterns# changes in gender relations# development of nuclear

households and social relations to be accommodated !ithin the house and more

importantly pro$ection of houses and their architecture as symbols of status have

made the evolution undergo a gradual yet significant shift and modification over

time# yet trying to reinvent the roots reversing the trends and modifying it in the

process

The changes in plan configuration of the single aroodam middle class house

occurred !ith reference to the change in the !ay people started living !ith moresocialiDing and re&uiring guests !ho are not relatives and also from different

castes to be entertained or invited in the house ? ne! sense of privacy influenced

the spaces The kola or irayam e%tended further out!ard and became

poomukhomand later into a dra!ing room 2imilarly the separate bed rooms

became important and toilets (once considered polluting ritually) also made

demands Kitchen also changed its function and style !ith mass coo"ing for

agrarian houses going a!ay and servants becoming rare to get The changes !ere

accommodated !ith marginal shifting of the spaces and yet !ithin the parameters

determined by the sloping roof @ local $oinery system In terms of the

architectural style8 (to use a !ord in the absence of a better !ord)# the sloping

pyramidical tile roof still !as the dominating element


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,r ? ?chyuthan and ,r T 2 alagopala Brabhu# ?rchitecture of

traditional buildings@ retrospect and prospect# an article in 2tapathi $ournal

(?pr@2ept *GG-)# astuvidya Brathishtanam# 'alicut

,r ? ?chyuthan and ,r T 2 alagopala Brabhu# ?rchitecture oftraditional buildings@ retrospect and prospect# an article in 2tapathi $ournal

(apr@sept *GG-)# astuvidya Brathishtanam# 'alicut

,r?shalatha thampuran#traditional ?rchitectural /orms of 0alabar

coast#*GG1#asthu idya Brathishtanam#'alicut

?sho" Hall# Evolving traditional practices for sustainable construction in

the present# Fe! architecture and urbanism@ development of Indian

traditions# The F?.? foundation IFT?C India

Jangadharan T K #evolution of Kerala .istory and 'ulture# 'alicut

central Cniversity 'alicut

.emant 2hah# Traditional architectural attributes in contemporary

architecture# unpublished thesis@ 19==# 'EBT Cniversity# ?hmedabad

?r Baul arghese# The Falu"ettu8 of Kerala@ an analytical approach#

an article in 2tapathi $ournal (apr@$un 1999)# astuvidya Brathishtanam#

'alicut

3aman Famboothiripad# 3easons for modification of residential

buildings# an article in 2tapathi $ournal ($an@$un *GG1)# astuvidya

Brathishtanam# 'alicut

2aptarishi 2anyal# 'ontemporary relevance of traditional principles in

architecture and urbanism# Fe! architecture and urbanism@ development

of Indian traditions# The F?.? foundation IFT?C India

,r 2ridhara 0enon ?# The legacy of "erala#*GG=#, ' oo"s#Kottayam

,r 2ridhara menon ?#'ultural .eritage of "erala#*GG=#,' oo"s

Is tradition green Banel discussion@ IFT?C India #

Fe! architecture and urbanism@ development of Indian traditions# The

F?.? foundation IFT?C India

Tradition and conte%tual relevance for education in architecture and

urbanism# Banel discussion@ IFT?C India# Fe! architecture and


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urbanism@ development of Indian traditions# The F?.? foundation

IFT?C India

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