Chapter 9

Examples

1 - Roopsi House. ( Jaisalmer town)

2 - Dhulmera house ,as example.

3 - Jalwali house
Roopsi House, Jaisalmer

Roopsi is a village of about 2000 people, located

about 20 kilometers west of Jaisalmer town.
Although in the desert region, its immediate
surroundings have patches of cultivable land and
rocky mounds, the climate is hot and dry with
moderate to server sandstorms in the summer. The
winters are cold. The people live by sheep breeding
and agriculture, which are not very remunerative.
Rubble is available in the vicinity. Village life
is organized on the basis of community groups. Each
group is bound by close internal relationships.

(Plan of roopsi village)

A cluster accommodating such a group has closely
knit dwellings, which are introvert in character.
The central courtyard is the key element of the
house. All the surrounding rooms open only into the
court. The closed periphery of the house shares its
walls with other houses. This works well in the dry
climate and house is well protected against
sandstorms.
Houses are constructed of uncaused rubble masonry,
bound with mud mortar. Rooms are fairly large and
spanned with rough wooden rafters closely arranged,
with their bearings on walls and stone pillars,
which have wide capitals. These rafters are covered
with a layer of ruble and mud, often 25 to 30
centimeters thick. The heavy walls and thick roof
keep the houses cool during summer days and warm in
the chilly nights.
A variety of storage elements are found in the
village. These are typical and are characteristic
of the region, and can be found in most of the
villages. These elements include wooden chests,
clay granaries of various sizes, clay storage units
and clay shelves of elaborate and intricate design.
Small clay elements of this kind are also placed
around a pillar just beneath its capital.
 (Plan of roopsi house)

Generic form

It is difficult to divide the desert region into

distinct zone and to group the house form in each
zone with in generic classification. One can
observe persistence, yet gradually changing
character in these forms. While the circular
enclosed space is formed almost everywhere, it
occurs more frequently as one moves down from
Bikaner in north to banni in the south. Conversely,
the frequency of occurrence of courtyards increases
as one moves north words. Rectangular spaces
predominate in the northern arts of the desert. It
is, therefore, more convenient to follow the
administrative boundaries for the purpose of
protection. therefore districts have been retained
as the sub-divisions with in the desert regions.

Evolving out of social physical context and due to

local acceptance of its validity over a period of
time, they have become the traditional type of
habit of the people. The major contextual forces
shaping these settlements can be enumerated as
climate, available materials, technology and
culture.

In spite of variations in village, street and

cluster formation in a region, the thematic
expressions therein are most commonly dictated by
the material, construction techniques and life
style.
Typical modern development has ignored such patters
of living. The demonstrable problems that have
since arisen suggest that the older settlement
patterns should be re-examined for their possible
continuing validity, so that this could lead to a
process of conservation or adaptation taking place
in any new development. It is, therefore is
important to examine this tried and
testedformideas to ascertain their validity and
then to accept modify or reject them.
Dhulmera house, as example.

Though this dhulmera house was small and without

the customary circular jhompa, it resembled a large
sculpture, set n a sea of sand .all the rectangular
rooms of varying sizes and heights with uneven mud
plastering were set around the courtyard. Only the
largest room had a flat roof, all the others had
either a pitched roof or a conical roof. The UN
dulating roof line with its mud color and special
texture brings interest and homogeneneity to this
house.
 (Plan of Dhulmera house)

The position of the kitchen is strategic. It is

right in front of the entrance gate and so situated
that it cuts down the dimension of the court and
helps to divide it in two parts. It also leaves a
blank surface in front of the main road and blocks
the service yard. such planning attitudes ,are the
result of the development, intelligent and
experienced mind .the position and construction of
the two stores created an interesting peep hole
15cm. Wide .both the storage jars. are placed so
close to each other .i.e. .sculptural space between
them was formed in the shape of inverted cone as in
picture.

The open kitchen, position in one corner, had a

burner fashion in mud, and fire wood was used as if
fuel. In the summer, cooking is done outdoor while
in winter it is done inside the kitchen. While in
windy days, the inner kitchen is used, with their
simple food habits requiring the use of only a few
ports and pans, this change is possible rapidly and
easily.
The worship space and water storage space are next
to each other. these spaces are not part of the
services but are considered sacred and therefore
designed and positioned in a way to suggest this
.in the absence of any semi-open spaces the shade
of the room is used for
Resting during the hot summer afternoons. The
boundary wall connects all the rooms while all
thorny bushes enclose the rare yard. The dhulmera
house is proof of the fact that simplicity of
construction and can result in a building that a
delightful.
CASE STUDY
Chapter10
Jaisalmer as case study

The district of jaiselmer derives its name from the

town of jaiselmer, which was founded by king
jaisel. The word jaiselmer is a combination of two
words, jaisel and meru. Meaning jaisels fort. The
area comprising the district was widely known as
mud dhara or valla mandal from ancient times. in
1949,after the formation of Rajasthan ,the areas
under the formal jaiselmer state ,along with some
pats of jodhpur state was formed into the single
district of jaiselmer.

The district is situated at the extreme west of

raj, and forms the major part of the great Indian
desert .the district is bound on the west, north
and north-west by Pakistan and on the north east by
bikaner district .on the south lies the district of
Barmer and on east the district of jodhpur.

Jaiselmer is the largest district in the state and

the second largest ii the country. But, it is the
least populated one. the entire area is dry, sandy
and with very little water this flat scurby
landscape punctuated by a few hills and many sand-
dunes .the land slopes towards the Indus vally and
the rann of kutch.
The topography is undulating and, as far as the
eye can see, the land is covered with sand-dunes.
The ridges usually are parallel to the prevailing
direction of the wind. No other part of Rajasthan
is as devoid of life and as forbidding in
appearance. The blow sand forms into shifting dunes
the few stationary san-hills in the west are
covered with small bushes and those in the east
with tufts of long grass. there is hardly any
vegetation owing to the lack of water there are no
permanent water sources and the inhabitants
consequently lead a nomadic life grazing sheep and
cattle, shift in from one green patch to another
there is and less struggle for survival which is
reflected in all aspect of life of inhabitants.
Construction

A Bhunga enclosed by a mud wall is the most typical

construction for dwelling purpose. Is diameter may
vary from 3 to 5 m. the wall is usually constructed
in two ways depending upon its location. In places
which are not likely to face inundation during the
rains, no matter how meager these rains may be, the
walls are made of sun dried clay blocks and
finished with mud plaster. These walls cannot carry
the load of the roof, nor are they rigid enough to
hold it. The roof load is cleverly transferred
above head level.

(Techniques of construction)
 A wooden prop placed in the center of the beam
supports the conical roof and helps transfer the
load to the post through the beam. Often, the two
posts carrying the beam are placed outside the
circular wall and are left exposed .at times they
are embedded in the mud wall.

(Mud wall)

Eternity, in the areas which face water logging,

bhungas are built with wooden sticks covered with
mud plaster .in the event of inundation, the wall
would not give weight, as it is well reinforced by
the wooden sticks is really a kind of adobe
construction. These reinforced walls have a far
greater load bearing capacity, there by eliminating
the need for additional post and also the
horizontal beam. For the roof, a conical wooden
frame is made of sticks which rise from the wall
and are tied at crown to create the cone .the cone
is surfaced externally with thatch.

(Thatched roof interior)

The interior of all spaces is finished with white

clay, often of good quality. People for communities
which are involved in crafts, as in Ludia, finish
these interiors in pattern clay and mirror are
embedded in surface. These mirror design are well-
integrated with the wall patterns .small granaries
are also built of clay. These are decorated to
match the interiors, or at times left plane .the
granaries may be circular of rectangular. clay is
also used for making chests with wooden shutters to
take care of other storage needs.

Jhompas are also constructed with mud as a

principal material. How ever, there are variations
in the construction of walls. Besides using clay
bocks there are also places where the walls are
first made with sticks and then finished with mud.
These two methods are comparable with the
construction o bhungas. The third method uses straw
for the walls .here the straw is tied with ropes
and raised in circular form. The ropes are made
from fibrous local plants these thick ropes run
horizontally along the internal as well as the
external surface of the straw walls. Theses are
then finished with clay and cow dung. A shallow
foundation of about 30 to 40 cm. Is made for
securing the jhompa.
 (Finished with mud interior)

The roof is supported in two different ways ,

depending upon the nature of wall construction.
While stronger mud block walls, and the walls
reinforced with the wooden sticks, can support the
cone of the roof or its periphery, the straw
reinforced walls normally have a central wooden
spar supporting the apex of the cone.
 Roof support

Radial support of the raw would connect the spar

with the periphery. these are then tied ropes and
the voids and are filled with straws , and further
covered thatch. In the other method, radiating
supports are directly connected at the apex, tied
with ropes and then roof on. In such cases ,the
walls also provided with hoops at regular
intervals. Thus the hoops take care of the tension
cause by thrust of the conical roof. Sometimes, a
mud wall is only a partition and the roof is
supported on wooden post. The roof projects all
along the periphery to protect the walls from sun
and rain.

(Radial support at periphery)

The rectangular spaces are generally constructed

with sun dried clay blocks , breaking the walls 40
to 50 cm. Thick. Raw wood joist span these narrow
and long rooms. The spans are further reduced by
wooden sticks put across o the main members .these
roofs are finished with rammed earth. On the roofs
is for storing grass and straw. However, in such
cases the load is taken on wooden posts erected
outside the mud walls.

Inside created spaces