Vernacular Architecture

Examination Mid Sem

Name Richa Chauhan
Enroll 2020001100110006
Semester 6
 Introduction
• Kath-Kuni is an indigenous construction technique prevalent in the isolated hills of northern
India, especially in the region of Himachal Pradesh.
• Kath is derived from the Sanskrit word kashth meaning wood and kuni from the
word kona meaning corner.
• It also goes by other names such as kath-kona, kath-ki-kanni in Sarahan region
• It is a traditional technique that uses alternating layers of wood and stone masonry, held in
place without using mortar.
• It has been transmitted orally and empirically from one generation to the next, through
apprenticeships spanning a number of years

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Form and spatial planning

Level 1 of structure include space for the cattle and fresh fodder store
Level 2 Structure included the space for fooder store
Level 3 for house temple
Level 4 for kitchen sleeping

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Material and construction

• List of materials
• Stone
• Timber
• Mud
• Gi sheets
• Walls are made of locally available undressed stones of varying sizes, packed together
without any mortar.
• Sometimes the size of a single stone is large enough to cover the entire opening as a lintel
beam, otherwise timber members are used. Kail or deodar wood is used for frames and
panels of doors and windows.
Design and construction
Dry stone houses are constricted by local masons who generally possess little
engineering knowledge but who are able to master the work

Walls
The walls from inside are finished with a coat of mud-and cow dung slurry, which is
repeated once per year.

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 Construction techniques
• FOUNDATION :
• The foundations consist of hand packing of stones without any mortar. The foundation depth ranges
from 3-4 feet for loose soil.
• First the owner is given the area where he can construct his own house
• The owner brings all the materials needed to construct his house
• The owner also hires the carpenter and 2-3 workers for constructing his house .
• The carpenter sets the area for constructing the house as a square or a rectangle accordingly and checks
all the dimensions with measure tape and verifies it by measuring the diagonals set .
• Then he lays a thread as line out (for the boundary) and starts arranging stones in the trenches.
• Small stones are fixed in between the larger ones for proper bounding.

• WALL CONSTRUCTION:
• The stone walls are load bearing with a thickness of 480mm.
• It involves laying of two wooden beams longitudinally parallel to each other with a gap in between.
• This gap is filled with aggregates.
• The walls are constructed with an alternate course of dry masonry and wood without any cementing
mortar.
• These walls provide a very good thermal insulation by giving high time lag of more than 8 hours.
• The wall above the plinth level is strong with an alternative layer of stones and wood.
• This distributes the mass equally.
• So the construction of walls without use of cement mortar and dry stone masonry allows the stone to
oscillate within the flexible wooden frame work to allow the energy of earthquake to disperse, leading to
settlement of the energy and the structure staying intact

• FLOORING
• Materials used for flooring are wooden planks and nails, cow chung and mud plaster is done on the
ground floor
• Wooden beam is used as a support for the wooden planks laid and nailed on wooden beam which
acts as the floor.
• There are two wooden beams on the top of opposite walls and on in the middle laid parallel to the
wall.
• Then wooden planks are laid on this beam in the other direction (horizontally) and connected with
nails.

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Construction techniques
• ROOFING
• The construction from foundation to roof does not involve the use of mortar in the courses of stone,
the sheer weight of dry masonry and the roof in slate stones holds the structure down in place.
• Traditionally no metal nails were used in wood courses instead strategically inserted wooden braces
and joints held the structure together.
• Nail-less framework without rivets and not rigid construction allows the building to flex with the
seismic waves and effectively dissipate the energy of earthquakes.

• WALL CONSTRUCTION:
• Step 1.
• Stones are laid in courses over the plinth level up to a 2.5 m height creating a 480 mm wide wall.
• These stones are packed tightly together using small stone chips.
• Longer (through) stones covering the entire thickness of wall and connecting the withes are used at regular intervals.
• Step 2.
• A wooden beam is placed horizontally at lintel level, i.e. at 2.5 m height to support the roof or floor above, it is directly placed over the
wall without any connection to the wall.
• So the wall is basically a frame of wooden beams and stones, this arrangement of alternating stone and wood adds stability, flexibility and
strength to the wall and makes it earthquake resistant.
• Step 3.
• Walls are plastered with mud on the inner side and finished with mud and cow dung slurry. The exterior side of walls is generally left
exposed.

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 Climate and topography
• Physical landscape of Himachal Pradesh
• The land of Himachal Pradesh rises from the plains at an altitude from 350 meters mean
sea level on the southwest to an altitude of 6816 meters in the east towards the
Tibetan plateau.
• Climate
• There is a huge variation in the climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh due to
variation in altitude (450-6500 mts).
• The climate varies from hot and sub-humid tropical (450-900 metres) in the
southern low tracts, warm and temperate (900-1800 mts), cool and temperate
(1900-2400 mts) and cold glacial and alpine (2400-4800 mts) in the northern and
eastern high elevated mountain ranges

Thesis Report - M.L. van der Zanden