The term “Vernacular architecture” in general refers to the informal building of structures through traditional building methods without using the services of a professional architect. It is the most widespread form of building . Vernacular architecture has been growing over time with continuities changes, transformations and adaptations to the different social and economic conditions of each period.

1. Adaptations of Vernacular Architecture
in Modern Constructions
Ar.Suvarna Lele
South Asian Vernacular Architecture
Challenges to its continuity and strategies for its future
CONFERENCE

2.  The term “Vernacular architecture” in
general refers to the informal building of
structures through traditional building
methods without using the services of a
professional architect. It is the most
widespread form of building .
 Vernacular architecture has been growing
over time with continuities changes,
transformations and adaptations to the
different social and economic conditions of
each period.

3.  Vernacular architecture has
evolved through trial and error
methods.
 vernacular buildings and site
planning depend on
substantially experience,
surrounding conditions, and
local materials.
 The continuity in vernacular
architecture is related to space
and time, involves structural,
typological, functional and social
issues.
 One can observe this continuity
in form of materials,
technologies, planar and Design
elements in Contemporary
structures.

4.  Modern Architects have realized the significance of the simpler, Ecological
principals incorporated in Vernacular Architecture and trying to adapt in modern
in some form. We find something new and different in today’s architectural
phenomena. It’s the form of the attempt to revoking traditions and vernacular into
the modern era.
 With introduction to modern technologies and materials people are trying to
adhere to some principles from Vernacular Architecture.
 The lessons learnt from Sustainable Architecture can facilitate in design of modern
structures, which actually are against all ‘Green’ principals. Designers can create a
sustainable environment by culminating traditional Vernacular with modern
Architecture.

5.  Adaptation of Vernacular Architecture in modern constructions in terms
of-
 Vernacular Architecture culminates through the appropriate use of local
materials, local technologies and local people .It is the outcome of the
people’s needs at the time.
 It is definitely sustainable as it is a product of several experimentations. The
structures themselves cannot be prototyped but the technologies and
materials can be adapted for the same.
Materials and technologies:
 The first factor influencing the development of vernacular construction
practices is related to the availability of local building materials. In many
areas, the locally available resources have governed the use of the
following constituent materials for walls
 Simple plans, load-bearing walls, use of natural materials for construction...
Overall, vernacular architecture is a way of living.

6. EARTH CONSTRUCTIONS:ADOBE
Using adobe has the following advantages:
1.It doesn’t pollute ecosystem and hence a ‘Green ‘material. It is inexpensive, stores
thermal mass and has optimal heating transfer features for heating in the summer
and cooling in the winter.
2.Soil is a suitable substance for construction and is available all around the world as
well as the soil materials need the least amount of processing.
3.The use of adobe is very common in some of the world’s most hazard-prone
regions, such as Latin America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and other parts of
Asia, the Middle East and Southern Europe.
4.Adobe constructions would be continued to be used in the poorer countries
because of its easy availability and better thermal properties. Many experiments are
going around the globe to improve upon the seismic properties of the adobe
buildings

7. THANNAL HAND SCULPTED HOMES

8. Wattle & Daub/Cob Organic Farm Cottage in Bengaluru.
Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a
woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually
made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and
daub has been used for at least 6000 years and is still an important construction
material in many parts of the world. Here bamboo is used as wattle and for daub cob
mix is used.
THANNAL HAND SCULPTED HOMES

9. Bamboo wattle completed with stone
verandah

10. Beauty of Cob is you can
sculpt with the wall in
different shapes and forms.
The dob can be of different
materials that include sand,
wasted rock powder, bees
wax , lime,turmeric, casein,
pearl millet as fiber with
potters clay

12. Outside look of wattle & daub.Wall can take different
inclinations .It can be curved in different dimensions and
shapes.

13. Artistically sculpted openings with
bamboo matting and daub.

14. Floor is made using waste stone from near by granite factory and with a blend of
athangudi tiles..Seatings are of sculpted daub with small windows illuminating
the space.

16. “Let the beauty we love be what
we do. There are hundreds of ways
to kneel and kiss the ground.”
― Rumi

17. Adaptations of Adobe in modern construction:
Architects Hassan Fathy,Nadir Khalili and Indian Architects such as Laurie
Baker,Chitra Vishwanath have used the adobe construction to build the structures.
The master builder, Hassan Fathy (1900-1989) was one of the first architects to break
with modern architecture and to found a new approach based on a conception of
interpreting forms and masses from the past.

20. DESIGN ELEMENTS (ADOBE WALLS & WIND CATCHERS)
Hassan Fathy Architecture

21. CEBs (Compressed Earth Blocks)
 Compressed Earth Block (CEB) is one name given to earthen bricks compressed
with hand-operated or motorized hydraulic machines.
 Their main characteristics include uniform building component sizes, use of
locally available materials and reduction of transportation.
 Uniformly sized building components can result in less waste, faster
construction and the possibility of using other pre-made components or
modular manufactured building elements.
 The use of natural, locally-available materials makes good housing available to
more people, and keeps money in the local economy rather than spending it to
import materials, fuel and replacement parts.

22. Adaptation of CEBs in Modern Constructions:
 Compressed Earth Blocks emerged in the fifties. Since then there is a
considerable progress in its production technology and its application in
building has continued to progress.
 Research centers, industrialists, entrepreneurs and builders have developed a
very sophisticated body of knowledge, making this technology the equal today
of competing construction technologies.
 EB production are strictly manufactured to meet scientific requirements for
product quality control that include identification, selection and extraction of
the earth used, to quality assessment of the finished block.

23. The ‘Gnana Illam’house in an Indian village bridges old and new styles of
Architecture-Old and New-Ar.V.Noel Jerald.

30. Some structures
By
Chitra Vishwanath

31. Auroville Compressed Earth homes

32. Masonry (stone, brick, or concrete blocks):
a) Stone:
 Stone is a highly durable, low maintenance building material with high
thermal mass. It is versatile, available in many shapes, sizes, colours and
textures, and can be used for floors, walls, arches and roofs. Stone blends
well with the natural landscape, and can easily be recycled for other
building purposes.
 The use of stone in construction has declined because of the factors as cost
and durability of the material over the last hundred years, but it is
resurfacing in various forms that include facades, partitions, floorings and
so on.
 Modern materials such as concrete, steel and glass are replaced the stone
at many places but still in many rural areas where the stone is available in
plenty and can be quarried easily, stone structures are seen in abundance.
In modern buildings, stone come handy as façade materials. Many
decorative features carved in stones are used as an aesthetic feature in
modern constructions.

33. Adaptations Of Stone In Modern Constructions:
 Modern materials such as concrete, steel and glass are replaced the stone at
many places but still in many rural areas where the stone is available in plenty
and can be quarried easily, stone structures are seen in abundance. In modern
buidings, stone come handy as façade materials. Many decorative features
carved in stones are used as an aesthetic feature in modern constructions.
A Bangalow by Ar.Sunil Patil,Kolhapur

37. Archium Stone Radio Building,Nepal.

38.  Thick walls made from locally
sourced stone frame courtyards and
corridors at this radio broadcasting
station in the Nepalese town of
Jomsom, designed by Korean studio
Archium.
 Architect Kim In-cheurl of Seoul-
based Archium developed the
building for the Mustang
Broadcasting Community (MBC), a
radio station launched last year to
serve residents and visitors in the
remote Mustang region of north-
west Nepal.
 Situated on a ledge close to the
banks of the Kali Gandaki River,
3000 metres above sea level, the
building was designed to utilise
locally available materials and
labour.

39. To protect employees and guests from
the strong winds prevalent in the region,
the building is enveloped in walls made
from a local stone called gneiss that also
helps the radio station merge with the
surrounding landscape of rock-strewn
mountains.

43. http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-
content/blogs.dir/1/files/2014/04/Archium-Stone-Radio-Building-Nepal-

44. b) Brick:
Brick as a traditional versatile material of construction:
 The use of burnt clay bricks is widespread where wood or coal fuel is available.
Clay brick is a traditional building material used for centuries in many parts of the
world. Stone is the locally available material in some regions.
 Bricks are inexpensive, lightweight, durable, easy to install, fireproof, low
maintenance and could be easily ornamented.
 We can see the wonderful brick buildings Designed by Architects as Frank Lloyd
Wright, Le Corbusier and Laurie Baker. The exposed brickwork structures at
Ahmedabad are bold examples of how intelligently bricks are used in construction.
Brick industry has developed a strategy to minimise the environmental impact of
brick construction, increase its energy efficiency and use of renewable energies.

45. Adaptation of brickwork in modern construction:
Here are a few Architects who have created marvels by use of culmination of
traditional material with contemporary techniques-
 Antoni Gaudí's with his magnificent brick vaults at Park Guell ; Alvar Aalto's
experimental brick patterning at his house in Muuratsalo; the powerful brick piers
of Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo's Knights of Columbus Building and the
Catalan vaults of Porro, Garatti and Gattardi's National Arts School of Cuba;
The ultimate brickwork is done by Louis Kahn at Indian Institute of
Management,Ahemedabad.

47. LAURIE BAKERS ARCHITECTURE-
‘POETRY IN BRICKS’……….

51. A composite house by Istudio,Mumbai
The brick house has been inspired by both the philosophies and the works of Laurie
Baker and Nari Gandhi. Each room flows into another, leading into a seamless space
held by the central courtyard. Climatology and the solar path, along with jalis and
arched openings have played an essential role to introduce light and wind into each
interior space. Exposed materials, which give the entire house a very earthy feel and
the construction techniques using rat-trap bond, filler slabs, arches have contributed
to the low cost of the project.

57. Adaptations Of Bamboo In Modern constructions-Green School Bali

58. Contemporary Bamboo Architecture in India
 Seeing the global trends, some organizations have engaged in research and
development in the field of material science, treatment methods, building
components, construction systems and products with bamboo for over few
decades. The major organizations and institutes in India working in bamboo
sector are:
 PIRTI, Indian Plywood Industrial Research and Training Institute, Bangalore- In
collaboration with TRADA and BMTPC, they have developed a modified
walling system with Bamboo-crete - an up gradation of Wattle and daub system;
and also a construction system for two-story bamboo structure.
 IWST, Indian Wood Science Institute, Bangalore- IWST has developed treatment
method for bamboo and developed a bamboo-wood –plastic composite which
can be used in several building applications.
 CGBMT with Manasaram Architects, have worked on pre-fabricated
bamboocrete wall panels, prefab houses, bamboo construction systems with
BRC- bamboo reinforced concrete roof, BFRC- bamboo fiber reinforced concrete,
freeform bamboo roofs, tensegrity and synergetic structures with bamboo,
compressed blocks with bamboo and paper waste with mud etc.
 CIBART with KONBAC has been working in the furniture sector and has set up
some units. They are also developing a construction system with small diameter
bamboos

70. Wood In Modern Constructions:
Wood, one of the most readily available natural materials other than mud has
been used extensively in Kashmir, Kerala and many other regions for centuries,
for almost all elements of its built environment of any nature, scale of
complexities.
The range of the methods of using wood, for a variety of building elements with
simple as well as complex joinery details, in any historic settlement of these
regions reflect the ingenuity of local craft persons in understanding wood as
material.

76. Wood Courtyard house by
Hiren Patel
http://www.archiii.com/2013/10/courtyard-house-design-
hiren-patel-architects/

88. National Nirmitee and Rural Building Centers:
 The Union Government has set up a network of building centers called ‘Nirmiti
Kendras’ in all districts for training and upgrading skills of artisans,
demonstrating the use of cost-effective and indigenous building material, and
producing construction material from industrial and agricultural wastes.
 Cost-effective construction material is being manufactured at the Kendra. Soil
stabilised blocks and rammed earth construction is an alternative to bricks and
mud walls. Boulder blocks (filter blocks), which are an alternative to the random
rubble masonry are manufactured over here.
 RCC door and window frames in place of wood are the other material being
produced at the center. This is to bring down the demand for wood. In addition,
different roofing material such as beams and cuduppah slabs, ‘L' panel units, and
ferro-cement rafters are prepared at the Kendra along with ferro-cement water
tanks and other components used in rural and urban sanitation programs.

89. WATTLE & DAUB WALLING HOUSE
 This traditional Sikkim house,
constructed using Wattle and Daub
walling in between the Stabilised
tamed earth columns, is economical
and long-lasting.
 The rammed earth columns are
provided with vertical bands
which are in turn monolithically cast
with horizontal bands at plinth and
roof levels to make the structure stable
and earthquake resistant.
STONE MASONRY HOUSE
 Stone masonry houses are usually
found in the Himalayan region. This
structure is constructed with two types
of walling – Random Rubble
Masonry in ground floor and Cement
Concrete blocks in first floor.
 The roofing is with precast RCC
panels over precast joists for the
ground floor and Micro concrete
tiles for the first floor.

90. TRADITIONAL MUD HOUSE
 Mud is extensively used for construction in
rural areas as it is readily available and is
widely accepted.
 In this house, walls above sill level are made
with mud using COB Technique. Fibre glass
tiles, interspersed with Mangalore tiles, provide
adequate lighting inside the house. Shabad
stone flooring used here is economical
compared to normal cement flooring.
LATERITE HOUSE  Laterite is a brick-like stone with red or
brown superficial deposit of clay or earth,
which gathers on the surface of rocks. The
walls made with laterite stones are strong,
yet cost saving if locally available.
 The micro concrete tiles used for the roof
are light in weight, durable and economical.
 Bethamacharla stone flooring used here is
an alternative to the normal artificial stone
flooring and provides an elegant look.

91. •RAT TRAP BOND HOUSE
 This building, designed on the
pattern of Anganwadi Centre, has
arch foundation, rat trap bond wall
and filler slab roof.
 The roof of the central portion of the
building, shaped like a dome, is
made with brick without using steel
or concrete.
 Rat trap bond walls and brick arches
at openings economise the cost of
construction.
BRICK DOME HOUSE

92. •BAMBOO CRETE HOUSE
 Treated Bamboo is used for
construction of this house. Bamboo
mat walling between bamboo
columns is plastered with cement on
both sides
 The structure is light and is
economical where bamboo is
abundantly avalable.
FERRO CEMENT CHANNEL & FILLER SLAB
DWELLING UNITS
 One is made with walls of hollow
cement concrete blocks with roofing of
Ferro cement channels that are precast
at the site itself.
 In the other house, filler slab is used for
roofing while fly ash bricks are used for
columns as well as for the half brick
walls.

93. Stabilised earth blocks house
 In this model, constructed on the
pattern of Kutch Bhungas of
Gujrat, compressed cement
stabilized earth blocks are used for
the walls.
 Earthquake resistant features like
vertical and horizontal bands are
provided to each Bhunga.
Adobe mud block house  In this model, walls are made with
Adobe (sundried) mud blocks placed
between the fly ash brick columns.
 The blocks can be made with locally
available earth without any
mechanical compressor.
Tile face mud blocks are used for
external walls the arch roofing is made
with conical tiles and is covered with
cement mortar on the external surface.

94. Thank You
Ar.Suvarna Lele