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This documentation project draws together a selection of the traditional newar architecture developments as well as some variation with other residential buildings. During our documentation work, we came across scholars and the accomodating people. We would like to express our sincere gratitude towards our supervisor, Dr. Rohit Ranjitkar and Shrish Bhatta for their incredible guidance, precious suggestion and invaluable encouragement throughout the documentation work. The successful completion of work is only possible with their moral, technical and expertise support. We are sincerely gratified , not only for the extreme care and attention they showed but also for their critical insights that they put into our works and feedback given us in the whole work. We also like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Gyaniraj (the care taker of the residential building), for his meaningful interactions during the visit in his house, Dhokasi, Shankhamul- Lalitpur and we thank the house owner for her moral as well as physical support throughout our documentation project work. Amit Pokhrel Bhakta Laxmi Maharjan Sabila Joshi Renu Maharjan
34

Documentation on "Traditional residential dwelling"

Nov 18, 2014

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Pokharel Amit

A team work regarding Documentation on Traditional residential dwelling.
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Page 1: Documentation on "Traditional residential dwelling"

This documentation project draws together a selection of the traditional newar

architecture developments as well as some variation with other residential

buildings. During our documentation work, we came across scholars and the

accomodating people.

We would like to express our sincere gratitude towards our supervisor, Dr. Rohit

Ranjitkar and Shrish Bhatta for their incredible guidance, precious suggestion and

invaluable encouragement throughout the documentation work. The successful

completion of work is only possible with their moral, technical and expertise

support.

We are sincerely gratified , not only for the extreme care and attention they showed

but also for their critical insights that they put into our works and feedback given

us in the whole work.

We also like to express our sincere gratitude to Mr. Gyaniraj (the care taker of the

residential building), for his meaningful interactions during the visit in his house,

Dhokasi, Shankhamul- Lalitpur and we thank the house owner for her moral as

well as physical support throughout our documentation project work.

Amit Pokhrel

Bhakta Laxmi Maharjan

Sabila Joshi

Renu Maharjan

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Table of Content

Glossary....................................................................................................................

List of Figures............................................................................................................

Chapter1.Introduction................................................................................................

1.1 Background..................................................................................................

1.2 Objective......................................................................................................

1.3 Scope and Limitations..................................................................................

1.4 Methodology................................................................................................

1.5 Structure of the Documentation...................................................................

Chapter 2. Literature Review.....................................................................................

2.1 Evolution of Neplease history........................................................................

2.2 Transformation-Traditional residential architecture.......................................

2.3 Introduction to traditional dwelling................................................................

2.4 Physical structure............................................................................................

2.5 Planning and use.............................................................................................

Chapter 3.Documentation..........................................................................................

3.1 House of Mrs. Shrada Shrestha at Dhokasi-09, Shankhamul, Lalitpur

3.2 Element of the House.....................................................................................

3.2.1 Dhalin(Joist)..................................................................................................

3.2.2 Nila (Beam)...................................................................................................

3.2.3 Musin (Rafter)...............................................................................................

3.2.4 Thayma (ridge beam)....................................................................................

3.2.5 Opening and member ties..............................................................................

3.2.6 Foundation design (jaga)...............................................................................

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Chapter 4. Summary of the Case study......................................................................

4.1 Staircase............................................................................................................

4.2 Partition wall.....................................................................................................

4.3 Bamboo partition...............................................................................................

4.4 Wooden partition...............................................................................................

4.5 Brick partition...................................................................................................

4.6 Floor detail........................................................................................................

4.7 Central wall in second floor..............................................................................

4.8 Brick partition wall on second and upper floor level........................................

Chapter 5. Conclusion................................................................................................

Reference.................................................................................................................

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Glossary

Appa (Apa)...................................................Traditional bricks of various kinds

Chikkan Appa...................................................................Hard burnt clay tiles

Pakwocha................................................................................................Hut

Newar..........................A Nepali ethnic group with high artistic and cultural flair

Phalcha..................................................................Resting place for travellers

Peti.............................................Raised platform along the perimeter of a house

Salla..............................................................................................Pine wood

Than.....................................................................................................Posts

Sattal.........................................................Public resting place for long journey

Dachi Apa.........................................................................Special facing brick

Dhathu Anga............................................................................... Central wall

Than..........................................................................Column, normally wood

Si chuku......................................................................................Timber pegs

Tole...................................A small area denoting a compact neighbourhood unit

Polan Apa...........................................................Jhingati/Traditional small tiles

Nas..............................................................................................Wall plates

Kausi Pachha..........................................................................Waterproof clay

Agahtah.............................................................................................Crosstie

Bhaupa......................................................................................Smoke outlet

Bhyaysi...................................................................................Principal rafter

Dhalin..................................................................................Joist, eaves beam

Kopu Apa........................................................................................Ridge tile

Thayma.......................................................................................Ridge beam

Tha......................................................................................................Pillar

Tunah....................................................................................................Strut

Lakansi....................................................................Base plate of the king post

Baigahtha........................................................................................King post

Musin..................................................................................................Rafter

Meth..................................................................................................Capital

Dhalipakha.................................................................................Lower eaves

Thayma........................................................................................Ridge beam

Musin.................................................................................................Rafter

Sah.....................................................................................................Joint

Chuku.....................................................................................Wooden pegs

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Dachi Appa: Wedge-shaped traditional baked bricks of high class finish used in the

external skin of the main facades of the important buildings; normally called

conical brick.

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Map of the Lalitpur city...............................................................................

Figure 2: Documentation objective.............................................................................

Figure 3: Traditional buildings....................................................................................

Figure 4: Development of building height..................................................................

Figure 5: Traditional roof structure.............................................................................

Figure 6: Section of a traditional newar building........................................................

Figure 7: Section of a traditional newar building with space at different levels.........

Figure 8: Street and courtyard facade of the building.................................................

Figure 9: Ground floor plan and first floor plan..........................................................

Figure 10: Interior of the first floor.............................................................................

Figure 11: Cracks developed on the wall at sill level..................................................

Figure 12: Second floor plan.......................................................................................

Figure 13: Damaged beam...........................................................................................

Figure 14: New position of staircase on the second floor ..........................................

Figure 15: Top floor plan.............................................................................................

Figure 16: Inclined beam capital and post...................................................................

Figure 17: view of the terrace before demolition........................................................

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Figure 18: Top floor after demolition..........................................................................

Figure 19: Dhalin placed close together on the second floor......................................

Figure 20: Joist and plank detail on the first floor.......................................................

Figure 21: Joist running horizontally and connected by chuku...................................

Figure 22: Orderly placement of vertical members supporting the floor....................

Figure 23: Musin placed at regular interval.................................................................

Figure 24: Tang on window.........................................................................................

Figure 25: Inner view of window................................................................................

Figure 26: Typical foundation detail...........................................................................

Figure 27: Plinth depth at the main street....................................................................

Figure 28: Staircase on first floor and second floor....................................................

Figure29: Typical traditional staircase........................................................................

Figure 30: Wooden partition on the first and second floor..........................................

Figure 31: Sipu bhikha and ghringi khapa...................................................................

Figure 32: Floor detail.................................................................................................

Figure 33: terrace area with cement punning..............................................................

Figure 34: Second floor without central wall..............................................................

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Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Background

This documentation project work stems from the study of newari residential

buildings of dhokasi-09, shankhamul, lalitpur city, which has the stock of the

traditional buildings and residential dwellings rich in physical and cultural view.

The city is rich in its heritage expressed through harmonizing building materials

and its crafted techniques with construction style or techniques. The artistry of

Nepalease woodwork is renowned and is a prime essence of traditional Nepalease

architecture.

Most of the world monuments are build in their own local technology and have

their own local materials and technologies yet it is not well studied and well

documented. Because of this reasons; it is our duty to understand the use of the

materials and techniques and tie up them in the form of documentation.

Figure 1: Map of the Lalitpur city

Site

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The system and the scientific justification behind the technologies of our heritage

at present exist on an oral version. for these reasons, this documentation has been

carried out.

1.2 Documentation objective

This documentation only deals with the private residential dwelling. The main

documented question is: what are the physical aspects of the traditional newar

buildings? To answer this kind of technical question, this documentation is carried

out as well as this documentation objective will help us to know the exact situation

of the residential dwellings which has its own importance from traditional

architecture

1.3 Scope and limitations

This documentation project work will focus its study on following aspects:

Building types and age of the building

Oral and written account of the building

Detail types and drawing details

Terminology of the building elements

This documentation cover the different elements,decorative elements and all part

of the building. this will be limited to structural elements and members that are the

true skeleton of the building details of functional requirements.

1.4 Methodology

This documentation project work deals with an analysis of the typical newari

residential dwellings located in dhokasi-09, shankhamul, lalitpur . the placeis listed

in heritage zone and is well known because of its richness in arts, crafts and

architecture. the methodology adopted to study the traditional newari residential

dwellings are summarized as follows:

It will review various literatures concerning the traditional Newar building with

respect to building technology

The documentation will collect all the existing data and verify

helps to understand different techniques used in this kind of traditional newari

residential buildings

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Defining the context and limiting the supervised area

Relevant material

Literature review

Project/documentation preparation

Collection of data and information

Figure 2: Documentation objective

1.5 Structure of the documentation

The whole work of the study is distributed over 5 chapters, chapter 1 comprises the

basic introduction relating the background, objectives, scope and limitation,

methodology. chapter 2 presents the review of the literature related with the

documentation work. The review is broadly classified into different headings

namely history of nepalease architecture, transformation from pakwocha to

traditional residential architecture, introduction to traditional dwelling, physical

Primarydata and secondary data

Analysis of information

Figures/ Tables/ Drawings/ Photographs/ Text report writing

Conclusion and recommendation

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structure, space planning and uses and others construction techniques. A number of

literatures regarding the documentation are presented. chapter 3 mainly focus on

the description of case study that have been conducted during our documentation

project work. In chapter 4, the overall conclusion and in chapter 5 references.

Chapter 2. Literature review

2.1 Evolution of Nepalease history

S.No Period Date

1 The Gopals up to c 1000 BC

2 The Kirats 700 BC-110 AD

3 The Lichhavis 110 AD- 879 AD

4 The Thakuris 879 AD- 1200 AD

5 The Mallas 1200 AD- 1768 AD

6 The Shah 1768 AD-1845 AD

7 The Ranas 1845 AD-1950 AD

8 Later Shah 1950 AD-2008 AD

9 Federal Democratic Republic from-May 28, 2008

There has been limited documentation done on the historical development of

Nepalease architecture, the typology of the building and their change in style

during the past centuries. Based on the analysis of the manuscripts and the existing

buildings, this kind of traditional residential buildings existed from last 200 years

and may be more as long as there was no western influence and building style

followed the tradition pattern.

The dramatic change to the enormous white plastered palaces based on the neo-

classical style from the west built by the Rana rulers, brought certain changes in

dwelling design particularly in facade for at least the richer section of the populace

with the massive influx of western ideas at the begining of the second half of the

20th century , a total change in the design of dwelling took place. Those within

settlements were able to make minor alterations only because of the limited space

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within a block of houses, but new houses outside the dense settlements were able

to use new materials, modern designs and construction techniques.

The break with tradition was so rapid and harsh that over the last few years a

positive trend has emerged to find a modern nepali style and at least building

materials, such as traditional type of bricks, tile, stone and wood is again being

used in many places as originally intended.

2.2 Transformation of traditional residential architecture

The architecture from the ancient time followed traditional technology and locally

available materials to construct the shelter that would protect people from harsh

rain, sun and their buildings from dacoits and many other threatening things

Figure 3: Traditional buildings (Pakocha)

The initial buildings in the valley gradually developed from a simple hut built up

of sun dried brick to a kiln brick house, while now most of the buildings are

constructed with modern technology.The initial form of building known as

pakwocha is a temporary shelter for guarding crops which is constructed with mud,

sun dried bricks and wood structures. These are used for shelter mainly during

agricultural activities such as rice plantation when farm workers gather and had

their lunch at fields, or use as the store house for fire woods or as a farm house.The

architecture of the pakwocha may be the begining from which the traditional

Newari dwelling later transformed.

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With the appearence of three storied buildings, and later on four storied stuctures,

malla town newar private houses were allowed to increase the height of the houses

to three floors or construct new ones to that height ,which were not only terraced

houses but also courtyard houses. With the begining of this types of house, a

further vertical expansion of building volume was made possible. The resultant

problem that residential narrow streets and gardens were, cast in shadow by these

high buildings which was to some extent compensated by the subsequent inclusion

of openings, sunlit, roof terraces directly adjoining the kitchen to form a further

external space proved to be most expedient.

The need for even more space with increment of family follwing the centuries led

to a further rise in the height. Thus, in the Shah and Ranas period, four storied

buildings were often constructed. Frequently, this increase in heights was achieved

by the addition of a new floor. Houses constructed in this century , especially those

from after the horrible earthquake of 1934, are quite often four storied till early

1970. Increasingly, the height of the building is significantly raised in some cases

over-extended from an original room height of 1.60-1.90 m to 2.50-2.90 m.

Simultaneously from 1970 onwards new building style arose in, mostly modern

elements from other architectural styles.

Figure 4: Development of building height

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It is evident that the original building regulation as to height limitation served an

obvious regulatory purposes. It is also manifestly clear that this regulation is no

longer observed today. It is thus possible that a modern five or six storey building

is planted next to an old three storey house, towering above all the neighbouring

houses in an already very densely built environment, with negative effect on

buildings safety as well as sunlight and ventillation is concerned.

In the above illustration not only is the increament in the number of floors outlined,

but also the simultaneous horizontal expansion which runs parallel to it from a

single bay to a double bay construction. This was probably first introduced during

the Rana period.

2.3 Introduction to traditional dwelling

In contrast to the well documented descriptions of religious buildings, the

historical information concerning private buildings or dwellings is almost non-

existent.

A jesuit traveler, Father Giusppe who visited Nepal nearly 200 years ago gives

probably the earliest description of the dwellings: “The houses are constructed of

brick, and are three or four storey high; their apartments are not lofty; they have

doors and windows of wood, well worked and arranged with great regularity”.

The traditional building from Malla period differs from the building of Shah and

Rana period. The major difference which can be seen visually, is floor height,

window style, and carvings on the wooden members. However, traditional

buildings are considered to be three or four storied high between 1.8 to 2.4 m

connected by a narrow and steep wooden staircase. The plan is usually of simple

rectangular from depth about 6m and lenght varying from 3m to 10m. The building

is constructed in brick masonary structure with mud mortar as binding material

while the material for foundation is stone or brick. Timber is used for window,

door frame and carved elements, staircase, beam, strut, purlin.

The roof is a good architectural feature of the whole building, which is usually in

slope with tile roofing, called locally as “Jhingati”. It is constructed with wooden

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beam over which wooden boards are placed and then thick layer of mud topping is

applied as the base for jhingati.

Figure 4: Traditional roof structure

Wolfgang Korn also elaborated that a characteristic and universal features of this

kinds of design is the vertical room arrangement, which is not dependent on the

size of the house. security considerations, and the need to use a little irrigable land

for building purposes, caused the Newar house to be vertically orientated.

Generally it is three storeyed, but two storied houses occur among the poorer

inhabitants on the town’s fringes, and four storied in the centre of the town. The

uniform depth facilitates the building of additional houses on to existing ones, to

form blocks of houses. the extensions were of equal height, the depth being

determined by that of the main house, and either of the full depth of 6m or only

half that depth was used.

2.4 Physical structure

The buildings that overlooks the main access roads and those that occupy key

positions in large enclosed space are usually of architectural importance. Their

facades are generally symmetrical and contain finely detailed and carved windows

and doors. Symmetry is achieved on a central axis on each succeeding floor with

the central window of each floor emphasized by both its size and quality of detail.

The houses are usually of two to three storeys set above a ground floor.

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Figure 6: Section of traditional newari building

Figure 7: Section of a traditional newar building with space at different levels

Purlin Timber peg

Eaves

Post

Door

Ridge

Rafter

Eaves

Post

Ridge

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2.5 Planning and use

The private house exhibits many zones with different use association and

significance. This differentiation applies both on a horizontal as well as on a

vertical plane. It is at its most emphatic in the classical three storied or four storied

town house with extended roof. In low buildings the zones are often mixed and

overlap considerably in tall ones however, certain areas tend to repeat themselves.

Chapter 3. Documentation

3.1 House of Mrs. Shrada Shrestha at Dhokasi-09, Shankhamul,-Lalitpur

Location: Dhokasi-09, Shankhamul, Lalitpur, Nepal

Owner: Mrs. Shrada Shrestha

History

Kathmandu valley has been listed in world heritage sites list, every traditional and

culturally important building are important from that view, but due to lack of

recording, these kinds of dwellings are vanishing day by day. People are

converting their tradtional look to modern ones and this kinds of historically

important buildings are in a way to lost.So by this kind of method, we can at least

try our best to preserve traditionally and culturally important buildings.

We surveyed the building located at dhokasi, ward number -9 at Shankhamul,

Lalitpur.While surveying the building, it is found to be constructed in two phase,

whole building was constructed after 1990 B.S and currently the topmost part is

under construction for adaptative reuse as an apartment.

According to the owner’s grandmother, the building was built two to three years

after a devasting earthquake of 1934(1990 B.S) which gives the time period of

building is about 76 years old. As stated by owner’s grandmother, this building

encountered many natural disaster but was not damaged so it is standing till today

inspite of many later earthquakes.It was formely used by the single residence of

that family but with the passage of time, the family number of the owners has

multiplied and various parts of the house have been acquired by members of the

family.Due to the lack of care and maintainence, the upper part has been damaged

and the front wall have cracks. Since then restoration measures have been under

taken in this building.

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a. Current description of the house

This residential building has been constructed in the rana period which can be

approached through a common courtyard as well as main street linking Sankhamul

to Mangal Bazzar. There are many changes done on this house from the

maintenance point of view. The local construction technique with locally available

Figure 8: Street and courtyard façade of the building

material has been used to build this building. Earlier the building had been made

up of mud, burnt bricks and timber but due to introduction of modern materials, the

owner has adopted all the new materials for the physical maintenance and reduced

most of the traditional components from the house. One of the main reasons behind

is failure to preserve or safe guard the traditional materials and technology.

Due to many such reasons, people are being modernized for the building point of

view too. Due to western impact and greed on physical improvement, people are

throwing their entire traditional look to modern ones and due to advantages of new

material, traditional things are in the way of extinct.

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The house from the ground floor to upper floor is being changed now. The roof is

introduced by corrugated iron sheets and due to introduction of steel and glass

panels, people went for adding all that materials for the aesthetic point of view too.

Same condition was found during the documentation of the building.

b. Existing condition of the house

There are two rooms in the ground floor, one given on rent and other used for

storage. Toilet on the North West corner lacks ventilation and the space under the

staircase has been used for storage as well. Use of new modern material such as

cement on floor and wall shows that there had been work of repair and

maintenance before to prevent dampness. Beams and wooden planks seem to be

replaced with new ones probably due to the weak condition. The wooden doors

(Pasa dhi) facing the man street has been added later.

Figure 9: Ground floor plan and First floor plan

The first floor seems to be quiet intact in terms of traditional Rana building

characters like vertically extended windows, less decorative wooden post, and

wooden planking with mud flooring above. But cement plaster had been done on

the walls on later period. Whole room has been painted green on walls and blue on

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ceiling. Usually Malla traditional buildings were not painted as colors was not

being introduced in that period. There is a small store room which was earlier

known as dhukuti, this room can be approached through small wooden door and

has been partitioned by wooden planks. There are built in cabinet on the southern

wall for storage purpose.

Cracks have been developed on the sill of the new modern window that could be

either due to the poor workmanship during the installation of the new window or

due to earthquake damage. The present living room has been partitioned with

plywood on east part of the staircase and brick wall on the west part of the

staircase. Typical wooden sliding door has been used as a barrier for outsiders to

permit directly on the upper floors.

Figure 10: Interior of the first floor Figure11: Cracks developed on wall at

sill level

The second floor also seems to have

gone through modifications like use

of new modern glass windows on

opposite walls facing east west. The

wall on the southern part has been

plastered and seems to have been

constructed later. The floor height is

less compared to the first floor and

room can be approached through

wooden door one which connects one

room to the other. Here, rooms have

been partitioned through wooden

Door

leading

to the

store

Figure12: Second floor plan

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planks at the passage area and brick wall to separate each other. Niches can be

observed, two on the plastered wall and other small one on western part used for

some storage purpose. On this floor the position of the staircase was not directly

above the below one rather, it was straight from the landing part connected to the

opposite wall. But the position has been changed and now it is directly above the

previous one. Most of the horizontal members like beams are damaged and the

centrally running middle beam is inclined to the southern wall. Displacement

between post and capital could be seen resulting overall inclination of the central

beam.

Figure 13: Damaged beam Figure 14: New position of the staircase on

the second floor

Figure 16: Inclined beam

leading displacement between

capital and post

New position

of the staircase

New position

of the staircase

Glass

windows

Figure 15: Top floor plan

Door

connecting

adjacent

building

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Since upper most storey of the building was dismantled for the changes, only wall

on western part was remained. However, we got the photographs of the building

which was taken before

it was dismantled. According to the photographs, CGI sheets had been used that

was inclined towards the main street.

But the remains of mud and roof line could be seen on the wall of the adjacent

building, which clearly depicts that earlier there was two way slope roof and

material used was polan appa.

Figure 17: View of the terrace before Fig 18: Top floor after demolition

demolition

According to the care taker Gyaniraj, the house went on many changes and

maintenance from the very beginning.

CGI

Roof

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3.2 Elements of traditional House

Structural members, which are used in Newar dwellings, are systematized. The

members are likewise named as its function and placement. They all are well

arranged and joint together with different joining techniques like sa (joint), chuku

(peg) and other such techniques. The above assemble drawing shows the perfect

placement of each members with its particular name. The function of the structural

members, its size and orientation are described below as per the case study and

observation during the visits.

3.2.1 Dhalin (Joist)

Dhalin (joist) is the horizontal structural

member which holds the different weight of

ba: (floor). Dhalin are placed closer in the

Newar style dwelling. On the case of this

buliding, dhalins are being closely placed

together on the ground floor and second floor.

While on the first floor they are being placed

at certain gap compared to the lower floor.

Figure 19: Dhalin placed close

together on the second floor

Chuku

Figure 21: Joist running horizontally

and connected by chuku

Figure 20: Joist and plank

detail on first floor

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The cross-section size of Dhalin (joist) is gradually being changed and also the

spacing of dhalin (joist) has been changed from compact to expanded form in

different floors.

3.2.2 Nila (Beam)

Nila is the primary beam which carries the whole load of the dwelling. The nila

(beam) has been placed in mattan (first floor),chota (second flor) and upper floor

replacing dathu aanga (central wall). This is rest on the than (post) which may be

single or double according to the building volume.

Figure 22: Orderly placement of vertical members supporting the floor

3.2.3 Musin (Rafter)

Musin (rafter) is a structural member which

holds the weight of kolapu (wooden peices-

planking), cha and polan apa (roofing tile).

This is an inclined member called rafter, is

rest on the thayma, a ridge beam. the size

and spacing of musin (rafter) are different

in different dwellings. The musin (rafter)

had been provided earlier on this building

but most of them were already removed

during our study period. Figure 23: Musin placed

at regular interval

Nila

Pagadi

Tham

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3.2.4 Thayma (Ridge beam)

Thayma (ridge beam), a traditional ridge beam also called as baiga nila, is the main

beam to hold the whole weight of the roof. This thayma*ridge beam is specially

designed. As the two way slope roof had been replaced by one way CGI sheets

ridge beam was removed later in this building.

3.2.5 Opening and member ties

Most of the traditional Newar dwellings have double frame in openings, Lukha and

Jhya. The external is called as pichuthan and inner is called as duchuthan. These

two thans (post) are fashioned by the timber member called tan (interlocking

member), at four places. These tangs are again joined by means of chuku (pegs) or

sa (joints). In this house, the system of joining Jhya (window) and lukha (door) are

similar in case of older ones. There are different types of joints (sa) used in

assembling the members and they are as Thapu (upper plate), Chuku (wedge),

Kopu (lower plate), Chuku Sa: (Tabling or Scrift joint) and other kinds of joints as

dog matting joint, dove tail joint and bearing joints. But new doors and windows in

this building are being assembled by holdfast and nails.

Figure 24: Tang on window Figure 25: Inner view of the window

Tang

Duchhu

than

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3.2.6 Foundation design (Jaga)

Foundation (jaga) is the critical part of all buildings. The whole structure of the

building stands on it. This is an important part of dwelling which need great care

and maintenance. But here in the observation most of the buildings at foundation

level are damaged due to dampness and resulting into decay.

It is difficult to predict the depth of foundation (jaga) in this building. According to

the care taker, it is conformed that building stands on the high depth foundation;

Normally it is 1m to 2m in depth and width of the foundation (jaga) is 60cm. The

wall below the plinth level is massive, constructed with burnt brick, mud as mortar

and stone. Some about 70cm thick lohan aanga (stone wall) is provided and then

burnt brick wall on it is constructed. This is constructed up to the plinth level. Here

in Newar dwelling, there are no damp proofing materials, but for prevention from

damp, they provide a layer of stone.

Figure 26: Typical foundation detail Figure 27: Plinth depth at the main street

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Chapter 4.Summary of the case study

4.1 Staircase (Swona)

Staircase is the primary element in multi-storeyed building. It is the vertical means

of connecting the floors. Different types of staircase are found in Kathmandu

valley with different styles.Most frequently used are steep and narrow flights of

steps with seven to nine steps. The height of the storey rarely exceeds 2.10 m to

2.20 m. In this building, the minimum height of the floor found is 1.70 m and the

maximum is 2.

Mostly the staircase in the building is placed nearby the main door orienting either

north or east or west direction (mu:lakha). no staircase (swona) is oriented to south

direction because of the religious aspects and belief. The staircase is oriented only

when a person is dead and his or her healthy soul has to remain in peace.

The staircase is either rest towards central wall (dhatu aanga) of the either sides of

facade wall i.e. external wall (pithu aanga). and also staircase are always placed

and positioned parallel to the dhalin (joist). A dhalin is shorten and placed

perpendicular to the other main dhalin (joist) which is the resting points of

staircase (swona). This is known as half joist (betwadhalin) more or less similarly

to primary dhalin (joist) size. This betwadhalin or half joist is placed to create a

void (space). The deisgn , style and matreial use here is same as mentioned above.

Figure 28: Staircase on first and second floor

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Figure 29: Typical traditional staircase

4.2 Partition wall (Bhikha)

Partition wall (bhikha) is another sub structural element in the Newar house.

Generally the spaces and the functions in the residential dwellings are separated by

(a thin brick partition wall) or the other light structural materials like bamboo

(paanh) or wooden planks (sipu).

Nowadays a thin plywood (veneer) and CGI-partition has been adopted. These are

easy mode of partition which are easily available in the market, but the traditional

method of construction of partition (bhikha) is rather much difficult and quite

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interesting too. Different types of partition has been found here and some of them

are:

a. Wooden partition (sipu bhikha)

b. Ply wood partition

c. Aanga (brick partition)

Figure 30: Wooden partition on the first and second floor

4.3 Wooden partition (Sipu bhikha)

This type of partition (bhikha) is generally

design by carpenter.During the

construction of the sipu-bhikha (wooden

partition), well measurement of inner

dimensions has to be taken. The main

frames, sipu maa thancha, are grooved so

as to pile up other wooden plank (sipu) as

desirable size. This works totally depends

upon the carpenter.

Most often the wooden partition (sipu bhikha) is punctured , which as door

(khapa), sliding door (ghringi khapa) or feast hole (bhya po). The style or sipu

(wooden plank) is designed according to the placement of sipu maa thancha.

Figure 31: Sipu bhikha and ghringi khapa

second floor

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4.4 Bhikha, aanga (Brick partition)

Awa and Dakarmi are the specialist for the construction of wall (aanga) that is

centre wall (dathu aanga), pithu aanga (external wall) and bhikha aanga (partition

wall). The only different in bhikha aanga, brick partiton wall is the construction of

thin wall to separate and generate interior space. Generally the brick partition walls

are constructed with kachi apa, but during the supervision of works, most of the

bhika aangas are constructed with sija apa (burnt brick) and ma apa (burnt brick).

This is due to easily available of materials.Here, brick wall partition has been done

on ground floor and first floor only.

Figure 32: Floor detail

The vertical division of space is generally defined by floor. (newari term-ba).

The floor is another important part of the Newar dwelling.

The floor are mainly two types:

one is internal floor and other is external floor. Among the inernal floor, the

common floor are

a. Dhalin + kolapu + cha + siyucha

b. Dhalin + kolapu + cha + chikanapa

c. Dhalin +dhalin + kolapu + cha + chikanapa

d. Dhalin + dhalin +cha + chikanapa

e. Dhalin + sija ata + cha + siyucha

Among the external floor (ba) are

a. Dhalin + kolapu + kausi paancha + chikanapa

b. Dhalin + sija ata + kausi paancha + chikanapa

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While talking about the internal floor, list number a and b are very common floor

(ba). The only different one among them is c. The type a floor has been observed

on first floor and third floor while a layer of brick soling with thick floor has been

observed on second floor. Since, major modifications has been done on the ground

floor along with cement punning on the floor area.

The external floor is mainly paved on flat

terrace (kausi). The kausi ba: is specially

constructed. The kausi is a place for sun

bath and drying a grains and vegetables.

This space is a multi-functional where

every member enjoys. This kausi is

constructed as similar to internal floor:,

the major difference is only in the

placement of kausi paancha in place of

normal cha.

Figure 33: Terrace area with cement punning

The kausi paancha is a water tightening material which acts as damp proofing

material. Method of construction of the external floor are mainly two types these

are listed above. While in this studied building cement punning had been done on

the kaushi which we observed during the first visit.

4.5 Central wall in the second floor

Most of dwelling does not have

central wall (dhathu aanga) in the

second floor (chota). The second floor

level is a wide open space which is

true from literature and the existing

visualization, but here we small part

of central wall was there which had

been already removed during our

study period however, remains of the

wall can be seen on the post. Figure 34: Second floor without central wall

Cement as

new material

Remains

of the wall

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Chapter 5. Interior views

Fig: Centrally Placed Wooden post

Fig: Horizontal and vertical members

supporting the structure

Fig: Flooring of the first floor

Fig: Wooden Partition

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Chapter 5. Conclusion

This research work is a documentation of the traditional Newar residential

dwelling which has its own importance and the different architecture found here in

Kathmandu Valley. This studied dwelling was built in a time sequence from 1990

onwards.

Though many research studies of the dwelling constructed between the periods

from 17th C to 20th C and analyze them in a time sequence is most

necessary.During the study we came across different materials and construction

technology used in the typical traditional dwelling and the changes like use of

modern materials and techniques that occured in sequence of time.

The Newar dwellings are easy to construct, as all the construction materials like

brick, mud, timber or the product of mud are easily available within the

surrounding environment. These materials are emotionally attached and provide

comfort.The traditional buildings are well assembled and show harmonized

combination of the materials.

Different structure assembling techniques had been observed during the

study,which are not found in existing literature on Newar building construction. In

addition, it has brought a considerable extent of terminologies and this is important

because each terminology is a meaningful invention of our past tradition on

different architecture of the Kathmandu Valley.

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Wissenschaftsverlag. Sankt Augustin, Germany

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(1954), Architectural Research Methods, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., USA

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