KULDHARA VILLAGE SITE STUDY

BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

GROUP MEMBERS:TRESORARTHUR

JOMAN SARDARANUSHA ROY

KULDHARA VILLAGE SITE STUDY

KULDHARA….THE ABANDONED VILLAGE

VILLAGE PLANNING: A well planned

settlement, The straight and wide

streets ran in grids with houses opening into them

A kind of a garage opened into the streets to park carts in.

Temples, stepwells and other structures were all signs of sound development over the centuries

HOUSING PATTERN…

Most of the houses are double storied and are not affected by thunder or heat.

Only bricks were used all over the village.

Large stones were placed one over the other forming thick walls keeping in view time lag for cooling interiors in scorching day-time weather and heating chilly shivering nights.

The wind, as it blew, carried with it sand particles that got trapped into spaces between rocks.

The inner courtyard was the designated area for women. It had a small bathtub and a small structure to grow a tulsi plant. The outer area was for men and cows. An underground cellar was used to store valuables, but these lie sealed now.

The yellow hue of the buildings came from the colour of the local mud and stones. The floors of the houses were plastered with cow dung and clay

Garage for bullock carts. Moreover, the 2 to 3 feet

deep foundations. Kuldhara is one of the major

earthquake prone areas in India. The government had built cemented toilets for tourists outside the settlement which fell during an earthquake but the Kuldhara resisted the calamity

All design elements kept both aesthetics and utility in mind.

Houses are in a straight line and all similar

They built wells a little away from the main village or town, several feet deep, and simple canals drained into them

Their one time richness can be seen in the wells, water tanks, temples and cenotaphs

Each one of the 84 villages use a simple technique of rain-water harvesting.

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Every time it rained, the wells and some ponds would fill up and the water would last for the better part of three years

Roofs were built of wood, but the new one is made of cement.

Each house in Kuldhara was built to precise calculations

A typical house includes sleeping quarters for the masters and their children, a puja room and a kitchen.

The architecture was very advanced and every house had good cross ventilation to ensure shelter from the sun.

Houses were not affected by thunder or heat.

On the windows, balconies and pillars fine figures were carved.

CENOTAPHS

Just south of Kuldhara and two km away is a group of at least 15 cenotaphs.

Though most cenotaphs have a stone altar with a slab describing the body they enshrine, some cenotaphs are much larger, with elaborate designs and finely sculpted images of gods