Indigenous Architecture

BY : ANWESHA DUTTA

Contents

Contemporary Vernacular architecture case studies

A. Centro Lak'a Uta, Bolivia

B. Four Horizon house and Lodge, Australia

C. The triangle, Swindon

D. Biesland, Netherlands

E. Yan 'an, China

Vernacular houses case study –

A. Traditional houses in Bolivia -Chipaya

B. Cave dwellings China

C. Vernacular houses Japan

D. Newar house Kathmandu

E. Bhite bari, West Bengal

Traditional vernacular houses in Bolivia – Chipaya Tribal Houses

LOCATION AND DETAILS:

- Situated within the Amazon basin, Bolivia is a landlocked country with a richly diverse and longstanding Indigenous history.

- Today, the Quechua and Aymara peoples make up the largest of these groups, but upwards of 30 are nationally recognized, with a large concentration of the former around lower altitudes and grassland areas, and the latter in high plateau regions close to La Paz, Bolivia’s executive and legislative capital.

- The Chipaya speak Chipaya and live on the high plains of Bolivia

- Although their legends reflect that they have resided only in the same general area where they presently live, their linguistic affiliation points to their having migrated from Central America. The name "Chipaya" probably came from the Aymara ch'ipaña, "to tie up," referring to the netlike way they tie the roofs on their houses.

TRADITIONAL HOUSES OF THE TRIBE :

- SHAPE : round

- CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS:

1. WALLS : sod blocks

2. ROOF : framework of intersecting hoops made from tola, a short, cedarlike shrub, tied together with straw rope. Pieces of matting made from fine straw and mud are laid over the framework . Then the house is roofed with handfuls of stiff straw and ichu grass dipped in a runny clay-mud mixture.

3. The roof is sewed on around the bottom with straw rope and then further secured with a network of straw ropes to hold it when there are strong winds

4. DOORS : cactus wood from nearby mountains, laced together with leather thongs, but in recent years, the use of wood and/or metal has increased

5. A second type of house, found in the agricultural areas, is cone shaped and made entirely of sod blocks.

- ORIENTATION : East.

- Recently adobes have sometimes been used for housing blocks after an initial four or five courses of sod blocks are laid.

ABOUT THE DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE LOCATION & ITS INFLUENCE :

High altitude , trees don’t grow at this altitude so cactus is used.

CLIMATIC CONDITIONS :

Although Bolivia lies wholly within the tropics, it possesses every gradation of temperature from that of the equatorial lowlands to arctic cold.

The earth blocks shade the interior while trapping hot day time sun which is gently radiated to the homes at night

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE :

The lower walls taper slightly up to 6.5 feet, then taper steeply to a thatched roof structure. The buildings are small at approximately 12 feet in diameter, freestanding, with a single wall opening as a door facing east for day lighting without solar heat gain