Documentation

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DOCUMENTATION of traditional NEWAR BUILDING

A case of Residential Dwelling

Documentation submitted to: Post-Graduate Department of Urban Design and Conservation Faculty of Science and Technology Khwopa Engineering College Bhaktapur MASTER OF SCIENCE URBAN DESIGN AND CONSERVATION (Theory of Philosophy of Conservation) Submitted by Amit Pokhrel Bhakta-laxmi Maharjan Sabila Joshi Renu Maharjan (2012/UDC)


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 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 works, 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 they has 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. We all express our sincere thanks to the house owners and care takers for their moral as well as physical supports and permitting us, entering throughout our documentation project works. Renu Maharjan Amit Pokhrel Bhakta-laxmi Maharjan Sabila Joshi


Table of Contents Table of Contents........................................................................................................ Glossaries.................................................................................................................... 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. Case studies............................................................................................ 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)..............................................................................


Chapter 4. Summary of the case studies................................................................... 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................................................................................................ Chapter 6. Reference..................................................................................................

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


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

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: Section of traditional newari buildings.................................................... Figure 6: Section of a traditional newar building with space at different levels... Figure 7: Foundation detail........................................................................................ Figure 8: Door detail..................................................................................................


Figure 9: Roof detail................................................................................................. Figure 10: Location of the documented building........................................................ Figure 11: House at dhokasi-09, shankhamul............................................................. Figure 12: Detail drawings.........................................................................................

Figure 1: Map of the Lalitpur city


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. 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. 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 1.2

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 place is 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 Defining the context and limiting the supervised area

Relevant material

Literature review

Project/documentation preparation

Data and collection of information

Primarydata

and


secondary data

Analysis of information

Figures/ Tables/ Drawings/ Photographs/ Text report writing

conclusion and recommendation

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 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 3

The Kirats The Lichhavis

700 BC-110 AD 110 AD- 879 AD

4 5 6 7 8 9

The Thakuris The Mallas The Shah The Ranas Later Shah Federal Democratic Republic

879 AD- 1200 AD 1200 AD- 1768 AD 1768 AD-1845 AD 1845 AD-1950 AD 1950 AD-2008 AD 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 manuscript and the existing buildings, this kinds of traditional type residential buildings were exists from last 200 years and may be more. as long as there was no contact with western influences environment 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 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- Traditional residential architecture


The architecture from the ancient time, people tried to be safe from rain, sun and want to safe their buildings from dacoits and many other threatening things. since then people had shelter for them which may be of their kinds. they tried to build their shelter by themselves in their own ways. The system that they used is the locally available materials and their own technology.

Figure 3: Traditional buildings

The initial building in the valley, first of all the buildings are gradually developed from a simple hut of sun dried house and then to a kiln brick house. now most of the buildings are constructed with modern means of construction. 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 field, or use as the store house for fire woods or as farm house. The architecture of the pakwocha may be the begining from which the traditional Newari dwelling later transformed. With the appearence of three storey buildings, and later on four storeys stuctures, private house owners were also allowed to increase the height of their houses to three floors or construct new ones to that height. the resultant three storey building


type, not only terraced house but also courtyard house, malla town house of the Newar. 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, was to a certain extent compensated by the subsequent inclusion of open, sunlit, roof terraces and floors. above all, the addition of roof terraces directly adjoining the kitchen to form a further external space proved to be most expedient. The need for even more space as family glows led in the follwing centuries to a further rise in height. thus, in the Shah and Ranas period, four storeys building were often constructed. frequently, this increase in heights was achieved by the addition of a new floor, in other words a fourth storey would be built onto the existing three storey classical townhouse. Houses constructed in this century , especially those from after the horrible earthquake of 1934, are quite often four storeys 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 elementsfrom architectural of other styles. 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 amoden 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.


Figure 4: Development of building height.

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 nonexistent. 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 carving on the wooden members. However, traditional buildings are considered to be three or four storeys 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 beam over which wooden boards are placed and then thick layer of mud topping is applied as the base for jhingati.

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 storeyed houses occur among the poorer inhabitants on the town’s fringes, and four storeys 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.


Figure 5: Section of traditional newari buildings.

Figure 6: Section of a traditional Newar building with space at different levels

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 storey or four storey 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. Case studies

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

Location: Dhokasi-09, Shankhamul, Lalitpur, Nepal Owner: Mrs. Shrada Shrestha

History This building is an important building. though 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 preserved traditionally and culturally important buildings. We surveyed the building located at dhokasi, ward number 09 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 due to unproper care and maintainence) According to the owner grandmother, the building was made after a devasting earthquake of 1934(1990 B.S) around two to three years after that earthquake. which gives the time period of building is about 76 years old. This building also encountered many natural disasters. as stated by owner grandmother, the building was not damaged by such natural disasters. till today the building is standing without any damage though it has encountered 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 face is in ruins. the skirt roof and the upper roof are damaged by rain. Since then restoration measures have been under taken in this building for their private use. a. Current description of the house The house located at Dhokasi, shankhamul was found to be pre-modern and in the period of ranas. The building was found to be made after 1990 b.s earthquake attack. There are many changes done on that house from the maintenance point of view. The floor is partitioned and the plaster was done by modern material. The techniques which are used to make those buildings are of local and by use of locally available materials. The construction was changing day by day on that house, first the building are made up of mud, burnt bricks and kaushi pancha, but due to introduce of modern materials, people are adopting all the new materials for the physical improvement,


and reducing all traditional component from their house. One of the main reasons is failure to preserve or safe guard the traditional material like jhingati, bricks and mud mortar. 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. The house from the ground floor to upper floor is being changed now. The roofs are introduced by corrugated iron sheets and due to introduce of steel and window panes, people went for adding all that materials for the aesthetic point of view too. Same condition was found in the supervised site at Dhokasi, shankhamul. From the years ago, the floor partitions were there. Due to increase in family members, mostly vertical partition creates much problem, especially in the case of Newar dwellings. Mostly in Kathmandu valley, this condition occurs.

Existing condition of the house The ground floor was used for storage of such material which are used for regular basis in home and the next room was been given for rent from years. Due to dampness, most of the part is not used. Similarly the first floor where the material is of traditional based, but the interesting thing is that the room was by cement plaster and the color is also introduced there from the very beginning. b.

We see the latest change, that the flooring material was been changed from mud plaster to concrete or introduced of new material. The floor was plaster by cement and most of the part are been changed due to introduction of new material. due to


commercialization the owner is changing all his floor by introduction of modern material like roofing tiles by replacing jhingati and other tiles and also used of modern cementing material and use of steel shutters and windows with glazed doors.

The floor was been changed now. Due to high cost of preserving old or traditional material, people are replacing them by new materials. While visiting sites, we found many changes from beginning to till today. according to the owner or care taker of the building , many changes was introduce between years and due to maintenance cost condition, there has been changed in material use. According to the care taker gyaniraj, the house went much maintenance from the very beginning Many changes are introduced.


3.2 Element of the House Structural members, whic are placed 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 studies 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. due to introduction of new material and techniques, today there is less number of Dhalin with change in size in the newly constructed Newar buildings. The cross-section size of Dhalin (joist) is gradually changed. and also the spacing of dhalin (joist) is changed from compact to expanded form.


joist are introduced here, peg are used also known as chuku.


Figure: Details of Dhalin 3.2.2. Nila (Beam) Nila is the primary beam which carries the whole load of the dwelling. The nila (beam) is place in chota (second flor) and upper floor replacing dathu aanga (central wall). This is rest on the than (post), and is used for widening the chota (second floor) space. Nila (beam) may be single or double according to the building volume.


joist, beam, Nila-beam

Figure: Construction detail of Nila

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) provided on the building of these house owner is different from other dwellings. Here the sizes of musin (rafter) are often similar sizes.


Figure:

style of musin (rafter)

3.2.4. Thayma (ridge beam) Thayma (ridge beam), a traditional ridge beam also caled as baiga nila, is the main beam to hold the whole weight of the roof. This thayma*ridge beam is specially designed. The lower nila (beam) in chota (second floor) is rectangular in shape, but it is chamfered on the top where the musin are rest on.

Figure of thyama


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 tans are again joined by means of chuku (pegs) or sa (joints). The system of joining in Jhya (window) and lukha (door) are similar.

Figure: Tan on doors and windows


There are different types of joints (sa) used in members assembling 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. like others too- Metha, Than, column base joint etc. 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 buildings. According to the care taker of our site buildings, it is conformed that building stands on the high depth foundation. The building at Dhokasi, Shankhamul,Lalitpur,; normally it is 1m to 2m in depth. The width of the foundation (jaga) is 60cm which is found in case studied dwelling. 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 constructs up to plinth level. Here in Newar dwelling, there are no damp proofing materials, but for prevention from damp, they provide a layer of stone.


Figure 7: Foundation detail

Chapter 4. Summary of the case studies 4.1. Staircase (swona) Staircase is the primary element in multi-storeyed building. It is the vertical means of communicating people and family. 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. At the surveyed building the minimum height of the floor is 1.70 m and the maximum is 2.15 m is found. 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).


Figure: Section of the 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 vinista (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 interesting too. The different types of partition are founds there and some of them are: a. Bamboo partition (paanh bhikha) b. Wooden partition (sipu bhikha) c. Ata (sija ata/ kachi ata), bhikha, aanga (brick partition)


Figure: Plan showing different bhikha Bamboo partition (paanh bhikha) Paanh (bamboo)- A versatile building material is used in every Newar residential dwelling from very long time ago. It is said that the paanh (bamboo) is essential during the birth and after the death. The paanh (bamboo) is a tensile material which is good for chukus (bamboo pegs). The paanh (bamboo) is used as joist (dhalin), kolapu (chirpat), bhikha (partitions) and sah (joints). While describing about the techniques used as a construction of paanh bhikha, it generally made up of paanh 4.3


balacha (bamboo strips), lu-khepa (rope made up of straw), paanh tham (bamboo post), and the aalea (mud plaster). The traditional Newar dwellings have traditional paanh bhikha. This partition is generally 50 mm-75 mm thick. All the bhikha in the entire Newar dwelling are more or less same process. This type of partition can be constructed by labor but specified person (awal and dakarmi)

figure: section of paan bhikha (bamboo)

4.4

Wooden partition (sipu bhikha)

This type of partition (bhikha) is generally design by carpenter. during the construction. 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 construction is 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: sipu bhikha and ghringi khapa 4.5

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.


Figure: Details of bhikha 4.6

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 While talking about the internal floor, list number a and b are very common floor (ba). The only different one among them is c. This type of ba: floor; is located on the attic floor.


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. The kausi paancha is a water tight material which acts as damp proofing material. Method of construction of the external floor are mainly two types. These types are listed above.

4.7

Central wall in 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 i found one of the buildings with central wall in second floor (chota) level. 4.8

Brick partition wall on second and upper floor level

Normally the second floor and attic floor level are open and wide space in the early period. The second floor (chota) space was used for living area where grain store (kuthi) and small dhukuti (property store) space is located. And in attice floor space was mainly for kitchen (bhutu) and dining area (janeau thya), a small kausi (flat terrace).

Figure 12: Detail Drawing

Other Drawings



Chapter 5. Conclusion This research work is carried out to find the exact documentation of the traditional Newar residential dwelling which has its own importance and the different architecture found here in Kathmandu Valley. This research made case study of the dwelling which 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. The documentation work found out the various technical details and techniques of the traditional dwelling and the changes 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. This documentation found different structure assembling techniques which are not found in existing literature on Newar building construction. in addition, has brought a considerable extent of terminologies here and this is important because each terminology is a meaningful invention of our past tradition on different architecture of the Kathmandu Valley.


Chapter 6. Reference 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9.

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