4.2.2. Corner house typology

4.2.2 Corner house typology – Kameshwar ni pol

Figure 29 Location of corner house typology, Source- (Modan, 2006)

The ‘corner house’ is the house which is located towards the end of the linear pol. Usually the size of the corner house is larger than the adjacent shared wall house typology. Here one of the parallel walls is not shared.

Plan - The house is a composite structure with brick masonry and timber structural members. Pol house is rectangular in plan with the length being almost 2 times the width. The chowk here is not connected to the main masonry walls, but off centered in plan, dividing the building into two halves. When the above floor plans are compared with the ground floor plan certain observations are evident; the mass of the structure reduces as the floor increases, the main columns are aligned with each other which ensures effective load transfer till the foundation, but unlike the shared walled typology wooden columns are not much present in the edge wall. Here the unsupported wall is thicker than the parallel masonry wall. The main structural

columns and thick masonry wall act together and hence the structure can be termed as composite. Here also the main beams are unidirectional and parallel to the cross walls. In this case the crossed walls are laced with timber bands running parallel to the wall length that might act as horizontal reinforcements. The smaller wooden members then are perpendicular to the main members providing further reinforcement to the thickness of the masonry. Such timber bands are found at three levels that roughly divides the masonry wall into 4 parts.

Figure 30 Ground floor plan at 700mm level, Source - (Modan, 2006)

Figure 31 Section B-B', Source - (Modan, 2006)

Section – In this case also the number of wooden members increases as the floor increases, and hence the mass reduces. As seen in Figure 33, the rear part of the house in larger in mass than the front portion. The roof is made up of wooden members connecting the two parallel walls, with clay tiles as a roofing material. Here the tie wooden member is present connecting the roof ends unlike the first case. The timber members are evident as columns, beams and timber lacing which is present in masonry walls. The ground floor has masonry cross walls connecting the two parallel walls, which is not seen on the second floor. On the third floor, the walls become timber partition walls. The upper floors project outwards which is supported by the wooden circular columns located in the otla. The second-floor projection is supported by the wooden bracket detail connecting the column on the first floor.

Figure 32 Decrease in masonry mass as the floor increase, Ground to second floor from top, Source (Modan, 2006) Figure 33 Ground floor plan at 2400 mm level (top), Ground floor plan at 1000 mm level, Source- (Modan, 2006)