Identifying Building Artisans

The ecosystem for Vernacular architecture has become fragmented. It is important to analyse the existing artisan networks because it helps to identify expertise; to guage connectivity; to access existing knowledge assets and to understand the lost knowledge problem. The matching process through which artisans may be linked with projects depends crucially on the availability of information and how this information is shared. There is a need for a search mechanism and the markets that it will serve.

In a research paper 'Improving the Search Mechanisms for identifying Building Artisans to support the Vernacular type in India' I explain further a few of these issues. This paper was presented at the International Conference on Vernacular Settlements held at CEPT Ahmedabad in Feb 2008.

It is available in its full pdf version at : http://203.77.194.71:83/isvs-4-1/paper-dump/full-papers/36.pdf

Documenting a Vernacular house

There are so many ways in which one can document a vernacular house. It is good to observe, to analyse and most importantly, to interact with the people who have built these houses and who live in them. Discussions with old masons and carpenters can bring out interesting revelations. One has to remind oneself to not assume answers to what we observe but to ask many questions as we walk through these houses and streets.
a street in Georgetown in Chennai, India

One can study the following :

1. Forms & Proportions
2. Building materials & their source
3. Techniques of construction
4. Structural concepts
5. Detailing
6. Doors & Windows
7. Spatial hierarchy
8. Building elements – Foundation, Wall, Floor, & Roof
9. Lighting
10.Natural systems of ventilation
11.Storage spaces
12.Rituals related to house construction & sustainability
13.Finishes
14.Hardware
15.House decoration

Its just good to hope that there will be an ever-expanding fraternity that will want to study, document, learn and evolve from within this built-environment heritage. The more we study it, the more we will want not to lose it.

Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts

Some years ago, I was documenting the Restoration efforts made by the West Zone Cultural Centre towards conserving the Bagore-ki-Haveli at Udaipur. Whilst doing the study, I came across a document that contained guidelines for setting up an ‘Institute for Revival of Traditional Building Arts’. Such an Institute had been initiated at Jaipur but it had closed down eventually. Maybe, elsewhere in India, there will be efforts to put up an Institute such as this one at another time. I reproduce here some key points from that document :

The work strategy for the institute will be :

- To document old traditional building art forms through a survey of buildings of historical and architectural importance
- To extensively photograph work done in such buildings. The cataloguing will be done building-wise and building art formwise.
- To locate master craftsmen of traditional building art forms in the various districts and to catalogue them including their addresses and other particulars
- To select old heritage precincts and buildings which need restoration, reconstruction, revival etc. and to make these available to the Institute for conducting training on actual working conditions
- Selection of artisans / trainees for receiving training and to lay down minimum educational or experience standards for a particular art form
- To prepare the curriculum indicating the period of training, theoretical and practical classes to be conducted and to identify faculty for imparting training
- To document the trainees skills and addresses, on completion of the training, so that this talent pool is available for being called upon whenever work is needed to be executed on a commercial basis and also to provide employment to them, wherever possible, through the efforts of the Institute
- To prepare films, videos, slides and literature for use as training material. This will need to be done separately for each building art form
- Brochures and technical literature to be prepared for dissemination of information to the prospective customers of such work
- To find avenues of work for the trained artisans in the public and private sector
- To evolve new patterns, new designs and improvements in old designs so as to make future work both time-effective and cost-effective
- To conduct research and development in traditional building materials
- To make traditional building art forms more economical and acceptable to the public

Mud house - 2

The layout of the round mud house was always the same. It comprised of a circular inner room which was used mainly for storage of grain and all the main belongings of the household. During winter, this room was also used for sleeping. In the summer, the family slept outdoors or on the spactious verandah that was a part of every house. Enveloping this inner room, in plan, was another circle which served on the left as the kitchen and on the right as a store room or a sitting/sleeping area. The circular house was based on the concept of a verandah and again verandah.


The inner room received light only through the door to the room. Because of the extremely low overhang of the thatch roof, it was better not to have windows. And the low overhang was to protect the mud walls from the rains. The roads leading into a hamlet were the usual narrow mud paths, opening into large open spaces, around which mud and thatch huts lay strewn.

The children were always outdoors unless they were at school, which was a basic one, and yet not all families could afford to send their children to school. Some children continued to play in their verandahs or just outside their homes waiting for the school bell to ring when the other children would join them.

























While the children played in the sun, the mother cooked on the common chulahs (stoves) built by them in the open spaces. These had been made in the same earth that had built their homes. Wood was used as fuel.

























While the rice cooked, some women were busy within the house, cleaning, or putting a little one to sleep. They moved back and forth from indoors to outdoors, making transitions through spaces and making similar transitions through the day from family responsibilities to social intermingling.

























The design principles that had been followed in the layout of the coastal andhra houses allowed these interactions amongst families. It was a way of life that they had always followed. Often, roof overhangs of adjoining houses touched, but one bent a little to go beyond, on the mud path that lead between them.

Athangudi tiles

I had an opportunity to visit the village of Attangudi, near Madurai where traditional artisans continue to make colourful floor tiles that are similar to the red oxide floor but with geometrical and floral motifs. The tiles looked beautiful. As you watch the tiles being made, and go back and forth from looking at the process to the finished product, you know that this is something you want to use, simply because the colours, the designs and the sheen look great.



The question is “Would this only work in a traditional house plan?” Many of us are keen on a contemporary house and you wonder if a beige vitrified tile floor would be more in tune with your non-ethnic tastes? Luckily for us, there are immense possibilities, if we do decide to go with the attangudi tile floor. Its possible to order tiles with just a single colour and no motifs; its possible to order floor tiles that are plain and skirting tiles that have a simple geometric design, with colours that complement each other. Besides, I do believe that its possible to include elements with traditional motifs in a contemporary setting. Its just about knowing how much of the traditional and how much of the modern.

Here is a YouTube film on the making of Athangudi tiles :

Source : www.youtube.com

Most of us in the cities would buy tiles for our house from the biggest brands in ceramic tiles such as Kajaria or Johnson tiles. Kajaria Ceramics which is a 700 crore company has a European collection. They import tiles from Italy and Spain for the Indian market. While we source from Europe, can we also source from a village in Tamil Nadu? Kajaria has a distribution network of about 600 dealers and about 6000 sub-dealers all over the country. What if the display division of the marketing department at Kajaria or Johnson focused on promoting Athangudi tiles as well?

If the curricula in architecture schools in India would encourage its students to document vernacular ways of building and traditional building materials and their processes, we could create a database that Kajaria could use. If the curricula in management schools would encourage its students to document the supply-chain systems in rural economies and analyse how these could be made more efficient, we could perhaps make it attractive for Kajaria to seek out and support the artisan of Athangudi while making great profits in their business.

In the meanwhile, if you want to khow how to visit the Athangudi village, you can contact Karthick Gopal at tourism.karaikudi@gmail.com. He is part of the DHAN foundation, an NGO that works in several villages of Tamil Nadu. Here are their contact details : DHAN Foundation, 18, Pillaiyar Koil Street, S.S. Colony, Madurai - 625 016, Tamil Nadu.
Tel: +91-452-2610794, 2610805 and the link to their website : www.dhan.org

In case you would just like to order the tiles, you can still contact DHAN since they know the artisans well and will be able to give you their contact details. Here is a link to their blog: Explore Chettinad

Bamboo building

In the villages of Assam, bamboo building is common even today. The houses are detailed out to combat the heavy monsoons. The floor of the house is a bamboo weave that allows the water of a flood to flow in, rather than keep it out. This is an important principle of sustainable development. During this time, the inhabitants of the houses get into the canoe that every house stores in the stilt area below the bamboo floor. When the flood waters recede, the assamese people occupy their house again. The belongings are protected by putting them up on the bamboo loft. The roof of the house is built with local grass and can last upto 10 years before it is replaced again.

The houses shown here are from Dhuba Ati Gaon, a village about 30 km from Kaziranga, the wild life santuary in Assam well-known for its one-horned rhinoceros. The people in this village originally belonged to the Miri tribe from Agartala and chose to settle near the Brahmaputra river. Today, they are called the Mising community.





The bamboo weave makes both walls and floors breathe allowing a cross-ventilation all over. There is natural light that comes in from this weave as well.








The woven bamboo loft allows the clay pots and pans to be held easily.







An earth plastering is often done over a close-knit bamboo wall for further protection.










There are several innovative details to learn from in the assamese house.



The stilted part of the house is for protection against a gentle flood. It is for the canoe that belongs to the house and for the children of the village. Here is a link to : Crafts in Bazaars

Chettinad Columns

Some of the places where "chettinad columns" are for sale :

Karaikudi

Arasu Arts, Govindarajan, 40, MM Street, Karaikudi – 630 001, Sivaganga Dist. Tamilnadu

ph : 04565-4334020, 4338570, 4396790

Senthil Arts, 90/2, Ve.Vr.St. (Near Sathian Theatre) Karaikudi 630 001

ph : 04565-420030, 8550065

Venkateswara Furniture & Timber merchant, 65, MM Street, Karaikudi 630 001

ph : 04565-2421706, 2436238

Karaikal

Mr.Idris

He has an old house where he displays everything.

Mr.Ramanan

ph : 09842533046.

He knows several dealers in Karaikal and can suggest places where these columns are available.

Pondicherry

Ms.Kali Borg, Sharnga, Auroville. ph : 0413-2622337
mob : 94430-90114
kaliborg@hotmail.com
Kali deals in "antique furniture & building materials"

She is a stained glass artist too and also runs a guesthouse at auroville called 'Sharnga'. One can also check out the auroville website.

Chennai

1. Rani Arts
They make new furniture that looks like antique. (They also have chettinad columns, brackets, and so on). Located at McNicholas road, near Egah Theatre ph : 044-26422948/8843

2. Murray & Co.
Auctioneers, with a separate exclusive section of rosewood and teakwood antique furniture. One has to ask about it, not open to all walk-in customers. Since they are always on the look out for houses in Tamilnadu which are being dismantled, they may be able to acquire chettinad columns. ph : 044-28600880/55872437 . They are behind LIC building, on Mount road. Well-known and easy to find. But, best to call them first to see if they can get the columns, what price and when.

Indigenous skills

A Temple restoration in Tranquebar needs skills in brickwork of a high order; a Heritage conservation plan for Chettinad needs skills in lime work, wood work and much more; a revitalisation of the Buddhist sites in Orissa needs stone workmanship of excellent quality.

The master artisan is the one who can make meaningful contributions having spent years of apprenticeship to acquire these skills.

In contemporary India, this tacit knowledge of building skills needs to be codified or transformed into explicit knowledge in order for it to become a part of the formal architectural education system.

In a recent article in 'India Together' i discuss the importance of Codifying indigenous ways of building and the directions we can take in documenting skills and vernacular buildings.

Konkan house clusters

In Coastal Maharashtra, houses in rural areas are nestled amidst the trees and the paddy fields. There is abundant land available to build upon and yet, the houses lie snugly next to each other.

In India, the people who farmed, who fished and who have built their houses with their highly developed skills of craftsmanship always planned a house that was their own but that also belonged to the village. It was only one unit of the many that made up the village street. One house was built, then the next and the next. Streets that were thus formed were shaded from the afternoon sun.

Here, the roofs are built in timber understructure with mangalore tiles. The walls are in brick and verandahs are created with brick arches that offer structural support. The plan of the house is primarily square. The square tiled roof is seen as a common element throughout the coastal villages of the Konkan region.

In a post-graduate thesis in Landscape architecture, CEPT university, Shruti Bhagwat points out that the villages here are ideal watersheds. The village jungle is treated as common property and preserved. Phenomena like sacred groves and bunded water channels that were maintained traditionally are still common in the konkan.

As one passes by Saplak, near Mhalsa, one notices that entire streets are lined with mangalore-tiled houses. This is a fairly prosperous town which has diamond merchants who have artisans skilled in diamond cutting. Saplak is on the way to Harihareeshwar. It is also interesting to study the houses in Mahad, in Chiplun and other parts of Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts.

In the contemporary context, environmentally responsible design would require that materials and elements of the building be reuseable, wherever possible. The siting process may include an in-depth understanding of sun orientation, soils, vegetation and water resources. We may want to design landscapes to absorb rainwater runoff (storm water) rather than to carry it off-site in storm sewers. The architecture of the konkan coast is climatically responsive, uses a sustainable approach and has an indian identity. It is important for us to know the indigeneous traditions of these regions and to work towards the continuity of the architecture of the past.

Here is a link to a Bazaar on the Konkan coast

Artisans Resource Guide

It is hoped that it is possible to generate the small but precise targeted push that will make the difference to rural building artisans in India, in the nature of the Tipping point phenomenon, which according to Malcolm Gladwell is “that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behaviour crosses a threshold, tips and spreads like wildfire”

There is currently a directory of master artisans for Goa. There is a need to build up a listing for as many states in India as feasible.

Who can use the resource guide?

Private developers, government tourism departments, individual house owners and architects are likely to use the guide. These are going to be the job providers, the people who will create work opportunities for the building artisans.

Related Publication

Hidden hands - Masterbuilders of Goa

by Heta Pandit. Published in 2003 by Heta Pandit & The Heritage Network

(Research conducted under the aegis of the Homi Bhabha Fellowships council)

the need for an artisans' directory

There is a growing demand for people skilled in traditional building technologies. The need for these indigenous skills is mainly in three areas : building of private “heritage” and “ecotourism” resorts; in the recent government program with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on ‘Endogenous’ or ‘Rural’ Tourism and in private “farmhouses” or independent “ethnic” houses that the elite urbanite has begun to build. Since this trend of building with traditional materials is now substantial, it is felt that this may be an appropriate time to add a catalyst to this development.

The reasons for supporting indigenous craftsmanship are – one, to strengthen livelihoods; two, to fill the increasing void in contemporary architecture in india, which is at present adopting a modern, western architecture and three, indigenous technologies use a sustainable approach to natural resources.

The Endogenous Tourism Program has been initiated in 36 craft-based villages/towns all over India. It is jointly supported by UNDP and the Govt. of India. These projects will showcase traditional arts, culture and heritage at rural and semi-urban locations. The state departments of tourism are being encouraged to provide a built-environment that uses a vernacular vocabulary. Therefore, not only will the employment opportunities increase in crafts and tourism-related activities, but also for people skilled in indigenous technologies.

People in the urban areas are buying small tracts of agricultural land on the outskirts of the city where it is permissible to build a “farmhouse” – a shelter to enable a person to carry out his farm activities. This however is being used by the urban dweller to build for himself a weekend retreat. This urbanite is being influenced by the heritage resort concept and farmhouses are mostly built using local materials and local building skills because the “pucca” structure or permanent house in concrete slab is not allowed.

When there is enough patronage and a market available for indigneous skills, the first step may be to connect the artisan to a project and the second step to train or contemporise his skill and to supplement it with other skills such as marketing and opportunity recognition. If a “pull force” can be generated instead of a “push force” it is anticipated that the artisan will re-skill and re-train himself according to the demand.

CYMA hall in Alleppey

The CYMA hall is an old, traditional building. It is located in a quiet and peaceful part of Alleppey. It is Kerala’s first public auditorium built for staging dramas.

"This hall was constructed for the common man’s use, without any aid from government agencies. It all began in 1920 when some men came together to form an organisation called the Catholic Young Men’s Association (CYMA). It included writers, scenic designers, costume designers, stage technique experts, make-up and lighting artistes, amateur actors and theatre directors.

The construction was started in 1926 and the hall was completed in 1934. The building has a magnificent arcade. There are twin columns and horizontal mouldings. The arcade has on its either side, two semi-hexagonal rooms that is a style based on Venetian architecture. The roof has mangalore tiles in the Kerala style."

As you begin to walk towards the hall, one cannot but be touched by its serene grandeur. As you continue to look at the sunlight that falls on its walls and the patterns that the carved wooden fascias make, you notice a large newspaper clipping pasted on a wall across the road. As you pass it by on your left, you realise it has a photograph in black and white of the very building you admire on your right. The half page article is written by an architect, George Kochupurackal. It is from here that you get your information on the history of the hall.

In India, when you walk into the Golconda fort or into the Konark temple, there is a standard blue painted board with white text that describes the monument in front of you. It is often about the history of the building or the fort and sometimes about “this is a protected monument” Here, in Alappuzha, there was a building that young men strove to build many years ago, historical events took place here in addition to their dramas and so many years later, someone wrote about it. A few weeks or months later, someone pasted the story about building and people on this very street. As strangers to the city, you see, you read and you become a part of the collective memory of the place.