THESE TRADITIONAL HOUSES WERE ENERGY EFFICIENT.
THE OCCUPANTS FELT COMFORTABLE INSIDE THE DWELLING
Sushmita Shrestha, lecturer at Khwopa Engineering College, is a younger and dynamic architect. She is also completing her Masters in Sci- ence in Urban Design and Con- servation at the identical college and has graduated from Purbanchal University.The traditional Newari archi- tecture of the Kathmandu Valley that evolved and flourished especially for the duration of the Malla pe- riod (thirteenth -18th century) basical- ly specializes in community and is based on socio-spiritual frame- paintings. It is particular and genuine in lots of ways. First, the residing unit taken into consideration as a sacred terri- tory of the own family had distinctive scales of the cosmos represented by means of different levels of the constructing: the upper ground for meals prepara- tion and eating, worshiping location and appearing foremost rituals whereas the ground ground as a region of transition for either busi- ness motive or garage region.These homes had a fixed depth of typically 6 metres with verti- cally arranged rooms primarily based on functional requirement which fa- cilitated extension on each facets with equal constructing peak.
Second, common life, use of locally available constructing material together with similar construction method caused a uniformity in architectural patterns with little versions only in material first-class, workmanship and building façade completing.The unifying factors of build- ing façade — vertical brick ex- posed façade, vertically oriented timber home windows and sloped roof with little variant in roof line — collectively with the ratio of road width to building height within the variety between 1:1 and 1:2 contributed to the formation of a `sense of enclosure’ and `hu- guy scale’ at the streets, wherein site visitors felt thriller, marvel, ex- citement and anticipation due to sequential spatial event and `sin- gular composition.’ As severa daily sports inclusive of consuming, working and dozing used to take region at ground level inside the past, low ground peak Traditional Newari Architecture (1.7- 2m), slender ladder (90cm huge) and small door and window openings functioned nicely in traditional houses. Simple ornament across the windows and hori- zontal band indicating tale dif- ferences illustrated the agricultural craftsmanship while pace- rary extra layer at the building façade — hanging of agricultural merchandise specifically in rural cities, which keep on converting with seasons and the kind of crops produced — pro- vided dynamism within the streetscape. i Third, these conventional homes were power efficient. The occu- pants felt cushty in the l dwelling. The composite wall of adobe and sun dried brick (outer face) with inside dust plaster (precise insulator and exposed brick acted as an awesome absorbent), heavy door and window frames (absorbing warmth in daytime and emitting at night time), thick dust mortar on the roof and wood and dirt ground (offering exact nsulation) coupled with small home windows usually on one aspect of the room ended in minimal oss of strength in traditional hous- es. Warmer top flooring and courtyards have been used at some stage in day- time whereas the pinnacle degree and the ground ground acted as a buffer area protecting occupants from the bloodless at night and in winter.
Fourth, Newari structure also had social measurement and consequently it’s miles a subset of urban de- signal. The homes usually con- sisted of building blocks of three to 4 storeys built in a row, nar- row non-axial streets paved with bricks or stone slabs and homes clustered around the courtyards and Buddhist monasteries (Bahal and Bahil) based totally on the social fame and profession (jaat) of the human beings. There become an integration of visible and useful princi- ples into the social desires. Com- munity spaces in front of individ- ual homes were element and parcel of structure wherein the households shared their public hobbies and activities with neighbours, there- through merging public and private lives. Fifth, the social machine of residing network of the identical profession or extended family inside the equal lo- cality of the neighbourhood strengthened the social network and paintings efficiency whereas cul- tural practice thru lifestyle of rituals and party of nu- merous fairs reinforced network bond, thereby now not most effective increasing the mutual assis- tance and the priority for average community however additionally improving a sense of possession and sense of belonging to the community. The need for water for irrigation and ingesting become solved through the construction of lengthy distance wa- ter canals (Rajkulos) beginning from the foothills, ponds with deep wells as reservoirs and de- pressed pit conduits (Dhunge- dharas). The provision of `Sagah’ behind the house and `No- gah’ within the house at the floor ground in conventional house for dumping the kitchen waste helped to keeo the neighbour- hood environment easy. The by means of- product of agricultural waste turned into used as fodder for farm animals. Cow and buffalo dung have been used for an opportunity supply of strength by using blending them with the straw and drying them inside the sun.
However, demolition and verti- cal division of traditional housing stocks and their haphazard reno- vation and exchange in building use inside the ancient core regions as a results of speedy urbaniza- tion over the past six decades, on the only hand, and disintegration of conventional communal society coupled with death of guthi sys- tem, on the other hand, has con- tributed to metamorphosis of the internal city societies and damage- down of non secular and cultural frameworks that had prospered for hundreds of years within the beyond. These emerging issues can’t be addressed through current criminal and institutional frameworks.Numerous hidden dimensions of Newari structure referred to above are but to be acknowledged with the aid of those working at decision making levels in public organiza- tions, constructing industries and ar- chitecture colleges.
Integration of practical, ma- terial and generation into social desires within the cultural body- paintings is the electricity of Newari ar- chitecture of Kathmandu Valley.Emphasizing on network areas, use of city layout tech- niques and guiding the residing and intake styles of com- munities, this architecture changed into able to sustain for plenty cen- turies. A aggregate of 3 distinctive techniques: a) safety of traditional homes thru in- centives, economic and technical assist and inducing monetary fee of historical past, b) conservation of the neighbourhoods thru city layout techniques and c) revitalization of socio-religious sports associated with dwellings and community areas inclusive of network training can still make such specific cre- ations live to tell the tale.
