UNIT 3

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE OF NORTH INDIA

GUJARAT
 The name Gujarat was derived from the nomadic gujars also is thought to
have entered the region around the 10th century A.D.
 The migratory routes were via Rajasthan and Sind.
 During the later periods Gujarat was been divided into three regions, North
Gujarat, South Gujarat, and Saurashtras.
 The North Gujarat while became the nucleus of what constituted Gujarat
culture.
 These subdivisions do not denote different political territories but cultural
particularly architectural areas.
 The climate of north, south, and saurashtra are almost similar in character.
 Vernacular architecture in Gujarat may be divided into 5 categories based
on the kind of load bearing construction employed
 Timber and wattle mud house
 Mud house.
 Stone house.
 Brick houses.
 Half timbered houses.
 MANDAVI
 The beach is located at the private place of vijay vilas palace
Mandavi,Kutch.
 Vijay vilas is the original place of the residence for maharao of kutch and
made the summer place for the royal family.
 The beach has white sand in fringed overall and windmills on one side and
sunset pavillion on other side.
 The mandavi is a type of beach luxary house which is situated in Gujarat. It
comprises of ten hand crafted tents.
 Each tent has its own verandah , spacious air conditioned bedrooms with
attached toilets with supply of both hot water and cold water.
 The interior of each tent is been decorated to resemble the colonial period
camp with high royality and curved furniture.
VIJAY VILAS PALACE IN MANDAVI
ABOUT THE PALACE…
 It is the centre of attraction of the place in mandavi. The palace has an
attractive gardens in the front and water channels around it. The palace
has all styles of Rajput architecture. It has Bengal domes on the sides and
coloured windows attached to it.
 The stone jallis are been present all around the building. The porch which
is been extended in front and the curved bastions forms the palace more
attractive.
STREET VIEW OF MANDAVI..
 It has a wide street which is narrow and has number of houses on either
side which provides shading to both sides.
  Since all the buildings are been built with mud and the local materials it
provides cooling effect in the buildings.
 All the buildings are been built according to the sun’s orientation and
receives certain amount of sunlight along the sides of the building
SETTLEMENT PATTERN…
 The important aspect considered in all the cities are the settlement patterns
from which the city has been evolved.
 It is the densely populated settlement and all the houses are been mostly of
same type. It is been located near the sea shore area.
 It has narrow streets in the settlements.
 It is almost in the grid pattern settlement.
 It has the boundary around the settlement with the fortified walls.

DETAILS IN STREET FAÇADE

 The details of doors are been intricated in the façade treatment. It is been
made up of iron and wooden carvings.
  The detail carvings made out of stone is an attractive one of the house. It
represents all the symbols of god and nature.
 The windows and the doors are been made of the same material iron and
sometimes wood is been used.

Street view

BHUJ
INTRODUCTION
 Bhuj is the main city of kutch region. It is the old walled city with narrow
and widening streets. It is been considered as one of the important place to
walk around. It is been established in 1510. It has fascinating new and old
temples around the city. It is been fully surrounded with fascinating walls,
old palaces, gateways, and winding lanes. Bhuj is been considered as the
second largest district of India.
 Bhuj is been considered as the first home for the swami narayana temple by
vikram savant.
STREET VIEW OF BHUJ
 The streets of Bhuj is very narrow and very compact to move. This also has
houses on both sides which prevents the sun’s rays to penetrate in the
building.
 There are number of houses with projected balconies in front. It provides
mutual shading to the walls.
 Most of the buildings are been built of marbles and has more details in
front of the façade.

Street view of Bhuj

AN TYPICAL HOUSE IN THE BHUJ REGION

 House plan should be circular in plan.
 Plan was 3m in radius.
 Vertical wooden poster & wooden rafter should be used.
 Masonry walls should be used.

Elevation
WORKS IN BHUJ REGION…
 The major work is the wood carving and designing the figures of animals
and humans. The major work is the drift wood carving.
THE DRIFT WOOD CARVING..
 Sea Mova' tree grows along the seashore. The wood of the root of this tree
also known as drift root is used for wood carving. The better pieces of the
roots is carved and shaped into beautiful shapes and also figures.
Sometimes the figures thus crafted are of the deities while at other times it
may depict animals, birds or humans. . The most interesting feature of these
sculpture / figurines is that it is made of a single piece of wood without
joints
BOHRAS
 The traditional habitats of the Islamic community of the Bohras (generally
referred to Daudi Bohras) in Gujarat, found in cities and towns such as
Surat, Siddhpur, Dahod, Godhra, Kapadvanj, Khambhat, Ahmedabad,
Palanpur, Bhavnagar, Dholka, Surendranagar, Morbi and Jamnagar, etc.
are excellent examples of traditional architecture rooted in the regional
landscape.
 This study attempts to understand the interrelationship between the living
traditions of Bohra house form and its culture.
 There are two broad categories of Bohrwads: one has an organic layout
while the other is strictly geometrically laid out.
 The structure of a typical organic Bohrwad is inwardly oriented, where the
houses are arranged in an introverted neighborhood form.
 Most Bohrwads have a formal entrance where gates used to be closed at
night in the past.

 The houses in a Bohrwad are typically grouped around a street and these
form a mohalla; several mohallas form a Bohrwad.
 Each mohalla is an exogamous unit and may have fifty to a hundred
houses.
 These neighborhoods have a structural unity and give a general impression
of relative orderliness and homogeneity.
 It has a well-knit and dense urban character. Besides the houses, a large
Bohrwad generally contains a mosque, a Madressa, a Jamat Khana, and
other buildings for collective functions.
 In the Bohrwads, the neighborhood mosque is the most important
institution as the central public space for religious rituals.
 The Bohrwad streets stand apart because of a sense of order, extreme
cleanliness, well-designed drainage system and the element of visual
surprise
 The closely packed houses, site constraints and absence of standardized
building controls result in an organic growth and a relatively irregular
street pattern.

 The meandering passageway with a pedestrian sense of scale creates a

series of vistas as one walks down the street.
 Male dominance is strong and women are commonly segregated from men
not belonging to their immediate families.
 Gender is important as an organizing theme in dwelling layouts and use of
spaces.
 For the Bohras, religion is a way of life that also provides a civic code,
influencing social behavior and interactions.
 The Bohra house is usually always oriented according to the cardinal
directions as per the practice in the region.
 The urban house has at its core a set of spaces, which in their sequence and
proportions are identical to those of the rural dwelling.
 It is basically a deep house-plan with three (or four) sequential rooms one
behind the other.

 Male dominance is strong and women are commonly segregated from men
not belonging to their immediate families.
 Gender is important as an organizing theme in dwelling layouts and use of
spaces.
 For the Bohras, religion is a way of life that also provides a civic code,
influencing social behavior and interactions.
 The Bohra house is usually always oriented according to the cardinal
directions as per the practice in the region.
 The urban house has at its core a set of spaces, which in their sequence and
proportions are identical to those of the rural dwelling.
 It is basically a deep house-plan with three (or four) sequential rooms one
behind the other.
 The regional model was not only adapted by the Bohra community but also
taken to its maximum potential with necessary adjustments due to the
religious tenets of Islam.
 Certain concepts like clear separation between the public and private, the
necessity for an in-between zone at the entrance level, the male/female
divide, seclusion of women, the intense need for privacy, etc. have brought
about specific devices and spatial configurations that reflect the tenets of
the religion.

 Generally a joint family system is followed.

 The kitchen is common to all and it becomes central to the family.
 The spatial hierarchy in the typical Bohra house has a sequence of otla
(entrance platform), deli (arrival space), avas (courtyard), parsalli and the
ordo (room).
 The upper floors mainly house the bedrooms and the agashi (terrace).
 The Bohrwad is made up of three to four storeyed-high houses arranged in
a high-density layout.
 The individual courtyard becomes an air and a light shaft where the cooler
air sinks below and the hotter air escapes out of the roof
 The Bohras have adopted the regional tradition of Gujarat of making
facades with intricate details in wood.
 They accommodated a whole range of styles, building materials and
decorative treatments resulting in attractive facades (and streets) that have
become the hallmark of their vernacular architecture.
 In contrast to Islamic philosophy, there is exterior display and frontal
exposure as the facades are rich in variety and aesthetic expression. They
create a sense of enclosure and a play of light and shadows by using of
solids and voids. Through the display of several textures and patterns, they
express balance and harmony within a predominantly symmetrical
composition. The surface of the facade is visually broken by ornamented
columns, brackets and mouldings, at times bringing multicolored cohesion
to the street
 The facades enhance the totality of the physical ambience of the built
environment.
 Built by craftsmen, they reveal their comprehensive understanding of the
elements of design, the nature of the building materials and versatility of
craftsmanship.
 The unity of facades has been achieved by similarity of building types,
materials of construction and commonality of a design vocabulary.
 There is a lot of aesthetic attention paid to the making of the windows,
entrance doors, columns, brackets, grills and other elements.
 In the embellishments they use only non-figural and abstract geometrical
patterns as per the Islamic tradition, which rejects animate objects (gods,
people, birds and animals) in carving.
 In every vernacular tradition, certain elements/objects get developed in the
house that are expressive of the users’ cultural attitudes and also
communicate symbolic meanings to the onlookers.
 A lot of variation was perceived in the types of zarookhas (floor
projections) that were incorporated as a part of the design of facades in
various Bohra housing in Gujarat.
 The Bohras developed this element to its full potential.
 The impact of cultural attitudes is seen in the full enclosure of the balcony
in many of the Bohra houses.
 One hardly sees any person standing in the external zarookha or the
balcony and interacting because the Bohra life-style emphasizes privacy,
formality and internalization.
 The enclosed balcony takes the form of a luxurious window-seat referred
to earlier in the case of the typical house in Siddhpur.
 The seat is approached from the deli and a space for it is created next to the
entrance steps.
 This bay window has iron screens on the outside.
 Spacious and well-lit, the seat with mattresses and pillows is used for a
group of women to relax and converse, or for a lone woman to pass her
time looking out on the street while doing embroidery.
 Since both the Hindu and Bohra house types are based on a common
regional house form, there are more similarities than differences, where
the differences generally occur through subtle interventions due to the
required change in the cultural use of domestic space.
 It is noteworthy that in spite of the limitations of the shared-parallel-walls
typology, a considerable degree of flexibility has been achieved in the
spatial layout in response to sub-cultural or climatic variations.
 The Bohra habitations represent a living tradition of Gujarat.
 However, some of the elaborately carved and richly decorated houses are
deteriorating at a fast rate and are, at times, being sold to antique dealers
who dismantle them completely for selling their decorative elements and
teak wood.
 This situation is getting desperate and urgent steps are required for
conservation of this valuable heritage.
 Conservation of individual monuments or precincts of an urban fabric
poses a complex challenge.
 Unless the people of the community can be motivated to get directly
involved and have an urgent desire, substantial and large-scale
conservation efforts become impossible.
 The crucial fact to remember is that the Bohras are conservationists and
promoters of art may be unconsciously.
 If they are further encouraged by a strategy for conserving entire
Bohrwads, it will help continue the momentum of cultural preservation in
order that some of the best historic examples of regional domestic
architecture in Gujarat are not lost.
 RAJASTHAN
CLIMATE
 The climate of Rajasthan can be divided into four
seasons: Summers, Monsoon, Post-Monsoon and
winter.
 A summer, which extends from April to June, is
the hottest season, with temperatures ranging from 32 degree C to 45
degree C. in western Rajasthan the temp may rise to 48 degree C,
particularly in May and June. At this time, Rajasthan's only hill station, Mt
Abu registers the lowest temperatures. in the desert regions, the
temperature drops at night. Prevailing winds are from the west and
sometimes carry dust storms (we call them aandhi).
 The second season Monsoon extends from July to September, temp drops,
but humidity increases, even when there is slight drop in the temp (35
degree C to 40 degree C). 90% of rains occur during this period.
 The Post-monsoon period is from October to November. The average
maximum temperature is 33 degree C to 38 degree C, and the minimum is
between 18 degree C and 20 degree C.
 The fourth season is Winter or the cold season, from December to March.
There is a marked variation in maximum and minimum temperatures, and
regional variations across the state. January is the coolest month of the
year. And temp may drop to 0 degree C in some cities of Rajasthan, like
Churu. There is slight precipitation in the north and northeastern region of
the state, and light winds, predominantly from the north and northeast. At
this time, relative humidity ranges from 50% to 60% in the morning, and
25% to 35% in the afternoon..
 JAISALMER (RAJASTAN, INDIA)
INTRODUCTION
 The best example of architecture of the hot and arid zone in india is
jaisalmer, a town built in the heart of the thar desert.
 The day time temperatures in june reach upto 50 deg. C while the night
temperatures in january are below the freezing point.
 Annual rainfall during the year is 120 to 150 mm.
 In the absence of the corrupting influence of water and electricity supply,
mechanized transport and modern building technology, the builders of the
medieval Indian town of Jaisalmer have done a remarkable job of creating
an urban environment that is in tune with nature and provides for more
than just the basic needs of the inhabitants.
 Situated in the heart of the thar desert, jaisalmer is famous for its richly
carved building facades less known perhaps is the fact that the town and
buildings in it overcome the problem of the severe desert summer by
special passive design features
CLIMATE
 The climate demands protection from the scorching summer sun and sand
storms on the one hand and very cold winter nights on the other.
 Humidity being low throughout the year, comfort could be easily provided
by evaporative cooling, but this is not possible because water is very scarce
in jaisalmer.
 The only sources of water are the very deep wells and the gharhisar tank
on the outskirts of the town.
LAYOUT
 The layout of the town is the first defense against the harsh climate.
 The streets are Narrow and shaded from the sun. The general street
orientation is south east to north West, which is at right angles to the
prevailing summer winds.
 Hot dusty winds are thus kept out of the streets.
 At many places, buildings overhang the streets on both sides, providing a
cool shaded area almost like a tunnel.
 In some places the buildings actually bridge across the streets.

 The contiguous construction ensures mutual shading by walls and other

elements of the adjoining building.
 The city of jaisalmar (rajasthan, india)
 One major reason for selection of this site was the availability of sub-
surface water.
 The fort was built on the hilltop, generally following its triangular
geometry. Surrounded by protective fortifications, the houses and palaces
were approached through narrow streets.
 Unlike other Indian forts, which are characterized by strong rectilinear
geometry and open spaces, this one had few community open spaces.
 With influx of population from the Surrounding areas, the fort was in time
completely built up and further expansion of the settlement took place at
the foot of the hill.
 The construction of the town was started in 1725 a.d.for various socio-
cultural reasons, the town plan of jaisalmer developed in the form of
"padas" based profession and this division persists till today.
  During the years 1750 to 1850 a.d. additions to the town included
fortifications around the town and the construction of many beautiful
residential buildings called "havelis".
 The most famous of these are nathmaiji's haveli, salim singh's haveli and
the five havelis belonging to patuas.
 The town plan of jaisalmer is not entirely dissimilar to that of older indian
cities like delhi.

Street layout & house form of Jaisalmer.

BUILDING MATERIALS
 The main building material used for walls is light yellow coloured sand
stone.
 Roofs are built of mud, supported on wooden beams covered with grass
mat. In more recent construction, stone beams have been used as roof
supports.
  The thickness of the roof varies from 45cms. To 90 cms., enough to
dampen the effect of the diurnal temperature variations.
 There is no scientific study to compare the performance of the two kinds of
roofing (i.e. Stone slabs and wooden beams), but according to popular
belief the wooden ceilings with grass mats stay cooler than stone ceilings.
 The wall surfaces are highly articulated with projecting balconies, sun
shades and brackets, and each of these building elements is in turn
intricately carved.
 Flat portions of stone walls are also decorated with deep carvings. The
resulting overall building surface is designed to stay cool even when it is
exposed to the sun.

HOUSE TYPES OF JAISALMER

 According to the economic and social status of the house owners, there are
three types of buildings.
 The poorest live in very small single storey houses built in mud.
 There is generally a small room and a verandah opening into a small
courtyard enclosed by high walls.
 Usually a small basement is also built, but it is not ventilated and therefore
used only as a store for valuables.
 The main living area of the house is the courtyard and verandah.
 The heavy roof and walls along with the courtyard ensure thermal comfort
in the house.
 According to the economic and social status of the house owners, there are
three types of buildings.
 The poorest live in very small single storey houses built in mud.
 There is generally a small room and a verandah opening into a small
courtyard enclosed by high walls.
 Usually a small basement is also built, but it is not ventilated and therefore
used only as a store for valuables.
 The main living area of the house is the courtyard and verandah.
 The heavy roof and walls along with the courtyard ensure thermal comfort
in the house.

Small houses in Jaisalmer

 The middle income house is a two or three storied structure with a
completely enclosed courtyard.
  The deep and narrow building plot of land is surrounded on three sides by
similar construction and on the fourth side by the narrow street.
 Therefore, solar heat gain through the walls is very little. The rooms built
next to the street are cross ventilated through the courtyard. This may not
be possible in the rooms built in the rear of the plot. Since window
openings are small and the courtyard very deep, most rooms in these
houses are poorly illuminated. Architecturally the most interesting and the
most comfortable thermally, are the "havelis" (large courtyard houses)
belonging to the rich.
 These are three or four storied structures with additional wind pavilions on
the top floor. Each building is built around one or two courtyards with
additional ventilation shafts provided at appropriate locations. Almost all
the special thermal design features of these "havelis" are incorporated in
nath malji's haveli.
SMALL -INCOME HOUSES IN JAISALMER
SCHEMATIC PLAN OF THE CENTRAL AREA OF JAISALMER.
 Depending upon the socio-economic status of the inhabitant, there are
three types of houses in jaisalmer. The simplest town house consists of a
single room, a verandah and A courtyard.
 Larger houses of this type have another verandah over the entrance and
some houses have an additional room on one side of the courtyard.
 Three single storey Structures are owned by the poorest people and have
been built in the peripheral areas of the town.
 The second type of house belongs to the middle income people. A two or
three-storey structure, this house type can be considered the typical house
of jaisalmer.
 It is similar to the first house type in plan, with the only difference that
additional rooms and small enclosed terraces are located at the upper
floors.
 The front part of the first floor has a balcony projecting onto the street.
 The most complex and interesting residential buildings in jaisalmer are the
havelis built by the rich merchants or courtiers.
 In these four or five-storied houses, the courtyard is surrounded by rooms
or verandahs on all sides.
MIDDLE-INCOME HOUSES IN JAISALMER-
 There are underground rooms as well, sometimes at two levels one below
the other. The uppermost storey comprises terraces enclosed by wind
pavilions and high parapet walls.
 In some cases, the house is built around two courtyards
 Almost all houses in jaisalmer have a basement; but these rooms were
designed to be used only as strong rooms for valuables.
  The temperature underground remains almost Constant throughout the
year due to the absence of any heat load and due to rapid decay of the
ambient temperature wave in soil.
 Some of the benefits of sub-surface construction are, however, available in
the lower floor of the taller buildings, which stay much cooler than the
upper floors of the same buildings.
TYPICAL STREET SECTION

A Street section of Jaisalmer

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
 The common building material used in jaisalmer is stone of which there
are two types.
 Light yellowish sandstone is used for walls, which are 0.45m or more in
thickness.
 In better quality construction the stone is dressed and joints made
accurately without any mortar.
 The individual stones are held together by stone keys cut into the blocks
themselves or by iron cramps.
 In poorer people's houses the stone is undressed and the walls are built in
mud mortar and finished with mud plaster. At upper floor level, where the
building façade projects out, 50mm thick panels of limestone are used as
wall elements.
 These are deeply carved in various geometrical patterns and from outside
the building they give the appearance of latticework (jali). Both the
limestone used for Carving and sandstone used for masonry are light in
colour and provide a permanent natural finish
 Two types of construction are used for roofs and floors. The traditional
method is to lay closely spaced timber beams and cover them with a layer
of reed or grass matting and a thick layer (0.45 to 0.60m) of earth on top.
 Because of the difficulty of finding timber in the desert, in some later
houses the timber stone slabs have replaced beams.
 In all cases the roof and floor are finished only with mud plaster. This
presents no problem of water seepage, as there is little rainfall.
 Windows are generally small and are fitted with solid timber shutters.
Because of the need for privacy, the use of windows was limited to upper
floors only and it is only in recent construction that windows have been
built at the street level. doors are built with stone frames and fitted with
thick timber shutters.
 In jaisalmer, the walls with texture are only 50mm thick while the massive
walls are 450mm to 600mm thick.
 Finned surfaces - reflective fins, they managed to increase the absorptivity
of the absorber and reduce its emissivity.
 The improved efficiency of the collector was mainly due to the improved
heat transfer between the absorber and the incoming air.
 This same effect is beneficial in keeping sun exposed building surfaces cool.
 the layout - harsh climate.
 building facades - balcony and sunshade projections

 An uneven building form can also influence radiative heat loss from the
building to the sky.
 This assumption is not justifiable in all situations and the increased wall
area of an uneven building mass radiates a greater amount of heat to the
sky and consequently it stays cooler than a more compact mass. Thus it is to
be expected that the uneven built form of jaisalmer with large wall areas
helps in keeping the building cool
TEXTURE
 An interesting feature of jaisalmer is the use of texture. This happens at
three different levels of organization.
 At the town scale the buildings are of unequal heights with wind pavilions
and high parapet walls creating an uneven skyline and shading each other
in the process.
 At the second level, the building facades have a large number of projections
Ventilation
 At higher temperatures, human thermal comfort can be provided only by
ensuring air movement in the built space. Natural air movement through a
building is caused either by Wind or by temperature differences between
interior and exterior. When buildings are tightly clustered together, it is
generally difficult to let winds into the house and air
 Before outside air passes through a living space, its temperature must be
reduced, or else its cooling effect on the human skin is nullified by
convective heat gain due to its high temperature.
 During summer when there are strong surface winds, sand gets blown
along the ground and can enter buildings unless precautions are taken
against this nuisance. There are also regional dust storms where sand and
dust can get into buildings.
 Successful ventilation design calls for ensuring adequate air movement
through the building and pre-treating the air to lower its temperature and
to reduce its dust particle content.
 In some recently constructed houses wind scoops and suitably located air
ducts are also used to channel wind into the building
  While there is little that can be done to eliminate dust due to regional dust
storms, the problem of wind-blown sand is effectively settled by the 5 to 6
metre high wall around the town. Within the town most surfaces are
paved, reducing the chance of dust being raised.
 Selective ventilation (i.e. Ventilation only during the cooler periods of the
day) can help in structural cooling of a massive building, leading to lower
indoor temperatures during the day.
 Surprisingly enough selective ventilation is not practised in jaisalmer and
ventilation apertures are kept open throughout the day. This is
understandable, as people are concerned with thermal comfort and not
temperature. At temperatures less than 35°c a slow current of air will
always provide better comfort than a slightly lower temperature with no
air movement (givoni, 1967). In the absence of mechanical ventilation
devices, even warmer outdoor air is welcome.
 in winter - need for air movement, window - opened during the day and
kept shut at night.
VERTICAL SHAFTS
 In jaisalmer buildings, a number of interconnected vertical shafts are used
for ventilation. The courtyard effect is well known and used in almost all
hot-dry climates.
 In addition to the simple courtyards, very narrow vertical ducts and
staircase shafts are used to deflect wind down into the house in jaisalmer .
Coupled with the high thermal inertia of the massive stone walls, such
shafts temper air before it enters the living space in much the same way as
happens in the iranian wind towers.
  Water is a precious commodity in jaisalmer, and since all the water for
domestic use had to be carried to the house from the garhisar tank outside
the town by womenfolk, the common people never used any form of
evaporative space cooling. But there are a few places, in the palace and in
one patua haveli, where fountains and cascades have been installed. From
the small size of cisterns feeding these fountains it is clear that their use
must have been limited to some special occasions.

Air-shafts
UNIDIRECTIONAL WIND SCOOP

Wind scoop
The natural cooling systems used at jaisalmer include:
 Dense clustering of buildings.
 Sun control through orientation and structural projections.
 Cooling of sunlit surfaces by use of fins.
 Massive construction for roofs and walls.
 Courtyards and other air ducts for ventilation.

The natural cooling systems of jaisalmer – air ducts should be used.

Details of carved panel-passive and low energy cooling in the built environment
 The uneven built form of jaisalmer and the highly
Articulated street facades.

NATH MALJI'S HAVELI

 This building is planned around two courtyards, the one in the front is
much smaller than the one in the rear.
 The front part of the building is three storeys high and has the main living
quarters.
 The rear portion is two storey high and contains the ancillary
accommodation.
 On either side of the main courtyard there is a small apartment built
around a narrow vertical shaft.
 There is thus a variety of vertical ducts (courtyards) of different sizes.
 Plan nathmalji’s haveli section
 These provide light and ventilation for all the rooms.
 While the front receives some sunlight during the summer the rear
courtyard is almost completely exposed to the sun.
 The street and the two narrow shafts are completely protected from the
sun.
 This differential heating of the vertical ducts ensures a continuous air flow
through the house.
 The two narrow shafts, being open on one side at the upper level of the
building act as wind catchers as well.
 Courtyard effect
AIR-SHAFTS OF NATHMALJI’S HAVELI
 The drawing room of the family is located on the first floor above the
entrance way.
 This richly decorated room is two storeys high.
 There are timber shuttered windows opening towards the street and a large
number of small ventilation holes in the upper part of the room.
 Together, these openings ensure heat removal by ventilation.
 As this building is taller than the surrounding buildings, parts of external
walls are exposed to solar radiation.
 To avoid solar heat gain the walls are shaded with projections and
carvings.
 The internal walls of the courtyard, which also receive some solar
radiation, are treated in the same manner.
 The total effect of this massive structure, the sun shades and the ventilation
system is such that the family has not felt it necessary to install ceiling fans
(air circulators) in the rooms, even though electricity is now available.
 One type of ventilation device not found in the old buildings of jaisalmer,
but which has been installed in more recent constructions, is the roof top
wind scoop.
 In jaisalmer, a cool breeze blows from the south in summer evenings, and
the wind scoop is oriented to deflect this cool breeze into the house.
 A trap door is provided at the base of the wind scoop to keep out unwanted
hot or dusty winds.
 Wind scoop

 the third haveli belongs to nathmal, a later day prime minister who gifted it
to the rawal and was allowed to retain it. Built by two brothers in 1885,
this haveli has two identical looking portions, which are in fact two
different parts united by a common facade.
 Look for the projected balconies, which seem to emerge from books of
poetry. So ethereal and charming, the carving never looked better. A
perfect example of jeweller's art applied to stone carving.
 The muslim silavats (artisans) did a wonderful job here and left a
marvellous legacy of craftsmanship excellent in detail and flawless in
conception. If only for viewing these havelis a trip to jaisalmer is more than
amply rewarded.