NEPALESE ARCHITECTURE

NEWARI HOUSE

2070/04/16
Introduction:
•The average Newari house is basically rectangular in plan, depth around 6m while
the length ranges from min 1.5m to 15 m. (normal range 4-8m)
•The characteristic feature of this design is the vertical room arrangement, which is
not dependent on the size of the house
Introduction:
•The average Newari house is basically rectangular in plan, depth around 6m while
the length ranges from min 1.5m to 15 m. (normal range 4-8m)
•The characteristic feature of this design is the vertical room arrangement, which is
not dependent on the size of the house
•Due to security considerations and to use as little irrigable land as possible, the
Newari house is vertically orientated
•Usually the houses are three storeyed but the houses of the poor in the fringes are
two storeyed
•The houses in the center of town are four storeyed

•The uniform depth facilitates the building of additional houses on to existing ones,
to form block of houses
•The extensions were of equal height, the depth being determined by that of the
main house, and either the full depth of 6 m or only half that depth was used
Introduction:
•The houses are normally around the courtyard

•Different units make up the four sides of a Chauk, with at least one house
providing access to the street through a gateway on the ground floor
•Staircases generally located in the corners, lead to separate room clusters, which,
due to the symmetrical façade are not distinguishable from the outside
•A courtyard is a multi-purpose space where it is a playground for children, a
washing area, a grain grinding area and provides an area for sitting, especially in
the warmth of the sun during the winter
•Access to this courtyard in a Newari dwelling is through a single door or a low,
narrow gateway, that can be closed
•Common lifestyle within each habitation, together with similar building methods,
led to a uniformity in architectural style, with only superficial variations
Introduction:
•A spine wall parallel to the house frontage divides each floor into two rooms

•This division on the top floor is replaced by columns

•This principle of a central spine wall applies to all houses, regardless of their size

•The rural and a city houses also look similar

•Usually the domestic animals like goat and buffalo were sheltered on the ground
floor, whereas grain is kept in the upper floors and gay , anywhere convenient
•Most common is the use of the ground floor as an open shop front or workshop,
marked by a row of twin columns
•Bricks used are sun-dried, rough and simply baked, others may be carefully burnt
for specific purposes, some are especially smooth surfaces and are polished before
firing
•Other distinguishing features may be the ornately carved doors and windows, of
which the crowning achievement is the large living room window or San Jhya facing
the street from the second or third floor
History:
•Although the religious buildings have been well documented, the historical
information concerning the private dwellings is almost non-existent
•It has been said that around 200 yrs ago, “the houses were constructed of brick,
and were three or four storey high; their apartments were not lofty; they have
doors and windows of wood, well worked and arranged with great regularity”
•Since the appearance and usage of religious buildings have not changed
dramatically since the Malla period, it can therefore be assumed that the dwellings
have not changed much either.
•The quality of houses and their ranking for taxation purpose was determined
alrady by King Jayasthiti Malla (1380-1395AD)
•The traditional way of building was continued until there was no western influence

•The dramatic change to the enormous white plastered palaces based on the neo-
classical style from the west built by the Ranas, brought the first major change in
dwelling design for at least the richer section of the populace
History:
•With the massive influx of Western ideas at the beginning of the second half of the
20th century, a total change in dwelling design took place
•Those within the 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, western design and construction ideas
Facade:
•Symmetry is the aim in the design of the façade

•It is attained, where possible, on a central axis of a main window or door by

pairing windows around the central axis on each succeeding floor with the central
window of each floor emphasized by its size and detailed carving
•Where the ground floor is not used as a shop-front or a workshop, this section of
the façade remains quite simply executed with a low narrow door and perhaps one
or two small windows on either side
•Any irregularities in the ground floor façade due to a door or row of columns are
not repeated in the upper storeys which are arranged, independently, in a
symmetric fashion
•The entrance door is barred with two massive wooden planks while the windows
are generally closed by fine wooden lattice work
•Only a few of these windows can be completely closed with heavy shutters

•The most important communication to the street, other than the door, is through
the sajhya window in the main living room
Facade:
•The sajhya has a window bench and its latticed window shutters can be opened
and closed
•Even in the most simple poorer houses the living room windows are accentuated

•In three storey houses, the third floor is generally an attic directly under the roof
which is mainly used as the kitchen and eating room
•In four storeyed houses, the second and third floors are living areas, with cooking
and dining in the attic above
•On the exterior the second and third storeys are separated by a skirt-roof, under
which the large San Jhya is located
•The San Jhya thus has a fixed position in the centre of the second storey on the
façade
•The continuity, the eaves of the skirt-roof of a four-storeyed houses continue
through at the same level as the roof of an adjacent three-storeyed house
Facade:
•The lines of a simple pitched roof are seldom broken by garrets or the like

•Balconies and roof-terraces on houses are of a more recent origin

•Formerly the typical window style was horizontal but with a square latticed
opening
•It started changing two hundred years ago and became more vertical

•During this process, the symmetry created by the prominence of the central
window was reduced to simple rows of windows
•Only the San Jhya, now less ornate, retained its original location on the façade

•In the later years the trend towards lighter and larger windows was introduced

•The latticing of windows which were now almost one storey high and about 60cm
wide, was omitted
•At the same time the San Jhya was replaced by the now current window style,
where metal railings and shutters close off the vertical window openings.
Function and allocation of space:
•A deciding factor for the utilisation of different rooms in the house is its vertical
location
•The size of the house is virtually irrelevant as is the size of the family or the caste
consideration
•A central wall (Du Anga) normally divides the ground floor, Chhyadi into two
narrow rooms, of which the front room usually serves as a shop or workshop
•A twin row of columns frequently replaces the entire front wall, opening rooms, or
workshops, opening onto the courtyard
•The centre wall, for structural reasons, is seldom replaced by columns

•Where the ground floor is used as a stable or store-room, only small windows
admit light and air and the same general access is used
•Doors in each of the external walls provide direct access between the courtyard
and the street
•A separate corridor leads to the courtyard where shops and workshops occupy the
ground floor
Function and allocation of space:
•A narrow staircase gives-access to the upper storeys

•A trap door in the form of two heavy planks closes off the stairwell normally at
each floor level and this was probably the result of earlier defense requirements
•Originally the ground floor was never used as a living area as among other
reasons, it offered no protection against dampness
•The floor is either tiled with bricks or covered with a layer of clay

•Only shops have a well ventilated wooden floor

•The actual living space and sleeping areas of the family begins with the first floor
(Matan=middle section)
•Depending on the size of the house, the two rooms created by the central wall are
further divided by either solid or light timber partitions to form sleeping quarters
for family members, or for married sons, who remain in the parental home with
their own family