Jaisalmer Architecture Study
- 2. Site location: Jaisalmer, Rajasthan Climate: arid or semi-arid and features fairly hot temperatures over the year with extreme temperatures in both summer and winter Hot winds blow during summer and sand storms are also seen. The absorbed radiation are dissipated to atmosphere at night. Rainfall: The region is drained by very scanty rainfall during the monsoon season. The average rainfall is only 16.4 cms as against the state average of 57.51 cms. Vegetation: Khezada, Bavla, Lora, Rohida, Van, Phog, Kumbhar, Jal, Neem, Babul and many other trees are to be found among sparse vegetation. 2. Orchards are luxury and can be seen occasionally in a very rare sport. Grass-beds or lawns are never seen anywhere. Soil: The districts of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Barmer, Jalor, Jodhpur, Ganganagar, Sirohi, Jhunjhunu, Pali and Sikar have alkaline and saline soils with a calcareous base. There is some nitrate concentration in the soil of these regions. The Jaisalmer region has Aeolian sand that varies from sandy to sandy loam The city is situated in the midst of the Great Indian Desert on the western frontier of India. Jaisalmer is almost entirely a sandy waste, forming a part of the Thar desert (great Indian desert). Those in the west are covered with log bushes, those in the east with tufts of long grass. The climate is dry.
- 3. TOWN PLANNING CITY FORM • irregular polygon with a double line of fortification • The city structuring manifests itself in two strong ways : the location of the Royal Quarters on top of the hill with the strong fortification. secondly the dispersal of communities is affected by caste groupings making distinct residential zones of different communities. • The market square with its bazaar structures in the lower city and the Royal Square with the temples holds the upper city together. • Streets act as linkages, activity and interaction spaces.
- 4. • Surrounded by protective fortifications, the houses and palaces were approached through narrow streets. • Unlike other Indian forts, which are characterised 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 most famous of these are Nathmaiji's haveli, Salim Singh's haveli and the five havelis belonging to Patuas. • A 5 to 6 metre high wall surrounds Jaisalmer town. A number of gates called Prols, define the entry points of the town. TOWN LAYOUT • There is one major bazaar, which connects the Amar Sagar Prol at the eastern end to the Garhisar Prol on the western side of the town. The famous havelis and the major residential area are located to the north of the bazaar. • There are major streets oriented almost E-W and minor streets at right angles to these. The famous decorative housefronts are located mainly on the E-W streets, which are relatively wider.
- 5. 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. BUILDING CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS
- 6. 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. • ROOF AND FLOOR: 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: 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: Doors are built with stone frames and fitted with thick timber shutters. CONSTRUCTION OF ROOF IN TRADITIONAL METHOD
- 7. • 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. HOUSE FORMS IN JAISALMER Depending upon the socio-economic status of the inhabitant, there are three types of houses in Jaisalmer. SIMPLEST TOWN HOUSE • 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. MIDDLE INCOME PEOPLE SMALL HOUSES OF JAISALMER MIDDLE INCOME HOUSES OF JAISALMER
- 8. • 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. • There are underground rooms as well, sometimes at two levels one below the other. • The uppermost storey comprises terraces enclosed by wind pavillions and high parapet walls. • In some cases, the house is built around two courtyards. THE HAVELIS SECTION PLAN
- 9. In Jaisalmer, the layout of the town is the first defence against the harsh climate. Even though the major streets are not particularly narrow, the street orientation of WNW-ESE ensures that the building facades are either shaded by the balcony and sunshade projections (for high solar altitude and south facing facades) or by the buildings opposite. Considering (for simplicity) an E-W street orientation, in summer the sun would be shining on the south facade from 9.30am to 2.30pm. The corresponding solar altitudes during this time are 54° to 86° and even small horizontal projections are sufficient to shade the south- facing building. The north face of the building receives solar radiation before 8 am and after 4pm with solar altitude being less than 35°. At this time the building opposite shades the northern facade even if the street is relatively wide. For streets oriented N-S, the summer sun shines on the east facade till 11.30am and the west facade after 12.30pm. The solar altitude during these periods varies from 0° to 79°, With a narrow street, the building facades would be shaded before 10.30am and after 1.30pm (Fig.10), Thus, solar radiation would be incident on the E-W facades for no more than an hour each which is taken care of by the massive wall construction. NATURAL COOLING SYSTEMS LAYOUT
- 10. Dense clustering buildings • Narrow winding streets with densely built construction on both sides. • The town presents a very compact picture of houses and other buildings huddled together so that they not only shade each other but also considerably reduce the exposed open spaces around them. ORIENTATION OF BUILDINGS AND STREETS Orientation of streets • All Major streets were oriented in the East-West direction at right angles to the direction of dust storms. • The town is protected by the dust storms entering from the south- west into the city. • The major streets aligned at 90 degrees from the dust storms. • The topography of the fort is at a higher level, protecting the city from major dust storms and heat.
- 11. Building heights • The height of the building compared to the width of streets is large to create shaded cool environment for the pedestrians and other social activities on the streets. • At the town scale the buildings are of unequal height with parapets and high walls, creating uneven sky lines and desired shading of each other. Courtyards The central courtyard is the ‘lung space ‘of either the house or the housing block. Just to ensure there is a courtyard in every house,the centre of the house is never built up and is called the Brahmastana, the genius loci of the house
- 12. An interesting feature of Jaisalmer is the use of texture. This happens at three different levels of organisation. 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. TEXTURE At the smallest level, the flat parts of the building facades are deeply carved , creating finned surfaces. Such uneven structures and surfaces can be considered extended surfaces. The use of such surfaces always results in increased convective heat transfer to air and such surfaces are normally used in engineering applications where a higher rate of heat transfer is desirable. In cold climates, extended surfaces cause increased heat loss from buildings and are not desirable. But in a hot climate, where the major heat source is the sun, solar exposed extended surfaces will be cooler than plain surfaces. In the evening, when the ambient air-cools down, the extended surface will also cool down faster than a plain surface. At the second level, the building facades have a large number of projections like sunshades and balconies.
- 13. An extended surface that is shaded all the time will warm up faster than a plain surface under similar conditions. • In Jaisalmer textured surfaces are used only in the upper part of building facades, which are likely to be exposed to sun. • Plain walls are used in the lower part of north and south facades and over the full height of east and west facades, which are shaded, almost all day. It may be pointed out that the cooling effect of surface texture is useful only for thin walls. Because of their thermal load levelling characteristics, thick walls of materials like brick, stone or mud are capable of reducing heat gain due to solar radiation, even without surface texture. In Jaisalmer, the walls with texture are only 50mm thick while the massive walls are 450mm to 600mm thick
- 14. • An uneven building form can also influence radiative heat loss from the building to the sky. • 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. UNEVEN BUILDING FORM • The building facades have large number of projections like jharokhas and chajjas which provide shade to the facades. • The front part of the facade which remains exposed are controlled by creating deeply carved patterns. • Use of such devices minimizes the heat gain by providing shading due to texture. In summer in day time when the major heat source is Sun the exposed textured surfaces will be cooler than plain surfaces. In evening when ambient conditions are cool the increase surface area helps in cooling it faster FAÇADE AND PROJECTIONS
- 15. USE OF WATER • 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 • there are a few places, in the palace and in one Patua Haveli, where fountains and cascades have been installed • small size of cisterns feeding these fountains it is clear that their use must have been limited to some special occasions.
- 16. THANK YOU