The document provides details about the city of Jaisalmer, India, including: 1) Jaisalmer was founded in 1156 AD as a military fort and trading post and is known as "The Golden City" due to the yellow sandstone used in its architecture. 2) It has a harsh climate with hot summers and cold winters along with sparse rainfall. 3) The architecture is a blend of styles and makes use of thick sandstone walls, balconies, domes and latticed screens to provide shade and ventilation. 4) The city has a compact layout with narrow streets designed to provide cool spaces for residents.

1. “The Golden City”
“the yellow sand and the yellow sandstone used in every architecture of the city
gives a yellowish-golden tinge to the city and its surrounding area”.
BY,
S.DIVYA

2. HISTORY
 The city was founded in 1156 AD by Rao Jaisal as a military fort and
trading post for the east-west route.
 The ruling family of the erstwhile Jaisalmer State belongs to Bhati
Clan of Yadu Rajputs of Chandrawasnshi (Lunar) race who claim
descent from Lord Krishna.
 Jaisalmer was merged into the state of Rajasthan, there was no
important change in the area of the state.
 On October 6,1949,the region was given the status of an
independent district in Jodhpur division.

3.  Set in the arid plains of western Rajasthan, in the midst of the vast
Thar desert, the city of Jaisalmer is a living fortress, perhaps the
only one of its kind in India.
 There are many spectacular forts in India, particularly in
Rajasthan, reflecting a martial history of which the local people are
self consciously proud.
 These forts have tremendous tourist potential, and proposals are
afoot to convert some into ‘heritage hotels’ or museums.
 To the visitor, almost every nook and corner of this richly crafted
town in the midst of the desert is fascinating, because a medieval
aura is still palpable in the streets, architecture and the traditional
society of Jaisalmer.
 Today this town consists of two major components:
 The fortified upper citadel, elevated on a ridge, with more:
than 400 houses, groups of temples and a palace complex
 The lower town, also fortified, set on the north-eastern slopes
of the ridge in the wind shadow of the citadel.
INTRODUCTION

4. CLIMATE
AIR TEMPERATURE The climate is extremely hot during summer with maximum temperature reaching up to
49.2 degree Celsius and extremely cold during winter with minimum temp. in the range of 1 degree Celsius.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY & RAINFALL The average rainfall is only 16.4 cms as against the state average of 57.51
cms.
 a very dry climate
 with very hot summer
 a cold winter
 sparse rains.
 altitude 241..7m above mean sea level

5. SOCIO-CULTURAL /LIFE STYLE OF PEOPLE
 Jaisalmer district is bestowed with art, architecture, culture and traditions full
of color and music and thereby attracting hordes of Domestic and foreign
tourists. The folk music of desert is an outstanding culmination of long
traditions mixed with varied social customs and inherent concept of classical
music revealing the life of desert. Being in the neighborhood the language,
culture and traditions of the people of the district are influenced by the culture
of sindh
 People are hardy and have great power of tolerance. The people of the desert
are very jovial and friendly. More than 80% of the population of Jaisalmer lives
in rural areas. Males go out to work and females stay at home. In the village
most people live in huts (Jhopri). These beautiful huts are made of grass. These
huts are cool in summers and warm in winter. Every family has 4-5 huts.
Around the huts there are thorny bushes and wire. Some of the villages have
stone houses. Almost all villages have a pond or well for drinking water. In
most of the villages the water is provided by the government through
pipelines.

6. OCCUPATION
In the villages the main sources of income are animal rearing and farming. Every family keeps cows, goats,
sheep and camel. When there is good rain there is plenty of fodder for cattle.
The staple crops are ‘Bajara’ and ‘Gawar’. People change their establishments in search of fodder for cattle.
The trees and bushes, which are found in desert, have fruits and buds, which are eaten as vegetables.
FESTIVAL OF JAISALMER
 From the city, the annual sand dunes festival is set up an hour’s drive into the
desert towards the southwest. Indians come from all over the country for this
very popular three-day festival. There are camel rides and races, wrestling
matches, beauty contests (including one for best mustache), and traditional
singing and dance performances.

7. JAIN HERITAGE OF JAISALMER
Jain community has enhanced the place Jaisalmer greatly.
It has festooned the city with marvellous temples, especially the temples dedicated to 23rd Tirthankara, Parshva and
the 16th Tirthankara, Shantinath which all counts for the beauty of the Jaisalmer.
One can find the a typical of the artefacts and manuscripts of Jain tradition in the oldest libraries of India which are
possessed by Jaisalmer. Amarsagar, Lodarva, Pokharan and Brahmsar are the major places where crowd of pilgrims
can be seen.
MATERIALS
Most common building materials:
– Light yellowish sandstone for walls (0.45m or more in thickness).
– 50 mm thick panels of limestone used on upper levels for elements on projecting wall facades.

8. PLANNING
PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN IN THE TRADIONAL ARCHITECTURE
• The study focuses on the sandstone havelis (urban courtyard houses) of the desert city of Jaisalmer,
north-west Rajasthan, India.
• While the city has been much admired by contemporary Indian architects, their understanding has been
a Modernist one, based largely on the idea of 'spatial organisation'.
• Three distinct architectural schools, or shaili, are then identified.
 THE SOMPURIYA SHAILI (the Sompuras are traditional temple builders) has its roots in the
medieval architecture known from surviving temples,
 THE MUGHLAI SHAILI is influenced by the imperial Mughal style,
 THE ANGREZI (ENGLISH) SHAILI brought an influx of western Classicism.

9. LAYOUT PLANNING & ARCHITECTURAL STYLES
 Architecturally, Jaisalmer fort consists of three layers of wall.
 The outer wall (the lowest) is composed of solid stone blocks.
 From the inner wall, Rajput warriors used to throw boiling water, oil,
 massive blocks of rocks on the enemies, when they got trapped between the inner
and the middle walls.
The architecture of these forts is a blend of Islamic, Persian and Indian styles of
architecture.
The buildings are analysed at their various levels of organsiation: - formal and spatial
planning,
 composition of elevations (interior and exterior),
 architectural components and details. Aedicules, miniature representations of
buildings, play an important role as compositional elements.
These were built of sandstone or marble and were endowed with
1. jharokhās (a type of overhanging balcony),
2. chatrīs (elevated, dome-shaped pavilions),
3. chajjās (projecting eaves or cover usually supported on large carved brackets) and
4. jālīs (perforated stone or latticed screen used for ventilation as well as decoration
Most of these forts had ingenious water structures designed for harvesting and storage,
including step-wells, elaborate reservoirs and channels.

10. CITY FORM
 In its overall shape, Jaisalmer is an irregular polygon
with a double line of fortification.
 It is a city within a city. The inner city is more protected
with a stronger wall and is set on top of a hill about 100
meters higher than the surrounding area. The city is
triangular in shape due to the shape of the hill on which
it is built.
 The Royal Palace with the Royal Square forms the
nucleus of Jaisalmer.
 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.

11. TOWN LAYOUT
 Narrow winding streets with densely
built construction on both sides.
 All Major streets were oriented in the
East-West direction at right angles to the
direction of dust storms.
 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. Plan of Jaisalmer town

12.  SMALLER HOUSES
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.
These single storey structures are owned by the poorest people and have been built in the peripheral areas of
the town.
MIDDLE INCOME HOUSES
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.
HAVELI’S
1. The most complex and interesting residential buildings in Jaisalmer are the haveli’s built by the rich
merchants or courtiers.
2. In these four or five-storied houses, the courtyard is surrounded by rooms or verandahs on all sides.
3. There are underground rooms as well, sometimes at two levels one below the other.
4. The uppermost storey comprises terraces enclosed by wind pavilions and high parapet walls. In some cases,
the house is built around two courtyards.

13. PUBLIC SPACES
Classified according to their types. The major categories are : The Royal Square in the center of the
upper city ; Public spaces like Gandhi Chowk and Gopa Chowk ; Community spaces at the level of
residential clusters.
STREETS OF JAISALMER
Jaisalmer is a compact network of streets rarely too long. With fairly high buildings and width of
streets rarely more than three meters, one can move around the town in cool shade. There is a
significant difference in the street patterns of the upper and the lower city. The radial pattern in the
upper city is contrasted by the somewhat irregular grid iron pattern in the lower city.
A street showing additions and Alterations in Jaisalmer
A typical cobbled street in Jaisalmer

14. VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
DESIGN: Jaisalmer fort is a traditional settlement, not exactly
a vernacular settlements. The design layout shows a network
of space in which :
• HIERARCHY OF SIZE: When the space dominates in architectural
design by being significantly different in size from all other elements,
dominance by size of elements such as "C-Royal Square"
• HIERARCHY OF SHAPE: Visually dominant by the shape from
other elements in composition. A discreet contrast in shape is
critical.
• RHYTHM: Patterened reoccurrence of elements in design such as
Granary areas in the design. Repetation as a dense organization of
repetitive pillars.
1. Main Chowk has full enclosure with two streets opening the
visual link.
2. Neighbourhood Space activity linked to houses opens to the
residential streets.
3. Transition space in house and street. Main Village Square is village
community space, at intersection of main streets.

15. CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUES
TRADITIONAL METHOD: Laying closely spaces
timber beams and covering them with a layer or
reed or grass matting with a layer of earth on top.
– Because of lack of availability in the desert,
stone beams are being used.
NATURAL COOLING SYSTEMS
1. Dense clustering of buildings.
2. Sun control through orientation and structural
projections.
3. Cooling of sunlit surfaces by use of fins.
4. Massive construction for roofs and walls.
5. Courtyards and other air ducts for ventilation.
The effectiveness of each of these cooling methods has been
evaluated by temperature observations and this will be
reported in a subsequent paper.Details of carved panel

16. CONTROL OF HEATING BY TEXTURE OF
SURFACES:
The heat inside of the building is controlled by the use of textures in
Jaisalmer. This is organized at three levels.
1. 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.
2. Secondly, the building facades have large number of projections like
jharokhas and chajjas which provide shade to the facades.
3. Thirdly, 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. - Such devices also result in increased convective transfer of heat
because of increased surface area.

17. PRE-CAST CONSTRUCTION
urban fabric,
is in total harmony with its soil, its terrain and the lifestyle of
its people.
A city in yellow stone, a sculpture that emerges out of the
landscape.
Jaisalmer is a man-made sculpture of small well- designed
parts.
It is a system of carved elements - stone slabs, beams, columns
- pieces put together, the putting together - a carefully pre-
planned process. Stone carvers - the artists, the artisans
working in groups to deliver the pieces as required, with every
piece cut, carved, to make a railing, to turn it to make a junction
or to break the monotony of a symmetrical façade.
Stone blocks cut and carved to make an arch, a doorway, a
jharokha, brackets that support a circular jharokha, brackets
that are radiating out from a point and therefore vary in their
sizes, but must be carved to precision to take their place away
from the courtyard of the carver's house, in the walls of the
palace.