Vernacular architecture refers to construction methods using local materials and traditions to address community needs, evolving over time to reflect local environmental, cultural, and historical contexts. It encompasses a variety of styles—kachcha, pukka, and semi-pukka—each defined by material use and durability, with approximately 90% of global buildings classified as vernacular. This architecture showcases the resourcefulness of local craftsmanship, often designed by amateurs, resulting in functional homes that cater to regional climates and social customs.

1. Vernacular Architecture
It is a term used to categorise methods of
construction which use locally available
resources and traditions to address local
needs.
Vernacular architecture tends to evolve over
time to reflect the environmental, cultural
and historical context in which it exists.
It has often been dismissed as crude and
unrefined, but also has proponents who
highlight its importance in current design.

2. Laurie Baker
The use of local materials with
consideration to local climate
and participation of the people
leads to
A Holistic Design Approach.

3. The use of local materials
and the participation of
the people leads to a
holistic design
approach…

4. VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
 a building designed by an amateur without any training in
design; the individual will have been guided by a series of
conventions built up in his locality, paying little attention to
what may be fashionable.
 The function of the building would be the dominant factor,
aesthetic consderations, though present to some small
degree, being quite minimal. Local materials would be used
as a matter of course, other materials being chosen and
imported quite exceptionally.

5. Our vernacular
homes in
Rajasthan
In vernacular architecture,
the conception of space
begins with a single cell shelter.
This is irrespective of the form
and the material which may
vary from one context to another.

6. Indian vernacular architecture
is the informal, functional architecture of structures, often in
rural areas, of India, built of local materials and designed to
meet the needs of the local people.
The builders of these structures are unschooled in formal
architectural design and their work reflects the rich diversity of
India's climate, locally available building materials, and the
intricate variations in local social customs and craftsmanship.
It has been estimated that worldwide close to 90% of all building
is vernacular, meaning that it is for daily use for ordinary, local
vernacular
people and built by local craftsmen

8. This architecture can be broadly divided into three
categories.
kachcha
 A kachcha is a building made of natural materials such a
mud, grass, bamboo, thatch or sticks and is therefore a
short-lived structure. Since it is not made for endurance it
requires constant maintenance and replacement.

9. Pukka
A pukka is a structure made from materials resistant to wear,
such as forms of stone or brick, clay tiles , metal or other
durable materials, sometimes using mortar to bind, that does
not need to be constantly maintained or replaced. However,
such structures are expensive to construct as the materials
are costly and more labor is required. A pukka may be
elaborately decorated in contrast to a kachcha.
 Semi-pukka
 A combination of the kachcha and pukka style, the semi-
pukka, has evolved as villagers have acquired the resources
to add elements constructed of the durable materials
characteristic of a pukka. Architecture as always evolves
organically as the needs and resources of people change.

11.  Regional variation
 Building material depends on location. In hilly country
where rocky rubble, ashlar, and pieces of stone are
available, these can be patched together with a mud mortar
to form walls.
 Finer stonework veneer covers the outside. Sometimes
wood beams and rafters are used with slate tiles for roofing
if available.
 Houses on hills usually have two stories, with the livestock
living on the ground floor. Often a verandah runs along the
side of the house.
 The roof is pitched to deal with the monsoon season and the
house may sit on raised plinths or bamboo poles to cope
with floods.

12. Traditional home, Manali

14. EARTH CONSTRUCTION
In the flat lands, abodes are usually made of mud or sun-
baked bricks, then plastered inside and out, sometimes with
mud mixed with hay or even cow dung and whitewashed
with lime.
Where bamboo is available (mainly in the north and
northeastern states) it is widely used for all parts of the
home as it is flexible and resilient. Also widely used is
thatch from plants such as elephant grass, paddy, and
coconut. In the south, clay tiles are used for pukka roofing
while various plant material such as coconut palm is
common for kachcha.

16. Roofs of the cottages at
Ponmudi
Darjeeling Concrete/brick and timber hill houses

17. EARTH CONSTRUCTION

18. Auroville-Earth Construction

19. Auroville-Earth Construction

20. Chitra Vishwanath Architects-
Bangalore

21. Ms. Sushma's residence
Prof Rrajagopalan's house

22. Mr. Rustam Vania's house

23. Dinesh and Sarita's house
Kindergarten Rammed earth wall

25. The prototype of this 23m2 AUM House, which is earthquake, cyclone and flood
resistant, has been built during the India International Trade Fair 99 at New
Delhi. The house was prefabricated at Auroville and transported in a single lorry.
The house weighed around 22. 5 tons and the lorry took 5 days to cover 2,900 Km
between Auroville, Tamil Nadu, and New Delhi.

26. The packing of the house was done in such a way that only 8 blocks arrived
broken out of 2,280 blocks. Ferrocement pieces had only little hair cracks. The
superstructure of the prototype house has been assembled in 66 hours by the
18-man team of the former AVBC/Earth Unit. This AUM House prototype
was sponsored by HUDCO. The India Trade Promotion Organisation awarded
this house a Gold Medal for the excellence of its special demonstration

27. BAMBOO CONSTRUCTION

28. Interlacing Bamboo for Walls and Fences

29. Methods of joining bamboo

31. In the villages of Assam, houses are built with bamboo. These houses are
detailed out to combat the heavy monsoons. The floor of the house is a bamboo
weave that allows the water of a flood to flow in, rather than keep it out. This is
an important principle of sustainable development.

35. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

36. Estimated
45 lakhs
Cost
Laterite and mud
Technique
construction

37. Ar.Gerald DaCunha’s Residence

39. Day Care Centre,GOA

41. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

42. 15 lakhs
Technique Exposed brick and random rubble
Estimated Cost 6.5 lakhs
Brick and Mud
Technique
construction

43. 12 lakhs
Technique Exposed Brick Construction
30 lakhs
Laterite
Technique
Construction

44. 24 lakhs
Technique Exposed Brick construction
16.6 lakhs
Technique Exposed brick and random rubble

45. Estimated
75 lakhs
Cost
Random Rubble and mud
Technique
construction
36 lakhs
Brick and Random Rubble
Technique
with mud mortar construction

46. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

47. Zapurza Club House-Whispering Woods-Sangli.
Ar Pramod Chaugule

48. Zapurza Club House-Whispering Woods-Sangli
Ar Pramod Chaugule

49. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

50. 42 lakhs
Exposed brick with
Technique
mud mortar and random rubble
85 lakhs
Brick, random rubble
Technique
and laterite construction

51. 39 lakhs
Exposed brick with
Technique mud mortar and random
rubble
65 lakhs
Laterite
Technique
construction

52. 23 lakhs
Brick and Laterite
Technique
construction
25 lakhs
Exposed Brick
Technique
construction

53. 25 lakhs
Exposed Brick
Technique
Construction
Stone and clay houses in rural Nepal

54. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

55. Toda hut

56. A village hut in West Midnapur district in West Bengal, India

57. House in Agumbe

58. House with verandah in Ettayapuram

59. Hill Station in Tamil Nadu

61. Courtesy-Dominic Sansoni

62. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

63. 16 lakhs
Technique Exposed Brick construction
25 lakhs
Exposed Brick and
Technique
Random Rubble

64. Houses near Benares showing settlement patterns in harmony with the environment.

65. Aranya Housing, Indore, by BV Doshi.
Village in Spiti.
.

66. (Courtesy-Dominic
Sansoni.)
Thatched home on the East Coast of Tamil Nadu.
A fishing village near Nagapattinam.

67. Vernacular Construction in Kerala.

68. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

69. STONE,EARTH AND TIMBER
CONSTRUCTION

79.  STONE CONSTRUCTION

83. GST Farm House,Tanang,Sangli

84. ‘Affordable Green’An Office Building-Ar Pramod Chaugule.

85. Technologies Recommended by CAPART

86. Barefoot College , Tilonia, Rajasthan.
[since 1972 Social Work Research Centre
The "Barefoot" philosophy is based on the belief that village communities used to
(SWRC)]
develop and maintain their own store of knowledge, which has been devalued in recent
times and is slowly dying as people migrate to the cities to look for jobs.
•To create a programme that
respected local skills.
• Providing training and upgrading
to help people help themselves.
local teachers, health-care providers, solar engineers and hand pump mechanics

87. fuses local labour and materials throughout
• illiterate farmers from Tilonia, along with
twelve other Barefoot Architects, most of whom
have no formal education
• several village women who worked as
labourers
… to demonstrate that village knowledge, skills and practical
wisdom could be used for people's development, without
depending on paper - qualified urban 'experts' from 'outside'.

88. One- and two-storey structures covering a
ground-floor area of around 2,800 square
metres.
• Administrative buildings
• Medical block
• Library and dining hall
• Amphitheatre
• Guesthouse and residential blocks
• Craft centre
• Workshops and workrooms
• Telephone exchange

89. THANK YOU
Presentation-Ar Suvarna Lele