Comparative Study and Analysis of Local Earthen and Conventional Housing Practices of Aravalli: A Case of Kasba Village

Abstract

Earth has been one of the most used building materials in theworld. “It is believed that today, one third of the world population lives in earthen houses.” In today’s context, earthen houses in rural villages are rapidly disappearing, raising questions about the loss of material and cultural essence while their replacement or alteration poses questions of appropriateness and sustainability.1 Due to the arrival of many different Govt. housing schemes, many local people have started shifting from their traditional houses towards the usage of other alternate materials raising questions regarding the sustainability and the prevailing culture. Case study and fieldwork method is applied for this research. In order to study the limitations of earthen houses, documentation and analysis of 4 selected earthen houses were done in two remote villages of Meghraj taluka, Aravalli district: 1) Dolpur village, 2) Kasba village.The research has two methods of data collection. Comparative study and analysis of earthen houses was done by documen tation and analysing them. It involved identifying and cataloguing their physical features and recent adaptations. Residents’ living experiences regarding the use and value of their houses was also ob tained through semi-structured interviews based on a questionnaire.2 Together, these data sources were collected to understand the condition and performance of the houses.

The study will show the relevance of these local earthen housing practices in today’s context in terms of sustainability and also the results helps us to derive new design strategies for the conservation of earthen houses in modern context and also for the development of better conventional (rcc & brick) houses built under Govt. housing schemes.