New Delhi: Himachali architect Rahul Bhushan’s quest to bring back kath-kuni, a centuries-old building practice that stacks wood and stone in alternate layers, has taught him many things. He now knows it is not the skill that is dying but its scope. The trade has been whittled down but not burrowed into oblivion. Karigars or artisans are still employed to make windows, doors, and roofs even as the rest of the building is made of concrete.
Now, for architects, experts, and civilians in Himachal Pradesh, it’s time to go back to the past to secure the future of the Himalayan hills in the state.
Himachal Pradesh got an urgent wake-up call this summer when torrential rains and landslides devastated the state’s infrastructure. Situated above the Shivalik Hills and extending into the middle of the Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh is burdened with thousands of homes completely destroyed or that have developed cracks over the past month. Residents are falling victim to the cracking concrete structures devised to protect them.
It’s about building anew, say architects. From using hemp and limestone to reverting to wood and stone, a new school of Himalayan architecture is taking shape.
“With the climate crisis unfolding, the need of the hour is to bring back the balance. These techniques have a strong structural framework indigenous to the Himalayas. They are climate-responsive and environment-friendly,” says Bhushan, founder of North, a builder company.
Parts of the Himalayas have been tamed — dug and dissected, pruned and plundered. The mountain range has been made hospitable and transmogrified into its most tourist-friendly avatar. Reinforced concrete, steel, and cement buildings dot the horizon.
But homes fail to account for climatic conditions. Architecture has fallen to the wayside as contractors and masons embrace the sameness of the plains.
“When so many people are flocking, it translates into a business opportunity for some. It becomes an urban sprawl, adding to the woes of people and the local climate,” says Amit Hajala, professor at the School of Planning and Architecture, who specialises in urban design and sustainable built environments. “The intensity of building needs to be controlled.”
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Kuth-kani over RCC
Vernacular styles of architecture vary across Himalayan states. Even within a particular state, styles change depending on a slew of reasons such as the altitude or the local context.
In Uttarkashi, the koti banal style of architecture has existed for 900 years. Homes in Srinagar use a combination of taq, which means window, and dhajji, a more fuss-free version of kath-kuni. The architecture of Ladakh is inspired by Buddhist monasteries with their layers of sun-dried bricks and stone. Yet, in mountain cities, homes based on local styles are being replaced by cement and concrete structures.
With the growing popularity of Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) buildings over the last 50 years, kath kuni and its evolution stagnated.
“As lifestyles changed, so did the homes, depending on the time,” says Bhushan.
Anil Dewan, head of the architecture department at Delhi’s School of Planning and Architecture, calls these cement-and-concrete structures “the architecture of aspiration” — What was initially in vogue in the plains has made its way to the mountains.
“Climactic unsuitability is part of the architecture of aspiration. The designs aren’t sustainable and aren’t designed to combat seismic forces. But living in a concrete hut is the aspiration,” says Dewan.
Bhushan witnessed the change up close. The absence of traditional architectural techniques is visible in mountain cities, where the richer and more upwardly mobile communities in the state reside.
But at higher altitudes, where conditions are harsher and aspirations are lower, tradition still holds sway. They are not steel-and-concrete urbanity. “Eighty per cent of homes in villages are still old-style houses,” says Bhushan, giving the example of Kullu-Manali, also a popular tourist hotspot.
Kath-kuni stands in sharp contrast to modern techniques. The materials used are wood, stone and its variants, all of which are locally sourced. It calls for digging into the soil for about three feet, substantially reducing the load borne by the soil — unlike concrete structures that require labourers to dig six feet.
The wooden beams, carved of deodar trees, are interlocked and work to ensconce the layers of stone – allowing a foundation that is earthquake-proof and insulated against the barrage of disasters that are plaguing the Himalayas today.
A kath-kuni building can survive over 500 years, says Bhushan. One of North’s flagship projects has been the restoration of the Naggar Castle, which was built in 1460 AD and embodies the kath-kuni style.
Bhushan’s team operates out of Naggar with the aim of bridging the gap between modern aesthetics and ancient practices.
“Much of our work is residential or tourism-based — [it is] either homestays, cabins, or eco-resorts. We try to promote the philosophy. If it’s a resort, we build small cabins,” he says. Made of wood, stone, mud, slate, and glass, the Dhajji House, an Airbnb, is one of the team’s latest projects that blends the ancient and the modern.
“Dhajji has withstood for centuries. What makes them most sustainable is the fact that materials have been procured from a five-kilometre radius,” says Hajala.
Dhajji is a faster technique than kath-kuni and requires less wood, thereby bringing down the costs incurred for materials.
“The entire construction process is more cost and time-effective. Materials are brought from nearby orchards and farms, and the cost of transportation is reduced, especially when compared to cement and steel,” says Bhushan, who compares the intuitive process of designing terrain to creating art.
It’s a project infusion with passion — and a willingness to preserve tradition.
“It’s art with wood and stone. It’s a completely different practice. You have to intervene in the entire process of building and design,” he adds.
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They have bathrooms too
Conveying this philosophy to clients is the next step. Most appreciate the idea but don’t know what it entails, which leads to certain misconceptions. The first and most common ‘myth’ is that homes and commercial establishments that adopt vernacular techniques are primitive — that they can’t have modern amenities.
But Bhushan’s work is breaking all the misconceptions.
“This is instinctive for me. People are surprised to learn that the buildings are comfortable, even that they have bathrooms,” he says.
Bathroom walls and flooring can be made of slate, a natural material that has an extremely low carbon footprint and is typically used for roofing. The key to environmentally viable buildings is experimenting with and manipulating different materials, experts say.
“There are new technologies; hybrid materials are being created. It’s the application of material that is needed — we need to see the advent of new materials,” says Hajala.
This strategy is embodied in the home that Gaurav Dixit and Namrata Kandal built in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand. Built of ‘hempcrete’, a bio-concrete, the couple is trying to usher in a new era of construction in the village — one where building materials don’t have to be excavated or mass-produced in factories. Hemp is readily available across the state, and its crop residue has a strong fibre, which is shredded together with lime. The two are then combined into blocks.
“Hemp is a very versatile material and can be used in various places,” says Dixit, an architect. In the couple’s Uttarakhand home, anointed as India’s first hemp building, hemp has been inducted as an insulation layer in the roof and on the floor. Hemp blocks make up the exterior walls as well as the internal partition.
Dixit’s home uses a monolith wall, which is crafted as a single piece. A low-density hempcrete mix also prevents heat, he says. The couple started researching on the material in 2016 and moved to Uttarakhand soon after to use it in a full-fledged practice.
The light bio-concrete lessens the load on the mountainside “significantly”, he says. “It is 25-30 per cent less than that of traditional [RCC] materials,” adds Dixit. The material is yet to be commercialised in India — in the West, particularly in Europe and the US, it has gained much credence recently.
However, inroads have been made, and Dixit has built a manufacturing unit. There are a few other companies dabbling in hempcrete but at a smaller scale. “They are sourcing raw materials from us,” he adds.
The use of hempcrete is not limited to building homes in the mountains. “The requests we’ve received are majorly residential — from across India, be it Kerala, MP, or Rajasthan,” says Dixit.
And hemp has enough competition as the new green building material. “Bamboo is the material of the future,” says Dewan. “We don’t use it to its full potential.” Hajala terms the process “a romance with material”.
While using wood and stone has the advantages of low emissions, minimal embodied energy, and ease of sourcing, hemp can be preferred due to its lightweight quality.
“God forbid I’m ever in that situation. But I’d rather a hempcrete ceiling fall on my head than concrete,” says Dixit, half-joking.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)