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B19AR7051 - Lesson 1 - Unit 2 - Bhunga Houses

The bhunga houses of the Kutch region in India are traditional rural dwellings well-suited to the hot, dry climate. They have thick, white-plastered circular mud walls and conical thatched roofs on timber frames. Spatially, they consist of a central living area with an attached outdoor washing area. Multiple bhunga houses are clustered together on earthen platforms, separated by a few meters, and sharing a common kitchen. The vernacular architecture utilizes passive cooling techniques like thick insulating walls, projecting eaves, and a circular plan form to minimize heat gain and deflect sand storms. Women decorated the interiors with lippan artwork incorporating small mirrors to enhance light in the small window

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Abi Govind
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681 views13 pages

B19AR7051 - Lesson 1 - Unit 2 - Bhunga Houses

The bhunga houses of the Kutch region in India are traditional rural dwellings well-suited to the hot, dry climate. They have thick, white-plastered circular mud walls and conical thatched roofs on timber frames. Spatially, they consist of a central living area with an attached outdoor washing area. Multiple bhunga houses are clustered together on earthen platforms, separated by a few meters, and sharing a common kitchen. The vernacular architecture utilizes passive cooling techniques like thick insulating walls, projecting eaves, and a circular plan form to minimize heat gain and deflect sand storms. Women decorated the interiors with lippan artwork incorporating small mirrors to enhance light in the small window

Uploaded by

Abi Govind
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Established as per the Section 2(f) of the UGC Act, 1956

Approved by AICTE, COA and BCI, New Delhi

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE
BHUNGA HOUSES OF KUTCH REGION BANNI and PACCHAM

Architecture
PROF.VIDYA SRIKANTH
B18AR7051-lesson 02
TRADITIONAL RURAL HOUSE IN
KUTCH REGION OF INDIA (BHONGA)
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BHUNGA
HOUSES OF KUTCH
1. Location: dessert regions of Kutch, Gujarat

2. Climate: hot, dry

3. Geology: grass, scanty trees and shrubs, seismic zone. Large tracts of flat lands with water bodies

4. Materials : earth, grass, timber/bamboo, limestone

5. Form: simple circular plan topped with a conical roof supported on timber tie-beam , bamboo rafters finished with locally sourced grass-banni. Mud walls are
plastered white with available limestone-pacchim

6. Spatial planning: the house consisted of a circular living space. A rectangular low wall attached itself on the outside which was used for washing/bathing.

7. Several bhunga’s located on a plinth, usually 1m in height called the vaas. Each bhunga was set a few metres apart and shared a common kitchen called the
‘randhanu’

8. Several such vaas constituted a vandh( hamlet) , the vandhs was located several kilometrs apart so as to make best use of the limited resources of food and
water
KUTCH, GUJARAT

• KUTCH DISTRICT : GUJARAT STATE


IN WESTERN INDIA.
• AREA: 45,652 SQ KM
• POPULATION :21 LAKH
• WET & DRY REGION
• SALT FLAT LANDS IN SUMMER &
FLOODY IN RAINY SEASON
REF : bhonga vernacular architecture of gujarat

Aniruddh Dubey
TYPICAL CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS AND MATERIALS

1. Masonary wall is made


of adobe blocks and
plaster is also from mud
covered by cowdunk,
lime etc.
2. Roof is made of
bamboo/wooden
framework covered with
thatch.
TROPICAL
CONSTRUCTION
DRAWINGS
VAAS: SEVERAL BHUNGAS WITH OTLA ( PLINTH)
OTLA OR
PLINTH

BHUNGA:
KITCHEN
LIVING SPACE

SMALL
WINDOW
OPENINGS

WET AREA

DECORATIVE
ART WORK
USING
MIRRORS:
LIPPAN
STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE BHUNGA
1. Climate responsive architecture:
2. The thick mud walls 45-60 cm in
thickness kept thermal absorption to the
minimum. Added to this, they were
plastered white using the locally available
limestone that reflected most of the
thermal gain to the ground. The plinth of
45-1 m height minimised thermal gain
from the ground.

3. Projecting eaves: the rafters enveloped in


layers of grass had an overhang of 60 to
BHUNGA
90 cm from the wall. This again prevented
direct thermal heat gain on the walls.

4. The circular form of the exterior walls Bernouli’s principle of air flow:
make it difficult for the angle of incidence Circular form helps to keep
of the sun to strike at a specific point sand storms directed away
thus most of the rays get refracted from the bhunga’s
Circular walls are excellent to
counter lateral loads
RAVANDHU- KITCHEN
BHUNGA 1
BHUNGA 2

SEVERAL
BHUNGAS
WITH OTLA-
VAAS

BHUNGA 3
ORNAMENTATION
1. The harsh climate played an important role in occupation and gender
roles in the kutch region

2. Women had a role of fetching water, preparing food and tending the
hearth, gathering firewood for fuel and nurturing the children. The men
were pasturers, being a nomadic tribe and were away from dawn to
dusk.

3. Added to this, the day temperatures being harsh, kept the women
indoors. They developed several art and crafts that reflected in the
decoration and ornamentation of their dwellings. Mirror embedded
embroidery work is unique to this region. They used these fabrics for
their clothing, as drapes for their entrance doors and windows, for
bedding and for floor coverings.

4. Another art developed by the women was lippan, or mirror embedded


murals that were used to decorate their walls inside the bhunga.

5. Small pieces of mirror used inside in combination with vegetable


colours in muted shades served in enhancing the diffused light that
entered the bhunga owing to small openings.

6. The uncompromising dessert terrain with bleak colors came alive in


the bhunga homes by means of the mirror embellishment in their
fabrics and walls.

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