Explores the rural towns and villages of India and comments on the buildings constructed according to ancient and sometimes religious practice to suit local conditions

This Bo Ok Consists Of Two Parts. The First Part Deals With Architecture Of India And The Second Part Is About The Ancient Building Materials. The Second Part Deals With The Building Materials Used In The Ancient Period, Which Is A Unique Contribution. It Provides The Information About The Materials Specifically The Natural Polymers, Used In The Ancient Period, And The Technique Of Thier Application.

Traditional houses among the tribal populations of northeast India have long attracted the interest of anthropologists and visitors. Until now, however, they have not been carefully documented. René Kolkman, a professional architect in Amsterdam, studied the homes of 37 different ethnic groups in Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh. His detailed drawings, photographs and personal stories show us the diversity of living spaces in this fascinating cultural area. Longhouses and square houses, built on platforms, built on plinths and housing as many as eighty-six people, these traditional houses are distinct. And although they have changed and are changing still, each of these 34 individual house-types remains immediately recognisable.

Based on a lifelong professional and personal interest, "Traditional Buildings" presents a unique survey of vernacular architecture across the globe. The reader is taken on a fascinating tour of traditional building around the world, which includes the loess cave homes of central China, the stilt houses on the shores of Dahomey, the housebarns of Europe and North America, the wind towers of Iran, the Bohio houses of the Arawak Indians of the Caribbean, and much more. Professor's Noble's extensive travels have allowed him to examine many of the building at close quarters and the richly illustrated text includes photographs from his personal collection. With its comprehensive and detailed bibliography, the work will be welcomed by experts and non-specialists alike.

A comprehensive overview of current trends in classicist and vernacular architecture. This book presents 130 projects that reconsider what it means to practice as a traditional architect in the twenty-first century, including a substantial body of work from non-Western countries as well as work by contemporary masters of classical design such as Robert A. M. Stern, Allan Greenberg, Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Quinlan and Francis Terry. The projects assembled here highlight the awareness of a sustainable localism and the continuity of traditional building crafts on a global scale and reveal the resilience and originality of traditional building cultures despite the enormous economic and cultural pressures of contemporary development. This is an optimistic vision of a new breed of traditional architects who endeavor to enrich the future while honoring the past.

From the fifth to the nineteenth centuries, the people of western India built stone cisterns to collect the water of the monsoon rains and keep it accessible for the remaining dry months of the year. These magnificent structures-known as stepwells or stepped ponds-are much more than utilitarian reservoirs. Their lattice-like walls, carved columns, decorated towers, and intricate sculpture make them exceptional architecture., while their very presence tells much about the region's ecology and history. For these past 500 years, stepwells have been an integral part of western Indian communities as sites for drinking, washing, and bathing, as well as for colorful festivals and sacred rituals. Steps to Water traces the fascinating history of stepwells, from their Hindu origins, to their zenith during Muslim rule, and eventual decline under British occupation. It also reflects on their current use, preservation, and place in Indian communities. In stunning color and quadtone photographs and drawings, Steps to Water reveals the depth of the stepwells' beauty and their intricate details, and serves as a lens on these fascinating cultural and architectural monuments.

This book explores conceptions of Indian architecture and how the historical buildings of the subcontinent have been conceived and described. Investigating the design philosophies of architects and styles of analysis by architectural historians, the book explores how systems of design and ideas about aesthetics have governed both the construction of buildings in India and their subsequent interpretation. How did the political directives of the British colonial period shape the manner in which pioneer archaeologists wrote the histories of India's buildings? How might such accounts conflict with indigenous ones, or with historical aesthetics? How might paintings of buildings by British and Indian artists suggest different ways of understanding their subjects? In what ways must we revise our conceptions of space and time to understand the narrative art which adorns India's most ancient monuments? These are among the questions addressed by the contributors to the volume.