Newari Building Construction Technology: A Case of Residential Buildings of Bhaktapur City

FINAL DRAFTRegionalandUrbanPlanners’SocietyofNepal(RUPSON)The Urban Ethos No.3(April2014)

R. K. Suwal Newari Building Construction Technology: A Case of Residential Buildings of Bhaktapur City

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Article

Newari Building Construction Technology: A Case of Residential Buildings of Bhaktapur City

Ram Prasad Suwal

This study examines the construction process and techniques of Newari residential buildings in the core area of Bhaktapur city. Traditional Newari residential buildings are constructed in brick masonry with mud mortar, and timber elements. Using nine case study buildings selected from upper Bhaktapur (East) to lower Bhaktapur (West), this study outlines assemble of building structures, scientific justification behind the technologies, production of building materials, the builders, and their tools used in building. Different structure assembling techniques in different part of the building, detailed information on building materials and production techniques, functional space allocation and terminologies used in building construction are described, noting that each terminology is a meaningful invention of our past tradition on building construction technology.

Keywords: Newari buildings, construction technology.

I. Introduction

Identification of a place is generally reflected by its built environment, the residents, and their socio-cultural activities. Culture and monuments, being the reflection of society, thrive with habitation, and lack of habitation leads to isolation of monuments.

Ram Prasad Suwal is an Assistant Professor at Nepal Engineering College. This article is based on his dissertation for M.Sc. in Urban Design and Conservation (Khwopa Engineering College, Purbanchal University) for which he received RUPSON Best Thesis Award 2013. Email: [email protected].

In other words, tangible and intangible heritages are the inherent aspect of a place, which deserve to be conserved and preserved. Several parties are involved in protection of monuments but a very few are concerned with the conservation or preservation of private dwellings.

Rapid urbanization in the Kathmandu Valley has led to visual deterioration, loss of environmental and intangible aspects, and rapid destruction of the traditional urban fabric. This even led to the inscription of the Kathmandu Valley in the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger in 2003.



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The social and political developments since 1950s have caused rapid economic and cultural changes, which have put a tremendous strain on urban centers. There is mounting pressure to redevelop private properties in the city centers, leading to the destruction of fine traditional houses.

From the eighties, reinforced concrete structures found extensive use in the residential architecture in the Valley. The construction of concrete buildings of excessive height has detracted considerably from the setting of public and religious monuments. From this period, the gradual but continuous process of deterioration of architectural heritage began in the Valley.

In this process of change, monuments in the heritage sites such as temples, squares, palaces suffered less damage with periodic restoration and preservation works. But the owners of traditional houses preferred to demolish and rebuild their houses in concrete, or even sell them rather than restore and maintain their properties.

The process of degradation, demolition and transformation is a result of modern spatial requirements, absence of traditional concept of conservation, and poor financial support from the municipality, among others.

To motivate building owners and make them aware to preserve and conserve heritage dwellings in the city is a challenging task. In order to improve the quality of life of the building owners while living in the same buildings, construction techniques, repairing and restoration and preventives measures have to be made easy and familiar.

There are many examples of renovation and conservation of built heritage sites such as Patan Royal Palace, Babarmahal Revisited, Garden of Dreams, Pashupatinath temple, Swoyambhu Stupa, Taleju temple, Nyatapola temple and 55-Windows Palace, among others. But there are few research work on private traditional buildings, notable examples of which are Scheibler (1982) and Gutschow et al. (1987), among others.

The trend of demolition of traditional buildings is destroying the Valley's original features. This is also the case in the context of Bhaktapur City, which is one of the seven monument zones of the Kathmandu Valley inscribed in the list of the World Heritage Sites as a single nomination in 1979.

This study explains the construction technology of the traditional Newar residential buildings in the historic city of Bhaktapur. Using nine case study buildings selected from upper Bhaktapur (East) to lower Bhaktapur (West) built between the periods from 17

th century to 20th century, this study outlines assemble of building structures, scientific justification behind the technologies, production of building materials, the builders, and their tools used in building.

II. Traditional Newari Buildings

The traditional Newari residential buildings are constructed with brick masonry in mud mortar, and timber elements. In the past, the Newari dwellings were easy to construct as all the construction materials like ata (brick), apa (brick), cha (mud), si (timber) or the product of cha (mud) were easy available within the surrounding, thereby providing emotional attachment and comfort.

The traditional dwelling is a product of contributions from different professionals such as sikarmi, dakarmi, silakarmi, and a number of others craftsmen.

The traditional dwellings are simple in forms which reflect the simplicity from outside; but they are much more complicated in the inner structure (see Figure 1).

The technological innovations developed by Newars are scientific and logical. The building technologies are not rigid in structure. For instance, elements such as dhalin (joist), nila (beam), than (post), musi (rafter), kolapu (wooden pieces), aanga (wall), thayma (ridge beam), among others, can be replaced, without much difficulty, in case of damage or decay.



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Figure 1: Traditional Newari building details

The traditional Newari buildings are well assembled, and they show harmonized combination of the materials. The structures in the building are well fixed by means of chuku (pegs) and sa: (joints), and by means of tightening materials like tei kachi (rope of bamboo).

Ata or apa (brick) used on the buildings are also flexible in nature. The single piece can be removed or replaced in case of damage or decay.

The method of dhalin phyakyagu is another technology which holds the whole weight of upper part of building. Gwaneh, an inclined timber post is provided to support the building from collapsing due to bulging. This gwaneh rests on ki, a long chuku which is bigger than the normal chuku used on the buildings. The upper peg is called bilay which transfers the load of the bulged part of the wall. This is only possible in the wall structures of traditional buildings.

III. Documentation of Construction Technologies

To understand construction technology of Newari dwellings, nine cases have been studied using buildings in Bhaktapur. The detail measurement and detail sketches of dwellings have been documented, and compared with literatures. We have found that the construction technologies and details of the following structural members have not been discussed or documented in earlier literatures.

Soona (staircase)

The soona (staircase) is composed of two primary supports – soonabaha / soonabala – which are generally 50 mm thick and 230 mm deep (300 mm in some cases) with length varying according the height of the building (Figure 2). But in this study, we have found that most of the soona (staircases) are 2.015 m in length.



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Figure 2: Section and Plan of a traditional staircase



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The tread is called soonapu and riser is called nyah, which are of 229 mm and 219 mm respectively. The lower end of soonabala rests on the soonatwaka, and upper end rests on the betwa dhalin. The betwa dhalin is generally of 100 mm × 87mm size – same as dhalin (primary joist).

To gain appropriate height and clear head room on the soona (staircase), the extra height is raised at the bottom of the soona (staircase) by rising by wooden frame or by piling up the stone or brick known as khichakhah or khichakhwo. To prevent splitting of soonabala or to tie up the soonabala, an assemble of small wooden ties called soonatan are used, which are placed at two steps up from down and two steps down from up. This is the main structural tie in soona (staircase), and its placement is same in every nyahpu soona (seven-tread staircase).

During the study survey, we have found some cases of soona (staircase) with door panel. This door panel is called dhalin khapa or kochu khapa. The main function of this door is to prohibit access to the upper floor. This door has lock on top which is called khagachhen or khaga. Mostly, railing is

provided on every floor at the edge of soona to protect from falling down.

Bhikha (partitition wall)

There are three types of partition walls according to the material used: (i) Paanh bhikha (bamboo partition), (ii) Sipu bhikha (wooden partition), and (iii) Ata (sija ata / kachi ata) bhikha / aanga (brick partition).

Paanh (bamboo) is a tensile material which is good for making chuku (bamboo pegs). The paanh is a versatile material, which is used as dhalin (joist), kolapu (chirpat), bhikha (partitions), and sah (joints).

The paanh bhikha (bamboo partition wall) is generally 50 mm-75 mm thick (Figure 3). Paanh bhikha is generally made up of paanh balacha (bamboo strips), lu khepa (rope made up of straw), paanh than (bamboo post), and aalea (mud plaster).

All the bhikha in the entire Newar dwelling are constructed through more or less same process. By profession, this type of bhikha (partition) is constructed especially by awal and dakarmi.

Figure 3: Plan and section of paanh bhikha



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Figure 4: Assembly of structural members

Assembly of structural members

This research also documented different structure assembling techniques which are not found in existing literature (see Figure 4). In particular, documentation includes tan (tie member) under initial second soonapu (tread) and under sixth soonapu (tread) in the soona (staircsse), nila (beam) connecting nila (beam) perpendicularly, single than (post) supporting the twin metha (capital) and nila (beams), connection of musi (rafter) on corner junctions, and connection techniques of sipu bhikha (wooden planks partition).

The timber joints used in the buildings are found to be similar despite difference in construction period. Different types of timber joints are used for different parts of the building as per the specific location and particular members. The brick layout joint, though it is a composite massive structure, is

well compiled and well bonded with mud mortar.

Changes with time

Existing literatures have documented building materials in their traditional form, but there have been certain changes in the production process of building materials in later times.

Our case study has shown that the buildings constructed later have building materials of lower quality. This shows that the production of building materials has changed from quality to quantity. For example, bricks now used are neither well seasoned nor well burnt. Mud mortar is rarely used now. Because of changes in the building materials, buildings constructed later have less number of dhalin (joist), and nila (beam) with smaller size and spacing larger compared to the dwellings of earlier period.

Mutha Bala



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Furthermore, this research also found out the difference in space planning and function allocation with respect to the period of the dwellings constructed. In our case, the surveyed nine dwellings have partitions at the chota (second floor) level. This is different from the cases found in the literature, which present chota (second floor) as living space – fully open without partitions. In our case, the chota in the dwellings have partitions in order to fulfil space requirement.

Other documentations

Existing works have presented only single wing (I-shaped) dwelling with open chota (second floor), where the central spine is supported by twin posts avoiding the central wall. Our case study includes a dwelling of U shape, where one of the wings uses load bearing wall in chota (second floor) level.

IV. Conclusion

This study has brought into light several terminologies used in the building construction, which are not found in the existing literature. This is an important contribution because each terminology is a meaningful invention of our past tradition on building construction technology.■

References

Gutschow, N., Kolver, B., and Shresthacarya, I., 1987. Newar Towns and Buildings: An Illustrated Dictionary Newari – English. Germany:VGH Wissenschaftsverlag.

Scheibler, G., 1982. Building Today in a Historical Context- Bhaktapur, Nepal. Kathmandu: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

Further Readings

Gajurel, C. L., and Vaidya, K. K., 1994. Traditional Arts and Crafts of Nepal. New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Ltd.

Gutschow, N., and Kolver, B., 1975. Bhaktapur. Kathmandu: Nepal Research Centre Publications, Tribhuvan University.

Haaland, A., 1985. Bhaktapur- A Town Changing, Process influenced by Bhaktapur Development Project.

Korn, W., 1998. The Traditional Architecture of The Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu, Nepal: Ratna Pustak Bhandar.

Parajuli, Y. K., et al., 1986. Bhaktapur Development Project: Experiences in Preservation and Restoration in a Medieval Town. Kathmandu, Nepal: Sahayogi Press.

Ranjitkar, R. K., 2006. Heritage Homeowner’s Preservation Manual: Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site, Nepal.

Sanday, J., 1978. Building Conservation in Nepal- A Handbook of Principles and Techniques. France: UNESCO.

Newari Building Construction Technology: A Case of Residential Buildings of Bhaktapur City

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