A Study of Planning, Design and Construction of Buildings in Hilly Regions of India

Vrushali Chawhan¹ and Mohammad Arif Kamal^2,

¹School of Architecture, Kurukshetra University, Karnal, India

²Architecture Section, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India

Cite this paper:
Vrushali Chawhan and Mohammad Arif Kamal. A Study of Planning, Design and Construction of Buildings in Hilly Regions of India. American Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture. 2021; 9(1):13-22. doi: 10.12691/ajcea-9-1-3

Abstract

The architecture on hills always seems to be beautiful, attractive and soothing to eyes of the people, but there is a challenge for architects and structural engineers for planning, design and construction of these buildings. The planning and design of buildings in a hill settlement is a tedious and challenging task due to difficult terrain, steep gradient, adverse climatic conditions, rich flora and proneness to natural hazards. Numerous multi-storied buildings with contemporary materials and techniques are being constructed in different hill settlements without respecting the context, which affect health and wellbeing of residents and cause severe damage to sensitive fragile environment in and around hill settlements. The building regulations, which are enforced in hill settlements to regulate development and minimize its ill impacts on environment, are contextually not appropriate and lead to contextually inappropriate development and environmental degradation in environmentally sensitive hill settlements. Since vernacular practices are proven to be sustainable, therefore it is essential to take lessons from sustainable vernacular practices for new development and formulation of building regulations for achieving contextually appropriate and sustainable development in hill settlements. This paper analyses the planning, design and construction considerations of buildings in hilly regions in India. In this paper qualitative research method has been used. The systematic literature review of the construction systems of the hilly regions have been explored through internet and secondary data from relevant published academic literature from journals articles and research papers.

Keywords:
planning design construction hilly region India

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]	Tiwari J. and Bansal A., Study of Building Structures & Construction Techniques in Hilly Regions: Hotel Dalhousie, International Journal of Engineering Science and Computing, 7 (4), 2017.
[2]	Kumar A., Poonam and Gupta A., Vernacular practices as basis for formulating building regulations for hilly areas Science, International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 5(5), 2014.
[3]	Deshmukh R., Earthquake consideration in hilly areas, Architecture Time Space & People, 7(9), September 2007.
[4]	Building Construction in Hilly Regions: Site Selection, Planning and Design, [Online] available from http://www.theconstructor.org/construction/building-construction- hilly-region/13519 [Accessed November 14, 2020]
[5]	Jain M., Singh I., Sharma D. C., Traditional Architecture and Planning Techniques in Himachal Pradesh, Journal of Institution of Engineers, Vol. 86, October 2005.
[6]	Dave B., Thakkar J. and Shah M., Details of Resistance: Indigenous Construction System in Himachal Pradesh., Context: Built, Living and Heritage, Journal of Development and Research Organization for Nature, Arts and Heritage, 9(1), 2012.
[7]	Wattas R. Interventions in Vernacular Himachal Pradesh’, Architecture + Design, Indian Journal of Architecture, Nov.-Dec. 2000, New Delhi.
[8]	NIDM, National Institute for Disaster Mitigation, ‘Safety Tips’, [Online] available from https://nidm.gov.in/safety_earthquake.asp [Accessed November 20, 2020]
[9]	Chawhan V, Construction Techniques in Hilly Regions, unpublished Master of Architecture Thesis, Kurukshetra University, India, 2018.
[10]	Sarkar, A. Study of Climate Responsive Passive Design Features in Traditional Hill Architecture of Khyah Village in Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, India for Indoor Thermal Comfort. Journal of The Institution of Engineers (India): Series A, 94 (1), 2013.