SUSTAINABILITY

Energy Conservation -
vernacular architecture of Himachal
Ar. Vandna Sharma and Ar. Aniket Sharma

n this paper, the need for blending
Energy conservation
and vernacular architecture
of the hills of Himachal
I together of vernacular architecture of
hills of Himachal Pradesh and solar
passive technology for both increasing
comfortable living conditions inside the
Pradesh are an inseparable built masses and conserving of energy
compliment to each other. reserves is highlightened. Simple ver-
nacular practices in the form of local
building forms, materials, construction
techniques, when wisely amalgamated
with soar passive techniques, leads to
not only reduction of the energy costs
and proves to be very economical but
also has come up as very eco-friendly
and effective technology.
Settlements in the hills of Himachal
Pradesh have merged and blended well
with typical organic forms and character
of the environment of the area.
Coniferous forms of the hill dwellings that
go well with the contours of the hills, give
a view of vernacular architecture as inher-
ent character of the hills of Himachal
Pradesh. Valleys formed by tributaries,

18 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2008

growth of settlements in these valleys
flourishing by percolating the great les-
sons of nature in the form of climatic,
geological, topographical constraints,
availability of natural materials, flora and
fauna, accustomed to present soil condi-
tions, geographical conditions and trying
hard to survive amidst such harsh physi-
cal base, have with ages of time evolved
from patterns of nature itself a unique
technique for existence and this tech-
nique is called vernacular architecture.
One important aspect of vernacular
architecture of hills of Himachal Pradesh
is regarding the conservation of energy.
More research is being carried out in
this field to harness even more benefits.
One such field is the propagation of
solar passive technology which when
optimally utilized would harness immeas-
urable gains.
DHARAMSALA - KANGRA
REGION OF DHARAMSALA
Kangra region comprises of 14 subdivi-
sions namely Deragopipur, Nagrota
Surian, Pragpur, Rait, Indora, Kangra,
Fatehpur, Nagrota Bagwan, Nurpur,
Bhawarna, Sullah, Panchrukhi, Baijnath,
and Lambagaon and is spread over an
area of 29 km²and population density of
300 persons per hectare. It is located in
western part of Himachal Pradesh state of
North India.
This area has a particular climatic
feature in the form of the area receiving
maximum rainfall after Cherapunji and it
makes it one of the coldest places of
Himachal Pradesh and like Shimla only;
the summer capital of the state this win-
ter capital of the state has also made
progress in the field of application of
conservation of energy and mainte-
nance of comfortable temperatures
even in the harshest minimum tempera-
tures of 5°c -10° c in months of
December-February. These techniques
have been evolved from vernacular
architecture over the ages. Yet, the tech-
niques need to be modified and some
new parameters need to be included in
it that have remained unknown to the
people of the area either due to lack of
knowledge about these ways or simple
ignorance about their application. The
paper gives an idea to solve this prob-
lem of hills of Himachal Pradesh with all
the areas having similar or near similar
climatic and geographic conditions.
TRADITIONAL
CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES
Five styles of construction on hills pre-
dominate the area. These are: fill, cut, cut
and fill steps and erection on poles.
Fill: The gradient is filled to make an
even levelled land to serve as uniform
grounded platform to act as base for con-
struction purposes. But it has certain dis-
advantages as well like it disturbs vegeta-
tion and the material in filling is liable to
erode easily thereby increasing the risk to
stability of structure and uneven settle-
ment of the structure.
Cut: The gradient is cut suitably to
make a levelled and uniform surfaced
ground /platform for the future construc-
tion purposes. It involves cutting of vege-
Filling the gradient
Cutting the gradient
tation as well. Therefore in case of fragile
ecosystems and ecology, it makes the
structure prone to the risks of landslides.
Moreover the earth recovered from cut-
ting the gradient has also to be disposed
of properly.
Cut and fill: It involves the advan-
tages of both cutting and filling as well. It
eliminates for the need of very deep cut-
ting (up to 3 meters) and also very high
level filling thereby providing stability to
the structure. Moreover it doesn't inter-
fere much with the vegetation cover.
Cut and Fill
Staggered or stepped
Staggered or stepped: The construc-
tion is made on a platform made of steps
in line with the gradient or the slope of
the area. The lowest step however needs
to be strongest to take the load of subse-
quent steps. This is also one of common
practices to construct stable structures.
Added advantages include the better
usage of contours, least cutting -filling
operations involved, least disturbing of
vegetation and most importantly maxi-
mum benefit of sunlight.
January 2008 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People 19
 Buildings on poles: Here, the entire
structure is raised on poles. In this case,
less area on ground is covered and used
and it does not interfere at all with vege-
tation and land covers. However it is
preferable to use this technique only in
the area where subsoil conditions are
good and substrata does not involve slip-
pery and porous stones since in that case
settlement would take place, making the
structure unstable. Moreover here no
retaining or fence wall is required. It is
therefore economic solution for construc-
tion on sloping gradients.
Building on poles
Building in steps
General considerations in orienta-
tion of built masses on hills:
1. In order to exploit maximum and bet-
ter views, sunlight and wind effects,
built mass shall be oriented along the
profile of the slope.
2. Buildings are planned in steps in two
different ways: 1). by placing main
building at back and smaller at front
to avail maximum benefit of the cli-
matic considerations like light, winds
views etc. and 2). By downhill or uphill
planning and orientation of the build-
ing. In downhill, the private areas are
designed at bottom or down level
20 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2008
and public areas are placed at the top
while in up hill planning; the pubic
areas and parking etc. are placed at
the bottom or down level and private
spaces are placed at the top.
3. Generally activity of the building (or
the built mass) decides for the type of
view to be preferred and hence orien-
Sloping roof houses
tation is governed. For eg. In case of
valley private areas are avoided view houses (mainly in villages nowadays) are
on the side of roads while less private double storied, elegantly plastered with
areas are preferred on side of roads mud plasters.
4. Access: in case of access, if the entire The floors are also well plastered with
built mass is to be placed on the same a mixture of mud-cow dung-bhusa or
level for all entrances to be from same husk. This makes the floors heat insulat-
level, (for varied reasons)then build- ing that helps in maintenance of comfort-
ing has to designed at the same level able temperatures inside the areas even
using any of the above mentioned in extreme colds and hot months. Heavy
construction practices. wooden beams are also sometimes intri-
cately carved in case of areas of special
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE importance; like living room, etc. (Plate 9)
OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
Land of traditionally built mud houses,
Himachal Pradesh is the area that has
stored and embodied traditional styles of
nature in all aspects of life, be it making of
structures or methods of livelihood.
Houses are traditionally of mud mortar
and sun -dried masonry, given fine coat-
Plate 9: Intricately carved wooden beams
ings of bhusa or husk mixed with either
cow dung or mud. Sometimes the houses
are also made of stone masonry as lime-
stone is available in abundance here.
Reinforced with heavy wooden beams,
the walls are sufficiently weather and
earthquake, temperature resistant be it a
case of single storey of even double
storey structure. Generally traditional
Carved wooden brackets
Traditional houses made of mud masonry &
slates Wooden columns and beams
 Walls are either be it of stone masonry or typical
finished by mud. Stone masonry houses are also very
cladding with much prevalent in the area owing to the
wooden panel easy availability of limestone.
fo r i n s u l a t i o n
reasons.
Staircases in
traditional hous-
es are generally
Wooden Paneling on Heavy Wooden Wooden staircase, of small width of
Walls beams paneling, beams & columns
flights (generally
of 3') and that is also made up of Stone Masonry without plaster or exterior
treatment
completely wood with treads plastered
in mud or cow dung and husk. Roof top These are sometimes plastered from
is made up of wooden rafters and bat- inside with mud or with lime plaster pro-
tens supporting framework of slates vided either with wooden reinforcement
with slope perfectly maintained. or steel reinforcement to strengthen the
Sometimes it is double sloped or some- structure but in most of the case exterior
where it is single. walls are left exposed without any treat-
Wooden interior & ceiling
Design of a typical house comprises ment to stone masonry (either random
of two to three rooms (general size rubble or ashlar masonry).
10'x12') with generally one or two or
maximum of three small sized openings
that are meticulously placed so that no
direct impact on living space is felt. One
small sized kitchen in the house with
sometimes attached chimney, one
bathing space and one small sized
detached toilet that is often at some dis-
tance outside the house are essential part
of a traditional house in hills of Himachal
Pradesh. Sometimes if the owner has cat- Insulation achieved with heavy wooden
tle, a separate double stored or even sin- paneling inside
gle storied house is made in near vicinity
of the residential complex. In the lower
storey, cattle is kept while in upper storey,
Wooden brackets & covering over stone cattle feed, or husk, etc. is kept.
masonry
Large sun spaces in front as veran-
dahs form an integral part of the houses

Harmony of stone masonry with wooden

structural members

In stone masonry also, the roof is gener-

ally made up of wooden rafters topped
with slates or sometimes with steel truss or
other light weight material at the top like
Sloping roof of Slates Sun spaces or porticos in front asbestos sheets, G.I sheets or even mud tiles.

January 2008 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People 21


Hexagonal or rectangular shapes of sun spaces
in front
Provision of chimney over sloping roof
Shapes for stone masonry structure
vary from complete rectangular forms to
hexagonal rooms at either ends or well
mixture of varied shapes. At some places
sometimes North light truss is used or
roof light is used for ample lighting.
Treatment of glass with doorframe to admit
light
22 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2008
Use of North light truss for lighting purposes
Yet another form has been recently
developed by Didi-Contarctors; an
organization active in preservation of tra-
ditional vernacular architecture of the
hills of the area which is not only cost
effective, but also is easy to maintain,
work with and most importantly resist-
ant to all harsh climatic conditions, earth-
quake etc natural hazards and leads to
least damage in case of unfavorable and
unforeseen circumstance and that is
bamboo architecture
INTRODUCTION TO SOLAR
PASSIVE TECHNOLOGY
While in active solar system and energy
conservation methods, special external
accessories are used and attached to the
structure to enhance the heat gain, pas-
sive systems involves design, construc-
tion and orientation of the structure itself
in such a way that the structure itself
becomes the absorbent and retainer of
the solar energy thereby eliminating the
need to use the external methods and
accessories of heat gain. If used at all the
supplementary accessories like curtains,
carpeting etc, is so cheap that hardly
accounts towards extra energy consump-
tion and energy losses. Therefore the pas-
sive solar technology methods have
proved to be very energy conserving and
cost effective over the methods of active
solar technology. Nowadays, over these
parameters and calculated gains from
such successful experiments in Shimla
like buildings of HIMURJA, H.P. Co-opera-
tive Bank, Shimla, Solar passive building
of State Bank of Patiala, Shimla, propaga-
tion and advocating the use of such
methods and construction of such struc-
ture would definitely be a boost towards
energy conservation aspects for the cold
regions of Himachal Pradesh.
DETAILING OF SOLAR
PASSIVE TECHNOLOGY
Here, natural methods of heat flow, con-
vection, radiation and conduction are
studied and applied to capture heat dur-
ing daytime and its release during night
time. These therefore provide for excess
amount of free energy. A structure can be
injected with solar passive technology in
several ways. These are:
● Design considerations
● Construction considerations
● Materials considerations
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
1. Structure design
■ Proper planning can make struc-
ture save and conserve a lot of
solar energy in daytime.
■ Shapes like, square, rectangular, L
&T and variant of these can be
used advantageously. However,
sometimes, owing to topographic
Linear forms with expansion joints preferred
Massing in hills
 constraints and earthquake
considerations of a region
(Dharamsala), preferably rectan-
gular and square shapes are pro-
posed to be most effective.
■ Largest area of roof and walls is
exposed to sun in case of rectan-
gular shape.
■ Buffer spaces can be used to
reduce temperature fall of the
main areas/living areas. In this
case some rooms /areas can be
made as antispaces to arrest the
heat loss.
■ Porticos in the front can be
provided in front that enhance
heat gain.
■ Attics in the roof can be used
advantageously to collect and
retain heat in the built mass
under the sloping roof.
2. Orientation
■ For maximum absorption of solar
radiation; the built mass shall be
oriented along east-west axis and
faced between south to 30° east
of south.
■ Since north facing wall is least
gainer of solar radiations, it shall
be protected against heat losses
by either painting it with dark
colours to absorb maximum
amount of solar radiations and be
having high thermal mass to slow
down temperature cycling.
■ Windows shall be small and
well insulated
■ Heavy masonry work like stone
masonry etc. shall be preferred
■ East and west facing exterior walls
shall be maximum exposed to
solar radiations
■ Windows shall be given to
greater extent in east and west
facing walls.
■ South facing walls since are most
absorbent of radiations, shall be
maximum exposed with open-
ings/windows to great-
est extent
3. Landscaping
■ Proper landscaping can
also add to solar energy
gains in winters while
providing a shield
against the same in
summers.
■ In case of north facing
walls, evergreen plants
Orientation shall be east-west axis and faced between
s h a l l b e u s e d t o south to 30° east of south
cold winds
■ In case of east and west
facing walls deciduous
plants shall be used for
shade in summers and
heat gain in winters
CONSTRUCTION CONSIDERA-
TIONS
Solar windows: windows
are efficient way of increasing
heat gain. Double glazing: in it, Maximum exposure to east facing walls
the air cavity between the two
glasses acts as an insulation
resulting the overall insulation.
Solar wall: a solar wall con-
sists of thermal storage wall
constructed between the solar
glazing and living space. South
facing glass functions heat trap-
ping material. The solar wall
also reduces the temperature
fluctuations in the room during
Proper landscaping contributes towards solar gains
daytime and allows the heat to
be delivered into the rooms in
the evening till late hours.
Sunspaces: the green house
atria, sun porches and garages
are known as attached sun
spaces. Thus extra heat avail-
able from these sunspaces can
be used to augment the heat-
ing of rest of the buildings.
Attached sunspaces not only
supply solar heat but also Judicious and wise use of deciduous and evergreen
reduce heat loss from building plantation helps in solar gains
January 2008 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People 23
by acting as buffers between the build-
ings and outside.
Solar trombe wall: trombe wall is a
modification of solar wall in which
openings are kept at top and bottom.
The heat flow into the room is available
for 2-3 hours after sunset till the wall
surface gets cooled.
Air cavity: air cavity within walls or
an attic space in the roof ceiling combi-
nation reduces the solar heat gain fac-
tor. Heat is transmitted through the air
cavity by convection and radiation.
Skylights: Skylights for winter solar
gain and illumination: skylights and
roof windows bring solar heat and light
into the house especially on the north-
ern portion unexposed to the sun, in
winters. The skylight assembly and the
supporting frame must be insulated.
Roof insulation: sloping roofs are
mostly preferred in hills and to make it
more efficient in terms of trapping
solar energy, attic spaces shall be pro-
vided that would act as buffer zone. Air
cavity in the form of attic spaces in
roof-ceiling combination reduces the
heat loss when false ceiling insulation
is adopted.
Roof covering and drainage: prop-
er drainage of water and efficient roof
covering are most important consider-
ations as leaking roof cannot provide
effectively heat insulation. Over the
steel truss, G.I sheets and slates shall
be used.
Better water/weather proofing :
These measures at the openings would
help to reduce infiltration. Rubber strip-
pings at the junctions of shutters and
frames and below doors would help in
sealing of all cracks. Keeping windows
closed and immediately replacing bro-
ken panes help to considerably reduce
infiltration.
Windows: size of windows /openings
shall be small from 1.2 to 1.5 m/ to mini-
mize hest loss due to openings.
24 ARCHITECTURE - Time Space & People January 2008
MATERIALS CONSIDERATIONS
■ For walls facing north, preferably cav-
ity wall construction is considered
ideal but wooden paneling can be
used advantageously however walls
facing south shall be not be insulated
against heat loss.
■ For floors either carpeting or wooden
floors are an ideal solution.
■ In case of doors and windows, proper
insulation can be done using rubber
gaskets as and where required since
proper insulation can reduce heat
loss more than 50%.
■ Since timber and plastic have lower
conductivity than steel therefore they
shall be given preference for doors
and windows.
■ In case of roof, covering shall be such
that adds to heat gains both by
absorption and also by retaining
heat trapped and best for this are
slates (readily available in hills) or
light weight roofing tiles like GI
sheets, asbestos sheets, Corrugated
sheets etc.
■ However roof shall be provided for
drainage of storm water as well by
adequate provision of purlins and
gutters otherwise it will lead to water
retention and ultimately leading to
dampness and great heat loss.
■ Better weather proofing: better rub-
ber stripping at the junctions of shut-
ters and frames and below doors
would seal the gaps that otherwise
lead to heat loss
■ In case of areas of extreme concern
in terms of comfortable tempera-
ture zones, heavy curtains can also
be used to scale off the reduction
of heat.
CONCLUSION
With the changing needs and require-
ments, our environment is getting
depleted of natural resources at an
alarming rate. Today therefore, is the
need to not only think about our living
styles that consumes, rather wastes, the
invaluable energy reserves but also to
take a closer look at our old rich heritage
like vernacular architecture that not only
blends well with the contextual in fills of
the area but also conserves our
resources for the future generations to
come. With great emphasis on energy
conservation, today many innovations
are being done in the field with com-
mendable work being done especially in
case of solar passive technology propa-
gation but until and unless common
masses understand and inculcate the
very concept of soar gains in the form of
very small and easy steps in day to day
life, much progress cannot be done.
REFERENCES
1. Sharma Vandna, 2005, Unpublished
work, B.Arch Thesis, Mini Secretariat
in Dharamsala.
2. Sharma Vandna, 2007, Unpublished
work, M.U.R.P Dissertation, Planning
for a new hill town in Kangra region.
3. Sharma Aniket, 2007, Unpublished
work, M.U.R.P Dissertation, Industrial
Development Planning for Himachal
Pradesh.
4. http://hpkangra.gov.in/welcome.asp ■
Ar. Vandna Sharma, Faculty
D e p t t . o f A r c h i t e c t u r e, N I T
Hamirpur, Gold - medalist, B.Arch-
Hons., Masters of Urban and
Rural Planning, IIT Roorkee and
Ar. Aniket Sharma, B.Arch-Hons.,
Masters of Urban and Rural
Planning, IIT Roorkee, former
Faculty, Deptt. of Architecture, NIT
Hamirpur & presently Assistant
Project Manager, Jones Lang
LaSalle, Hyderabad.
Photographs: Courtesy the
Authors.
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