Author: Bharat Dave, Jay Thakkar, Mansi Shah
This book documents an indigenous building technique called the kath-khuni construction, prevalent in Himachal Pradesh, India. The relative isolation of the hills and the demanding environment fostered the development and persistence of distinctive prathaa, i.e., traditions practised for centuries. These indigenous building traditions reflect a synthesis of material and environmental constraints with social and cultural beliefs and rituals. This book illustrates the role of indigenous building traditions in a dual sense: architecture as an outcome of specific material assemblies to fulfil specific functional purposes and architecture as a process to bind people, places and resources to sustain particular cultural norms, beliefs and values.
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The research was an international collaboration initiated in 2011 between the researchers based in the Faculty of Architecture, Building & Planning, The University of Melbourne, Australia, and in the Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre, Faculty of Design, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India.
