construction technique

Guys, it is turning out to be a different winter. Cold has, of course, set in but there are no signs of snow yet. It is bright and sunny outside.

Coming on to another subject.....Construction Methodology....
Traditionally, houses are made of stone or mud bricks or a combination of both till ceiling height. Roof is generally made from the stems (of poplar trees) that support branches of same trees or Juniper, that in turn, get covered with thick layers of mud. Such a construction has been in vogue for centuries in this dry, arid land. However, with increased plantation and changing rain pattern, such a technique may need a re-look soon. A typical house, would then, look like this...

or like this, if you are slightly more better off, financially.....

Mud bricks, with high sand content, are handmade and are used unbaked. Most of this work is done by Nepalis but village folks keep making these bricks as a part of daily routine. Interestingly, rate per brick has gone up from Rs 1.50-2.0 of last year to Rs 7-8-9 this year (even before flash floods. Now, bricks are in short supply because of floods and activities post floods). Demand and supply equation (and inflation????) is responsible for such a change. This is how these bricks look...

Boundary walls are made either of mud bricks or unshaved stones (baked bricks and shaved stones are rare). See both in the following pic...

Now, the times are changing. The basic issue with baked bricks is shortage of wood that would be required to bake such slabs. Cement bricks are now the 'in thing'. So, the new trend includes building of structure with RCC Pillars/beams and then filling up the voids with mud bricks or cement bricks or shaped/shaved stones or combination of all three....

(See combination of cement bricks on ground floor and mud bricks on the first floor. RCC pillars/beams are clearly visible too)

(Here we see no pillars but walls made of shaped stones)

(This structure is a finished product of a technique that involved RCC pillars-beams and mud bricks that have all been plastered in the end.I know it for sure because it was constructed from scratch and I have been seeing it all since then)[/CENTER]
One interesting thing is the fact that Municipality will give you permission to construct a new building only if you incorporate wooden buntings (so very much local tradition) in the design. A subtle bid to keep the tradition alive...

I have already mentioned about narrow lanes and by-lanes. It is also not uncommon to come across an arrangement with a public lane passing through and beneath a house....

And a modern version of the ancient system...