Rajasthan is synonymous with sandstone as a building material but sadly, over the last few decades, its potential as a robust and sustainable structural element has not been explored.
In India, the economy of the hand-made is still comparable with mechanized methods.
The house in Jaipur presented us with an opportunity to explore and evolve a method of building that has been prevalent in traditional buildings for centuries. We laid out a simple brief: no material other than stone should be used for construction.
This made us dive deeply into the art of 'making' with stone.
Rajasthan is synonymous with sandstone as a building material but sadly, over the last few decades, this material has been reduced to a 'cladding 'medium and its potential as a robust and sustainable structural element has not been explored.
The house in Jaipur presented us with an opportunity to explore and evolve a method of building that has been prevalent in traditional buildings for centuries. We laid out a simple brief: no material other than stone should be used for construction.
The traditional method of load bearing construction relied on the impermeable thickness of walls. This was reengineered to develop a hollow interlocking structural wall system that creates a more effective thermal break, provides space to integrate services within the wall cavity, and effectively reduces the material consumption by 30%.
Floor systems alternate between vaults and large single span stone pieces. Every building element from the basement raft/retaining walls/lintels/door and window jambs/reveals/stairs/screens etc has been made from stone blocks, either from the quarry ( superstructure elements) or excavated from the site ( substructure elements).
The house is arranged around a narrow courtyard that extends into even narrower slits and fissures as it weaves its way through the house, essentially drawing on the proportions of voids and interstitial spaces of traditional dwellings as a method to counter the effect of the harsh summer sun.
Large front and rear facing glazing is shaded by deep overhangs and operable, hand-cut stone screens to modulate light, privacy, and views.
Hard sandstone ( Jodhpur stone) is quarried 45 mins away from the site.
At our request, the quarry foreman reverted to the “ splitting” stone technique using traditional stonemasonry tools instead of the high-yield gangsaw extraction that is machine intensive and eliminates the natural stone grain. Splitting the stone mobilizes the human touch, limits the processing, and retains the natural Earth imprint of the stone.
Stonemasons from the surrounding villages have worked stone with their hands for generations. The accumulated knowledge of the past along with the theory of Engineering created an interesting and often contradictory overlap of intelligences that was most often resolved by the Head Stonemason, including identifying the optimal size of stone that could be carried and laid by 2 masons with minimal mechanical assistance ( unlike brick, there is no Standard stone size).
The purview of Craft, often limited to embellishment, artifice, and object, was expanded to the building scale. Easily consumable symbology is supplanted by the primal and essential deployment of material resource and craft in a space that is both Ancient and Contemporary.
Approximately 5-7*C variation can be observed between the exterior and interior. This is due to the thermal mass of material and the “cavity” construction.
A minimal amount of steel such as tie-rods and shear pins reinforce the stone for seismic performance. Lime mortar is used only to seal the exterior joints.
Prior to finalizing this construction method, and owing to a limited budget, a detailed comparison between the “All Stone” method, “Reinforced Stone”, and “Conventional” Structure ( i.e. R.C.C. frame, Civil infill, exterior stone cladding, internal plaster, and paint) was prepared. The proximity of the material and skilled stonemasons, reducing the number of agencies on site, etc, it was concluded that building in stone was actually cheaper than the conventional alternative.
Time and cost was reduced due to the method of quarrying, which also gave the project a balance between natural (Earth imprint) and smooth handmade finishes.
By focusing on a single building material that requires negligible processing between the quarry and its final application on site, and has a low embodied energy; the usage of other higher impact materials has been reduced or eliminated from the project.
Rajasthan is synonymous with stone as building material but sadly over the last few decades this material has been reduced to a 'cladding 'medium and its potential as a robust and sustainable structural element has not been exploited.
The house in Jaipur presented us with an opportunity to explore this dying art that has been prevalent in traditional buildings for centuries. We laid out a simple brief: no material other than stone could be used for construction.
This made us dive deeply into the art of 'making' with stone and the first sketches were the confluence of traditional knowledge blended with contemporary structural design.
The method of load bearing traditionally relied on the impermeable thickness of walls. This was reengineered to develop a hollow interlocking structural wall system that created a more effective thermal break and provided space to integrate services within the wall cavity. Floor systems alternate between vaults and large single span stone pieces. Everything from lintels to door frames have been hewn out of stone blocks. The house is arranged around a narrow courtyard that extends into even narrower slits and fissures as it weaves its way through the house.
The stone screens buffer the shaded spaces behind them and are adaptable based on the light and privacy requirements.
The site reads more like an archeological excavation than an active construction site, where the line between the found and the ‘made’ is continuously blurred.
