prathaa kath khuni architecture of himachal pradesh by Jay Thakkar from india

The Book Prathaa: Kath-khuni Architecture of Himachal Pradesh (Co-authored by (Co-authored by Prof. Bharat Dave, A/Prof. Jay Thakkar, Mansi Shah )) documents our research on a distinctive traditional building technique called the kath-khuni construction prevalent in Himachal Pradesh, India. This indigenous tradition of construction reflects excellent sustainable and earthquake-resistant building techniques using local materials and human resources.
The indigenous building traditions such as kath-khuni construction now face gradual erosion due to the increasing loss of local building skills and knowledge, and displacement of local natural building materials with a growing influx of non-indigenous ones that may be cheaper initially but turn out more expensive in the long run. This project aims to help preserve and sustain kath-khuni building techniques and local skills by undertaking collaborative research on existing and emerging building practices.
This research is 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 (DICRC), Faculty of Design, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India. This project is part of a planned series of research and documentation activities to disseminate knowledge about indigenous building practices and heritage of India.
More information about the project including interactive multimedia data is available online at
http://himachal.crida.net/