The document discusses the architectural features of traditional Tamil quarters in Puducherry, India. Originally, Tamil towns developed around Hindu temples with east-west oriented streets. Houses had a street-facing veranda (thalvaram) and porch (thinnai) for social interaction. Two-story Tamil buildings combined local styles on the ground floor with French colonial influences on the upper floors. Traditional houses were organized around an open central courtyard (mutram) for ventilation and light. Construction incorporated locally available materials like bricks, lime, clay tiles, and wood.
The document discusses the architectural features of traditional Tamil quarters in Puducherry, India. Originally, Tamil towns developed around Hindu temples with east-west oriented streets. Houses had a street-facing veranda (thalvaram) and porch (thinnai) for social interaction. Two-story Tamil buildings combined local styles on the ground floor with French colonial influences on the upper floors. Traditional houses were organized around an open central courtyard (mutram) for ventilation and light. Construction incorporated locally available materials like bricks, lime, clay tiles, and wood.
The document discusses the architectural features of traditional Tamil quarters in Puducherry, India. Originally, Tamil towns developed around Hindu temples with east-west oriented streets. Houses had a street-facing veranda (thalvaram) and porch (thinnai) for social interaction. Two-story Tamil buildings combined local styles on the ground floor with French colonial influences on the upper floors. Traditional houses were organized around an open central courtyard (mutram) for ventilation and light. Construction incorporated locally available materials like bricks, lime, clay tiles, and wood.
The document discusses the architectural features of traditional Tamil quarters in Puducherry, India. Originally, Tamil towns developed around Hindu temples with east-west oriented streets. Houses had a street-facing veranda (thalvaram) and porch (thinnai) for social interaction. Two-story Tamil buildings combined local styles on the ground floor with French colonial influences on the upper floors. Traditional houses were organized around an open central courtyard (mutram) for ventilation and light. Construction incorporated locally available materials like bricks, lime, clay tiles, and wood.
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TAMIL QUARTERS
Originally the native Tamil town developed
around the nucleus of a group of temples in the northern section and the streets were laid in an east-west direction. The row of houses along these streets stood back-to-back. These streetscapes with continuous wall-to- wall construction vary much in character with that of the French. Their exterior facades often feature a street veranda with platform and lean-to-roof over wooden posts - the thalvaram, a social extension of the house and a semi-public portico called the thinnai - is supported by round wooden pillars with masonry benches for visitors.
These "talking-streets", so-called because of
their intimate scale and interactive nature, are typical of the vernacular Tamil architecture, and the entire street stretch is homogeneous because of connecting elements like lean-to-roofs, cornices (horizontals), pilasters and engaged columns (verticals) and ornamental parapets defining the skyline.
The thinnai (portico) marks the transition
space after which the house is entered through a finely carved wooden door and once inside, the open courtyard - mutram - becomes the central space around which the various other spaces are functionally arranged. The open mutram is flanked by a covered space on one side (or on both sides) with wooden columns usually meant for an interaction among the family or with intimate guests. The rear courtyard in immediate proximity to the kitchen is reserved for services and utilities.
Usually within the intimate fabric of the Tamil
town an interesting morphology of built-form is observed, ranging from the simple country tiled single storied houses of the old Hindu quarters, to the two storied houses with considerable colonial influence of the later Hindu and Christian quarters, to the more elaborately detailed houses of the Muslim quarters.
In On the whole, a conspicuous synthesis of
two varying styles is evident, especially in the case of two storied Tamil buildings where the ground floor is usually of the Tamil type with thinnai, thalvaram and carved doors, while the first floor displays French influence showing pilasters, columns with capitals, arched windows, plaster decorations and end-ornament elements. French buildings, the local influence is obvious in the use of madras terrace flat roofs, wooden balconies and sloping tiled roofs.
It is a result of this cross-influence of building
patterns that gives this old town its distinct architectural vocabulary, which can be termed "Puducherry-ness".
ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES Tamil streets are mainly characterised by the thalvaram (street verandah with platform and lean-to-roof over wooden posts) – a social extension of the house – and a thinnai (semi- public-verandah space with masonry benches for visitors). These talking streets, so called because of their intimate scale and interactive nature, are typical of the vernacular Tamil architecture (also to be found in Kumbakonam, Tanjore, Chidambaram, Srirangam, Mylapore), and the entire street stretch is 1975 homogeneous because of the use of connecting elements like lean-to-roofs, cornices (horizontals), pilasters or engaged columns (verticals) and ornamental parapets. These Tamil buildings usually feature a combination of flat and pitched roofs. In the case of two storied Tamil buildings the first floor is usually treated with French features leading to a mix of Tamil and French styles which is the signature mark of Pondicherry heritage
DESIGN ASPECTS Traditional Tamil houses are strictly functional, and a series of open, semi-covered and covered spaces with subtle levels and a through-axis characterise the plan. The thinnai marks the transition space, after which the house is entered through a finely carved wooden door and a vestible, and once inside, the mutram (open courtyard) becomes the central space around which various other private spaces are functionally arranged. The mutram is an age-old concept, and according to the Vaastu Shastra, each house was to possess an open courtyard – known as brahmasthanam (meaning ‘vital space’). This open space is mainly to facilitate a direct link – an auspicious connection – with the five elements – earth, fire (sun), water (rain), ether and wind. Country tiled roofs of the surrounding thalvaram funnel into this mutram, which is the major source of lighting and ventilation. In the case of two storied buildings this space is covered by a clerestory.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUE Tamil houses and French houses were built of a combination of various nature-friendly and locally available materials such as burnt bricks, lime, clay and terracotta tiles and wood. Major structural wooden members like columns and beams were made of teak, while minor members like rafters and posts were made of palm or other local timbers. Traditional Tamil houses demanded skills in brick laying, tile laying, timber craft and plaster work
