A tradition that withstands change

Capt. HJ Pitt, Personal Assistant to the Commissioner of Assam, wrote in Circular No. 8, dated January 20, 1870, to Deputy Commissioners in all of the provinces saying, “I have received an order from the Commissioner, which reminds me of the instructions given by the government to preserve some ancient structures and materials that are beautiful Historically and aesthetically. “

Captain Pitt was referring to the distinct housing patterns that the Assam people adopted in that early stage of the colonial period of the nineteenth century and which attracted the government’s interest in preserving them.

He was referring not only to the style of housing but also the materials used to build this type of house.

Twenty-seven years later, Assam was hit by a massive earthquake in 1897 in which all modern structures built by the British were damaged or destroyed. But the traditional homes, as Captain Pitt pointed out, stood tall in the rubble.

Again five decades later, the state was hit by another massive earthquake in 1950 in independent India. Also this time, all traditional Assam homes remained unaffected.

Now after nearly a century and a half, the official circular of the colonial British East India Company is still very important as the world struggles to live with sustainable housing.

With the impact of global warming everywhere in the world due to climate change, energy efficient housing like Assam Type can offer a lot of solutions.

Type:

Assam type houses are a type of design developed by the British colonial administration in Assam after the massive earthquake of 1897.

The British began constructing buildings and housing structures with thick walls in the colonial period in Assam from 1826 onwards as they did elsewhere in India. But an earthquake at the turn of the century destroyed all these structures, which made them think of building earthquake-resistant homes.

They modified traditional Assamese homes made of thatched roofs with mud-covered bamboo walls mixed with fresh cow manure to make Assamese homes with wood, reeds, mud plaster and thatch after studying the climate and terrain of the entire area.

These homes and buildings were not destroyed in the massive earthquake of 1950 in Assam. Expanding doors with high, parallel ceilings, windows, parallel walls and ceilings made of weeds woven into wooden frames covered with mud – prepared from adhesive soil dug from wells, cow dung and outer skin of mature beetle nuts, wide sky windows parallel at the top portions of walls – facilitate cross ventilation inside Specified for minimum features in Assam type homes.

Towns like Shillong, Guwahati, Dibrugarh, and Jorhat are dotted with Assam Type buildings and bungalows that uniquely fall into one particular type of home style.

Notably, all government buildings – administrative blocks, court courts, hospitals, and residential quarters of educational institutes in Assam, were designed in this style from the beginning of the twentieth century until the early eighties.

Thereafter, multi-storey RCC structures began appearing in both public and private use in the state giving rise to the present-day urbanscape.

Well-known Assam houses

Many Assam Type homes throughout Assam still stand proudly amid the changing real estate landscape that tells the unique tales of civil engineering matched with indigenous knowledge, locally available materials, and golden heritage that today boasts being essentially Sami.

Besides their aesthetic dynamics, these cottages and mansions are an amazing testament to the eco-friendly and sustainable setting of today’s home decorators and architects struggling to provide comfortable, energy-efficient, and climate-resistant dwellings in an era of global warming.

A house like a young man in Kent Barwa in Guwahati:

This nearly century-old house in Chenikuthi was completed by 1928 and is a typical Assam house with steel joist columns made by Tata Steel and brick walls up to door level (7 feet) and above that which It grows to 14 feet of Eekara (grass), covered with mud on both sides.

The ceilings are also Eekara type and terracotta on the underside. As told by SashiKantaBorooah, son of Keshab Kanta Baruah, the roof structure is made of mature Sal wood and all door and window frames are also made of this wood. Burmese teak doors, windows and fans.

The roof is made of thick gauge CGI sheets imported from the UK. The house withstood the devastating earthquake of 1950.

House Like A Young Man Was Spirit (1928) – photo credit: Arijit

Gohainbaree house in Majkuri

Built by Muktinath Sarmah Barua between 1927-1934, the Gohainbaree House in Mejkuri, Teok, 30 km from Jorhat City, still gloriously stands the test of time.

Made of seasoned woods (day, cham, mango), the walls are made of Eekara and the windows and doors are positioned to ensure better occasional ventilation.

Railroad scraps were added to the columns after the 1950 earthquake.

The ceilings of the old parts are made of wooden members, placed close to each other (mango wood) and later additions to it are burlap covered with hydrated lime.

This historic house that was the meeting place of many freedom fighters during the Indian independence movement currently contains fourteen rooms.

Gossainbaree House. Image credit: Avinivesh Sharma

Robal Borduloy’s house in Dibrugarh

Built by Ruplal Bordoloi in 1923-1925 in Chowkidinghee, Dibrugarh, this Assam house consists of strips of bamboo that have been kept in water for a year and covered with GubarMati (mud with cow dung) then Markincloth.

The wood used in this house, recounted by Ranjan Dutta, Robalal Bordolloy’s grandson, was a hundred years old when he wore the sawmill at the time.

House of Roblala Bordoli. Image credit: Ranjan Dutta

Bungalow Tahdheeb Souq Ali

Built by his grandfather Izmal Ali in 1932, the one-story house Tahzib Sukat Ali in Puranegudam in the Ngoun region is a fine example of an Assam house with a bamboo roof dating back to a long past.

According to Tahdheeb Sokat Ali, there was another one-story house on the same spot that was built by his great-grandfather, Rahmat Ali, long before 1932. It was dropped by Izmal Ali in 1932 and the current bungalow has been raised keeping the original bamboo roof with hay.

Sadly, this imposing home has to be demolished to make way for the extension of the four-lane highway NH-37 in the coming days.

Azal House Ali

All of these and many Assam Type homes, mostly constructed from locally available materials using original engineering, have withstood the ravages of time and many natural disasters including earthquakes.

These can be models and resources for new architects, designers, and planners to develop new housing technologies to provide sustainable housing solutions to people in the midst of climate change and scarce natural resources.

(The story is published as part of the CMS-BEEP Media Fellowship Program)

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