Climate:
- Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other meteorological factors in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity.
- The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, terrain, altitude, persistent ice or snow cover, as well as nearby oceans and their currents.
- Climates can be classified using parameters such as temperature and rainfall to define specific climate types such as hot and dry, dry, wet, arid, semiarid etc.
- The climate plays a significant role in determining the house design. Different element of climate viz., rainfall, snowfall, wind direction, temperature, light etc. determine the provision of ventilation, size of the house, slope of roofs.
- In the hills, the roof of the houses is generally sufficiently sloping to 25-30 degrees to cope up with the showers and snowfalls.
- In the hot and humid temperate regions / zones, the houses are designed to have central courtyard for good control over light and air circulation.
- Locations where floods, cold wind and heavy rains, the climate play a significant role in determining the house design.
- Different element of climate viz., rainfall, snowfall, wind direction, temperature, light etc. determine the provision of ventilation, size of the house, slope of roofs. In the hills, the roofs of the houses are generally sufficiently sloping to 25-30 degrees to cope up with the showers and snowfalls.
- In the hot and humid temperate, the houses are designed to have central courtyard to for good control over light and air circulation.
- In the northeastern states, where floods are common, houses are in stories to protect the family, cattle and other belongings from severity of floods, cold wind and heavy rains
Topography:
Topography is the representation of a portion of the earth’s surface showing natural and man-made features of a given locality such as rivers, streams, ditches, lakes, roads, buildings and most importantly, variations in ground elevations for the terrain of the area. It is the configuration of the land surface, ie relief, together with ground water, drainage, and other features of the earth's surface.
Relief includes degree of slope, shape of slope, length of slope, aspect, and exposure. The arrangement of hills and valleys in a geographic area affects fire behavior by affecting type and distribution of plant communities and by aiding or deterring fire spread. Relief and landform cause variation in local climate, partially determining the distribution of plant communities
Geography and geology:
- The condition of the land shows the variation in the nature of soil, rock formation, vegetation, water body, drainage etc. Availability of these resources differs with different regions of the country.
- Man had explored variety of uses for these resources and used it to construct houses that merge with local landscape.
- The chief materials tapped for house construction from nature varies from mud, bamboo, timber, grass, stone, slate, brick, sand, lime to jute or coir etc.
- Hilly region of Himalayas is rich in timber and stone and the houses here are erected with stone for walls and timber for supporting roof; whereas Deccan plateau of India that is rich in rocks - solid and sheet, the houses are constructed with stone for walls and stone slabs or clay tiles for roofing. The desert belt of northwest part of the country has houses that are fabricated with mud.
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