Discussion on House Types in Settlement Geography
Rural house types provide an unfailing testimony of the complex relations between man and his environment. "It shows the effect of physiography and geology in the availability of building materials; or climate in the form, layout, and orientation of walls and roof; vegetation in the characteristic roofings; and social and economic conditions in the internal structure and also external relations of houses," (Sharma, 1972). Thus, we can classify Rural Settlements based on their shape (form), size, building materials used, and functional characteristics, etc. The size and shape of houses are the best expressions of socio-economic conditions in any region.
House types based on building materials:
Walls: Mud, Stone, Brick, Timber, Wattle.
Mud walled houses:
The vast majority of houses of rural India, Africa, S. America, Brazil, and the desert zone are made of mud.
Mud is easily available, almost at no cost and no specialized mansion is required to build or maintain mud houses. But mud houses consume space, time, and labor; durability is low, suffers from the effect of dampness, white ants, dirty nooks, and corners.
Stonewalled houses:
Such houses are widespread in hilly mountainous areas and volcanic plateau zones of the world. People in N. India (J & K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim), China, Southern Europe, and plateaus of Americans use stone, basalt boulders, and rock-cut pieces to build their dwellings, because of availability in greater amount, portability, and proximity.
Brick walled houses:
Brick walls are space-saving and highly durable as well as floodproof. In the great alluvial plains of India buildings and houses are made of bricks.
Timber or wooden wall houses:
Mainly built by tribal people of hilly areas (the western Himalayas, northern Himachal Pradesh as well as Bhil areas in central India timbered dwellings are common).
In Assam and Myanmar bamboo frequently replaces a stone or wood with timbers in the skeleton - where white-washed, thatched houses are extremely attractive.
Wattle wall houses:
Wattle wall is a product of terrain, forest cover where such materials are available almost without any cost. Aboriginal people like Gonds and Bhils of Vindhyas and Satpuras in Indian, mostly reside in such houses.
In the forest belt of Terai and Bhabar of Northern India, one can find such inferior houses. The walls are often plastered with cow-dung and clay and then whitewashed.
Roofs: may be of Tile, Thatch, Mud + other material, Tin, Stone Slab, Wood, Brick + others.
Tiled roofs are common throughout the world. Mainly, Semi-cylindrical and flat are used for covering houses with varied sizes and forms. By and large, the size is larger in the Northern Plain of India and shorter in other plateau and hilly areas.
Tile, slate, or shingle are the most important roofing material in the rural areas of Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Haryana.
Thatched roofs (made of leaves of date, palm trees, and other grasses) houses are still prevalent in most of the poor class settlers, mainly in West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.
Mud thatching often mixed with cow-dung, is common in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan. Occasional plastering by mud is enough to provide safety from rains and such houses mark the horizon in each settlement.
Tin-roofed houses are prevalent in climatically suitable areas; countries lacking in a storm or strong speedy winds. Ethiopian market centers exemplify it well. In West Bengal, middle-class people use tin as roofing material over mud-walled houses in place of thatch/ straw, because of its durability and well protection of rain during monsoon season.
Stone slabs or flakes have been used since ancient times in mountain, hill, and plateau areas. Sandstone, limestone, and slate slabs make durable roofs after being cut and designed according to need. Temple, mosques, and churches, invariably show they’re in toto presence.
Wood as roof material is common in temperate forest zones, where wooden slabs, carefully superimposed and joined with rounded corners, protect the house from snow water. In the tropical part too, wooden strips for roofs are covered with tin or waterproof materials.
In western Uttarakhand, northern Himachal Pradesh, U. P. Himalayas wooden houses of various shapes and sizes, known by different names.
Bricks make flat and smooth roofs in the form of lingers mixed with iron rods and cement, a practice in vogue, in modern type rural houses, particularly, in rural market centers.
According to external structure and use of building materials in house construction, the world may be divided into four broad zones:
Zone of the stone houses - Alpine-Himalayan mountainous belt, except northern and western regions of N America and Europe, U. P. Himalayas and J&K in India.
Zone of mud, bricks, or earthen houses: they occur widely in the northern plains of India, China, Danubian countries to Western Europe, etc. Mud houses are common in rural India and S-W Asia. In S. America they are found everywhere in appreciable numbers. They are prominent in the arid regions of the world. In the northern plains of India tiled roofs are also common.
Zone of wooden houses: common where wood is plentiful. In western Uttarakhand, northern Himachal Pradesh, U. P. Himalayas - wooden houses are of various shapes and sizes, known by different names. Wooden houses are also prominent in S-E Asian countries.
Zone of refuse heap or reed matting houses - the grey flat tents of the nomads in Central Asia and the Himalayas.
Conclusion:
Different types of building materials are used in different physio-climatic and vegetational regions of the world. No accurate picture can be drawn of the regional distribution of the houses of the world.