Dalai House
Judishtir Naik, a retired fish vendor, and a local resident of Maensa village walks us through his ancestral home which houses around 10-11 family members at present. Spending most of his days in and around the house, Judishtir seldom goes in the waters with his cousins for a catch. With 2 sons moving out for work in Hyderabad and Cuttack and a daughter married away in Satapada, Puri, Judishtir Naik unfolds the history of his family and how the slow nucleation of the family generates the observed house type.
The house hierarchically is split between 3 cousins at present with Judishtir being the eldest draws fine boundaries from one house to the other connected through a Saae (common linear passage; ସାଇ in Odia) where differences in plinths, building materials, paint of the wall facades, etc become markers of distinction. The Ogona (courtyard; आंगन in Hindi; ଅଗଣା in Odia) and the Badi (backyard; बाग़ in Hindi; à¬¬à¬¾à¬¦à€ in Odia) remain the only common spaces of the household.
The house still earns a significant amount of its income through fishing with 2 cousins of Judishtir being active fishermen. As the current head of the family, Judishtir now tends to the day to day needs of the entire household. The family talks about the reduction in the quantities of their daily catches and how changes in climate, irregular precipitation and increased salinity of water has drawn families out of the waters, causing the younger generations to move away from the island.
After the damage caused by Fani cyclone back in 2019, the house has been partly reconstructed in stone and concrete to ensure a pakka makan (permanent dwelling) while the older structure is retained in parts made out of mud, rammed earth and stone. The estimated cost of making for this reconstruction is around 7-8 lakh rupees out of which around 1.2 lakh rupees were provided under the government cyclone relief funds to the residents of the island.
Site Plan
With street on the front that activates itself in the evenings as fishermen return from the waters and women gather around the Chaura and a Badi that swells, blurring the boundaries of claim extending onto Chilika lake in the back the house sits in a linear fashion flushed between neighbouring houses sharing common walls.
The residents of the island have had an ancestral method of land distribution to ensure equal land for the households.
Where, 1 Haath (Hand) ~ 50 cm
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Each family gets
7 haath x 90 haath
Approx. 3.5m x 45m
This house is approx. 14 haath x 90 haath
The house follows a linear row house type that share common boundary walls which get blurred as one moves from the front to the back and the badis extend till the Chilika edge, with plantations flowing into one another.
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Cell like modules that function as private spaces for the now nucleated families are strung along a common passage - Saae connecting the street in the front to the Badi in the back with in-between courts.
Services like the kitchen, thakur ghara, hand pump, open up on the outside and wrap around the external facade.
Cell like modules that function as private spaces for the now nucleated families are strung along a common passage - Saae connecting the street in the front to the Badi in the back with in-between courts.
Services like the kitchen, thakur ghara, hand pump, open up on the outside and wrap around the external facade.
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Household Profile
With street on the front that activates itself in the evenings as fishermen return from the waters and women gather around the Chaura and a Badi that swells, blurring the boundaries of claim extending onto Chilika lake in the back the house sits in a linear fashion flushed between neighbouring houses sharing common walls.
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Spatial Configuration
With street on the front that activates itself in the evenings as fishermen return from the waters and women gather around the Chaura and a Badi that swells, blurring the boundaries of claim extending onto Chilika lake in the back the house sits in a linear fashion flushed between neighbouring houses sharing common walls.
Section A-A'
Section B-B'
Section C-C'
Section D-D'
With street on the front that activates itself in the evenings as fishermen return from the waters and women gather around the Chaura and a Badi that swells, blurring the boundaries of claim extending onto Chilika lake in the back the house sits in a linear fashion flushed between neighbouring houses sharing common walls.
Transformation of Houseform