Karan House

The Karan family, consisting of four brothers, has shaped the evolving structure of their incremental house in Mainsha village. While one brother is a fisherman, another drives an auto rickshaw in Puri, and a third works in services, the family comprises 21 members, though only four currently reside in the house. Two of the brothers have built their own homes in the same village after marriage but live elsewhere due to their jobs.

The land on which the house is built originally belonged to their grandfather and is now passed down to the eldest brother, Shashi Karan, the fisherman. His wife, Babita Karan, manages the household and also leads a self-help group dedicated to collecting funds for hurricane relief. Lalsingh Karan, the son of the third brother, is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Bhubaneswar and visits the family home whenever he returns to the village.

The house is divided into three main parts, each built at different times. The first section, constructed 60 years ago by Lalsingh's grandfather, was made from soil with a roof of Chikota, a special type of earth used in older buildings. An extension built 25 years ago added stone masonry and brick piers. The latest section remains partially open to the sky with bamboo scaffolds and various roofs, some functioning as trellises for vegetable growth.

The layout follows a traditional village design with a front yard (दांडवाडी), a passage (अगोणा), bedrooms (सुवाय घर), a kitchen, and a backyard (बाडी). The house lacks a washroom, and the family either uses a nearby pond or the facilities at the cyclone center. After a recent storm damaged the roof, a new layer of tarpaulin, secured with fishing nets, was added to strengthen the bamboo and straw structure.

The Karan house is a family consisting of 4 brothers, including 21 people in total, out of which only 4 people live in the current house. The eldest brother being a fisherman, while the others being in services or working in Puri.

Household Profile

Site Plan

The compact nature of the front facades of the houses reduce visual porosity for the interiors, further as one moves towards the backyard, the backyards collectively form a shared spaces for the houses in the inner part.

Uniformity is maintained in the module size of the older block of the house and the newer blocks. A long corridor with a courtyard in it is a move to draw in natural light in the dark corridor where there is absence of any openings.

Larger part of the house is a common space, only a small part is occupied by the people and a larger part being locked belonging to members not living in this house.

karan house ground floor w legend 1_edited.jpg

Spatial Configuration

The older part of the house on the left, responds to the environment by the position of windows and skylights. Whereas the newly built part continuing from there has a poor response to the surrounding, absence of any openings and skylight.

Section A-A'

Section B-B'

Section C-C'

The roof of the house on the right was devastated by the cyclone. The traditional system of roof is easier and cheaper to replace but it is not retained as government schemes compel one to upgrade to asbestos sheets (Paaka material).

Section D-D'

The backyard of the house uses some remains of the older structures destroyed by cyclone to form walls and build the remaining structure with bamboo and thatch.

Transformation of Houseform