RETHINKING HILL ARCHITECTURE

Hills are beautiful and often regarded as the paradise on earth. They have both ecological as well as aesthetic significance. Any man made structure constructed on hills have impact on ecology and its aesthetic values. Hence, it is desirable for the architects and designers to keep intact these values and provide a sustainable and compatible solutions. Moreover, Designing and constructing a building on the hill slope have always been an uphill task, due to the challenging topography. Adverse climatic conditions, steep gradient, rich flora and proneness to natural hazards. Though the traditional buildings responded well to these challenges, the modern buildings fail to do so. At the same time, with the growth these hill towns are expanding with addition of many new topologies and functions of the buildings. Since, these buildings cater to needs of the present day, they are coming up very fast, so the number of those structure is very high, moreover this physical built up is not contextually appropriate which as a result changes the whole character of these hill towns. Moreover, the new buildings are not only climatically uncomfortable but these buildings stand out visually and does not fit with the existing architecture and landscape character for which the hill towns are known for. This scenario is visible in all the hill town from Mannar to Kashmir, including Himachal which is known for its traditional architecture.