India is well known worldwide for its vivid culture, it is a matter of fact that this is because of all rich villages and sub-urban areas that differentiate one culture from another. Every city that is developed look same, with same form of architecture, tall buildings, broad-acre, roads full of vehicles, polluted, full with glare of city-lights and industries on outskirts. On the other hand, it’s all different and pleasing in villages. Every capitalist and planner in order to expand cities, is capturing and merging villages into cities. This happens majorly with the villages close to cities, national highways, state highways and air ports. Gradually the village turns into suburb then eventually it becomes part of that city. The place which was once a pleasant and silent, turns into a place full of honking, smokes, dust, waste etc. This paper is a part of research that is been carried on concern of conservation of villages. What is village conservation? In this scenario in which cities are engulfing up nearby villages and making them a part of itself, we really need to preserve village and elements of it. Which were once identity of our country. Agriculture and dairy were, what our country used to rely on for everything. When it comes, the discussion of global climate change, every Indian factor behind it is related to cities and urban areas but not villages. May it be CFCs or may it be chemicals polluting rivers. What makes villages so pleasant? Why people living in villages don not need conditioned air? How they are really adapted to the climate over there? This paper boldly deals with the study of practices of villages in India, which are adaptable for people living in urban areas to deal with many problems regarding sustainability. The aim is to come up with a model of approach for architects to include vernacular architecture in urban construction practices with acceptance of urbane client. Also some design examples are given to support the model. Key words: Vernacular Architecture, Rural Conservation, Adaptation, Rural Practices

Hundreds of years of experience, self-learning and traditional wisdom has led to the development of contextual based traditional architecture. Vernacular style of architecture developed using locally available material, so as to achieve the better living conditions which suits to the context. Use of local traditional design and construction techniques had eventually helped in building of social and cultural background in various regions of the country. Sensitivity in design as per the specific microclimatic aspects has been practiced since ages in the country. The main objective of this paper is to understand the design principles and strategies followed by the vernacular style of architecture which are energy efficient and climate responsive. Design principles such as form, proportion, spatial design aspects, construction materials etc.., have been documented and analyzed for a specific case example of an existing traditional building in Pippara village of West-Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh, India. Besides thermal performance, lighting analysis have been performed through IES-VE Analysis. This paper also sheds light on the transformation of courtyard spatial configuration as per the changing needs of users; this investigation is an attempt to demonstrate the adoption of good practices in transformation of traditional spatial design aspects of the dwelling. Simulation results has shown that the current case study has improved thermal performance upto 30% after the courtyard transformation, whereas natural lighting levels has drastically reduced upto 79% within the indoor sapces.

This paper depicts a vast knowledge on vernacular architecture of India. Vernacular architecture refers to the buildings which are constructed by the knowledge of local technology and craftsmanship, using locally available building materials; simultaneously, ensuring climatic comforts for the users. Thus vernacular architecture is related to the climatic issues, cultural and socioeconomic conditions of different regions of any country. Hence, India is a country with diversified climate and socio-cultural conditions. Here, each region has its unique characteristics of building design in the form of climate-responsive vernacular architecture. The aim of this paper is to assemble all those different types of vernacular practices throughout different climatic regions of India.

Vernacular Architecture is increasingly becoming a subject of major interest not only to architecture theorists, but also to designers and technologists for very many good reasons. It has now become very apparent, that although technological advancement brings modern civilization to our communities, it also accelerates the disappearance not only the style of life which has been developed over a span of many centuries, but also the very veins of cultural identity which are so vital for the survival of any society. The onslaught of modern technology has robbed our communities of the construction skills and environmentally sensitive design of their dwellings. " Modern Architecture " is becoming more and more environmentally unfriendly not only to people, but also to the surrounding natural environment, including the excessive use of energy in cooling buildings. That is why we have to revert back to vernacular architecture to see how we can be salvage the vernacular principles and use them in sustainable architecture. There has been a turn around after years of environmentally unfriendly materials and bad architecture to sustainable building materials and construction methods.

The purpose of this research is to investigate a key research question: How Vernacular Architecture performs with available green building standards? With sub question as; do they complement or intersect each other? The specific focus of the research is to allow a point-by-point comparison between residential vernacular architecture and contemporary green building practice? Broadening the green building reach from urban to rural areas and upgrade the living conditions for the underprivileged. The research is named as AIVA (Analyzing International Vernacular Architecture). Exploratory research methodology was undertaken to measure the vernacular architecture against the current available green building standards. To collect the data, an online literature study and case study was conducted on prototypical vernacular residential buildings Using the data collected, construction sequences were created and quantitative analysis were conducted for rating, using the country specific baseline green building standards. The study concluded weighing importance of the vernacular architecture, indicating its strong and weak areas. The results were meant to provide potential of vernacular architecture as green buildings. On the futuristic side it tends to initiate a detailed study for making the reach of current green building technologies as a universal rating system or devising a specialized rating for rural building technologies. As a whole the research tends to recognize the un-designed built environment and making it acceptable to the designed world and mutually contributing to the sustainable development.

As a concept, the term 'Vernacular Architecture' is mainly known for its utilization of nearby materials, labors, and culture. The vernacular architecture is practically and casually continuing the legacy of the region. For a quite few years, architects are embracing regionalism and the knowledge of traditional buildings as a result of the increased strain brought by ongoing worldwide ecological issues, stating that these structures are energy efficient and extremely sustainable. The interest for economical and sustainable structures, results in the increments in numerous designers to unravel the universe of vernacular design all throughout the planet, so to combine conventional viewpoints with current methods. Ladakh is one of the world's most hostile environments for human survival. Located in India's far north, the region sees sub-zero temperatures in the winter. Despite the harsh surroundings, humanity has continued to live in the area for generations. The native inhabitants have devised a highly efficient and climatically sensitive vernacular architecture thanks to their ancient indigenous understanding of building construction. This paper seeks to rethink vernacular architecture as a philosophy thusly intends to clarify the cultural values, identical architectural designs, and stereotypical patterns by exploring sustainability as a reason for identity in culture and architecture. A research database is created by compiling a large number of studies from original sources. The research analyses the supportability, capability of sustainability of vernacular architecture in the region through comparative study in order to develop basic principles as guidelines for recreating societal traits and expose the identity of contemporary architecture in the world.

Quality of environment is the basic requirement to achieve sustainable development. The problem of degrading environmental conditions and increasing pressure on land due to the numerous multi-storeyed buildings constructed using contemporary materials and techniques in hill settlements has become a critical concern in India. These settlements are undergoing rapid urbanization and are witnessing environment degradation in the form of climate change, ecological change, loss of vegetation cover, natural drainage pattern change, increase in surface runoff, reduction in recharging of the water table, increase in slope failures, increase in soil erosion and pollution which not only affects the town but also the surrounding regions, the urban environment, the development patterns, existing buildings, open spaces, and infrastructures. Despite the advantages of vernacular practices, they are often not applied in contemporary development. The increasing demand for more space due to population growth and rapid development in construction practices has resulted in the extinction of these architectural practices and hence questions the sustainability of these settlements. This paper explores the vernacular practices of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, focusing on the traditional knowledge of materials, construction techniques, community involvement, and settlement planning. The significant features in these regions like, structural detailing and materials used in Koti Banal, Kath-Kuni, Mud Wall Structures, and Dry-Stone Structures are considered for the study. Further, there is an investigation of the modifications that have happened over the years in these practices with respect to morphology and materials through a case study of Kumaon and Garhwal regions in Uttarakhand, and, Shimla and Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. The paper draws an inference on the existing vernacular practices and modifications required for better planning and designing of settlements at settlement level, cluster level, and site-level that will promote vernacular practices and environmentally friendly development of ecologically fragile hill towns.

Traditional architectural principles always respected nature, and was climate conscious, user-friendly, reflected the culture and tradition of the community at large and most important was contextual. Various parameters such as geographical location, climatic conditions, occupation, culture and tradition of the society/ community decide these principles in a specific set up and make the structures sustainable in all respect. So, a specific case study example was selected and explored to understand these principles adopted in the structures and their performances over a long period of time in an identified study area in Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu, India and assessing their appropriateness in the present context. The selected sample was analysed based on its architectural qualities in terms of spatial design, scale and proportion of the building components, integration with nature and thermal performance study during hottest day and the coldest day of the year using ECOTECT software. This paper specifically aims at identifying and understanding the generic sustainable principles in traditional and vernacular architecture that could be imbibed and incorporated by designers and builders at large to create appropriate buildings suitable to that particular context.