Traditional Dwelling – Wada in Maharashtra, India

WHAT IS A WADA?

• The traditional residence in Maharashtra was called the wada.
• A wada was typically a large building of two or more storey with groups of rooms arranged around open courtyards.
• Two types of wadas:
  • One which houses many families, like an apartment building of recent times or chawl of Mumbai.(Mostly for the middle class families)
  • One in which only one family resided. (Mostly owned by the richer class like relatives of the peshwas and traders)

EMERGENCE OF WADA ARCHITECTURE

• Wadas – which were the traditional residential form of Maratha architecture, evolved under the reign of Peshwas.
• Its style was an amalgamation where features from Mughal, Rajasthan, and Gujarat architecture were combined with local construction techniques.

SETTLEMENT OF PUNE UNDER THE PESHWAS

• Settlements developed around the Peshwa’s residence.
• Land around the Peshwas residence was divided into wards called peths.
• These were self-sufficient units and they were named after the days of weeks or the person who had established the peths.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE IN SETTLEMENTS

• Social life centered around the village community.
• The village communities were economically self-reliant and self-sufficient units, each having it’s own set of ethics and residential enclaves, shops, temples etc.
• The administration was autonomous.
• Town had a multinucleated structure.

NEIGHBOURHOOD OF A WADA

• The streets and roads in the settlement were narrow.
• Roads were never straight as the growth of the settlement was organic.
• The plots for construction of wadas were rectangular and lay right next to the streets.
• A wada never had a garden or vistas leading to it.
• The urban form of the settlement appeared like a maze of two or three storied structures having internal open spaces, placed along the road network with very little open community space.

CASE STUDY: KHARADKAR WADA

This Wada was built in 1875 by Shri Karandikar who was a moneylender by profession and was related to the Peshwas.

LOCATION

Kharadkar wada is located in Pune, Maharashtra, in Budhwar Peth.

CLIMATE

• Pune having a moderate type of climate has the following characteristics:
  • The solar radiation is more or less the same throughput the year.
  • The relative humidity in dry periods varies from 20-55% and in monsoons 55-90%.
  • The total rainfall usually exceeds 1000mm per year. Winter is a dry season.
  • Winds are generally in summer.
  • Their speed and direction mainly depends upon the topography.
  • The sky is mostly clear with an occasional presence of dense low clouds during summer.
• The design of a wada was not influenced much by the climatic factors rather it was influenced more by the social and cultural factors.

SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF THE KHARADKAR WADA

• Distinct zoning can be seen.
• Separate entrances for guests, domestic help, people visiting the durbar, separate entries for the people performing in the durbar and a separate entry into the cattle shed.
• There are 4 entrances to the house.
• Privacy for the women given a priority.
• Three main courtyards or chowks.
• The wada has it’s entrance in the southern side.

ZONING

• The most significant features of the wada was the way it’s zoning of public, private and semi-private spaces was done.
• This can be seen very distinctly in the plan.

Visual showing the environment of the wada

Small window openings with wooden grills

• There were very few openings on the sides of the building, so the rooms were not well lit.
• The rooms were ventilated from the courtyards.

One of the HAUDS in the wada

• One of the most interesting features of this wada was the underground water supply which came from Katraj dam which was 11kms from the site.
• One noteworthy point is that no pumping was required.
• The water that came was collected in open tanks called ‘HAUDS.’
• Kharadkar wada has three separate hauds for separate activities.
• One for bathing, one for washing utensils and one for storing drinking water.

• All the staircases were places in 4ft thick walls.
• This was done so that when the women moved around in the house they wouldn’t be seen from the outside.
• This way the privacy of the house was maintained.
• All the external walls of the wada were 4ft thick.
• This helped to keep the interior of the wall cool in summers.

Stone base supporting a wooden pillar

Niche in the wall

Ring in the courtyard to tie horse

Wooden battens supporting the upper floor

External wall section of a wada

Carving on wooden door frame