Disturbing images from Turkey that show mountains of rubble pile up in the streets two weeks after the devastating earthquake, have brought back Srinagar’s realisation that the city is on the National Center for Seismology’s Zone-V, meaning it is at a very high risk for earthquakes. One way of saving lives in case of a natural calamity is to reconnect with older methods of architecture and construction. Uroosi, a Mughal-era home architectural element, is one such. Uroosi are wooden shutters used as partition walls within homes, instead of concrete walls.
Ehtisham Qalander, who runs a 39-year-old company called SQ that has been reviving waning techniques and craft in wood, sees the dreadful scenes from Turkey as an opportunity to alter the way of building in Kashmir. He hopes that people will go back to the traditional ways of home construction in the Valley. In the last year, he has constructed eight Uroosis and is raising awareness of its value on social media.
“Most indigenous techniques and elements of construction in Kashmir had greater utility than luxury. Uroosi is one such, where wooden shutters could be rolled up to make one room, or rolled down from hanging grooves in ceiling chambers, to partition the space into separate areas,” Mr. Qalander said. Uroosi work includes octagonal and decagonal ornamental pillars too. Jalali House is a landmark in Srinagar that has this architectural element.
Uroosi is believed to be a Persian term meaning ‘hidden bride’. “The rolling down of planks with intricate carving is as mesmerizing as a bride’s appearance during weddings,” said Mr. Qalander, who graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, a few years ago, with a degree in polymer science and engineering. His company is seeing an increasing number of projects, especially on the third and ground floor, as these are areas where people assemble. Those who commission them appreciate both its ornamental and practical value. “The only difference is that earlier it was deodar pine wood that was used extensively and now it’s walnut,” Mr. Qalander added.
A house with extensive use of woodwork in Srinagar’s Safa Kadal area. | Photo Credit: Peerzada Ashiq
Architect Hakim Sameer Hamdani, Design Director at INTACH-Kashmir and author of The Syncretic Traditions of Islamic Religious Architecture of Kashmir, traces the introduction of Uroosi in Kashmir to Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for the influence it still retains.
“It bears a resemblance to Japan’s houses where wooden walls are used as partition walls. It has the ability to absorb seismic shocks and withstand it. These wooden walls also significantly reduce load on the structure,” Mr. Hamdani said.
Dhajji Diwari or ‘patchwork quilt wall’ in Persian, is another indigenous technique of earthquake-resistant construction. A criss-cross of thin timber frames is filled with mud mortar, stone, and ballast, but this too is waning in Srinagar.
Turkey saw skyscrapers crumbling during the earthquake and people dying under the weight of concrete used as a building material. The people of Srinagar were reminded of the earthquake in 2005, which impacted the entire region of erstwhile J&K and left 73,276 people dead.
