Settlement Study : Ratnagiri

Coastal settlement neighboring Mirya road

We, the students of A21, had visited Sadamirya, a village along the coast of the White Sea, Ratnagiri, for their settlement study work. Upon reaching we were divided into groups which would be looking at five aspects of how life works in the village and the relationship between the work, economic activities and the built form. Broadly, the ‘Physicality of Habitation’. We ooked closely at the lives of the villagers, and observing how it shapes the builtform, economics and cultures around them. I was in the Houses group.

Study Type : Houses

The village was predominantly a fishing village .Though some of the people, especially the younger generations in these villages have moved into other occupations, a substantial section of people from these villages are still involved in fishing activity. The structure of the villages has mostly remained unchanged. This includes a main central spine that cuts through the village and end up on the coastline. Spaces for several activities involved in fishing, such as boat repair, drying of fish, drying of nets, etc are located at the mouth of this spine near the coastline. Also located close to the coastline are allied activities of cold storage, auctioning markets etc.

The built form here is densely packed, interspersed at several places with small courts and open spaces. These form important spaces, where the everyday activities of the fishing community spill out – They spaces are used to clean and repair nets, tools, etc. Most of the activities in the fishing village are done communally. A typical house in such a settlement consists of a large multifunctional living space, several small rooms, a tiny kitchen and a toilet. The verandah outside the house becomes a very important element. It is used for various purposes. Tools of fishing are stored along one side of the veranda. Small rooms are added to this house after every marriage as the family grows. While older houses are typically ground storied with sloping tiled roofs and wooden columns, newer houses are two to three storied, flat roofed, built in RCC construction. The new houses come up exactly in the places where the old houses had existed, but are taller. In some cases, upper floors of these new houses are rented to outsiders who are not involved in fishing activities.

While drawing out the plans some houses had multiple kitchens, some had so many doors providing access to each corner of the house that the term 'privacy' wasn't really paid attention to. Some houses had extensions like chulas, angans, etc indoors and outdoors for multiple reasons.

Further, the plans made were extended beyond the house, the term 'boundary' didn't exist.

Sections helped in the understanding of the making of those houses, construction details, contours, proportions, and scale of walls, rooms, furniture, and flora as compared to that of humans.

The newer houses that are being built now are concrete based and have a modern approach to defining purpose to every room unlike the old ones.

Overall, from these 5 days' study we understood that the village is experiencing a huge flux due to occupations changing which has in turn brought changes in the economy and in these houses regarding their built form, lifestyle and other factors.