dawoodi bohra houses

DAWOODI BOHRA HOUSES

Residential buildings in SIDHPUR, Gujarat

About Sidhpur

Sidhpur is a town in Gujarat state and an important pilgrimage centre for Shaivism and for Hindu devotees honouring maternal ancestors,

Also known for its gorgeous European-influenced,especially Renaissance styled architecture built over a century ago in the Muslim neighbourhood.

Photo source:outlookindia.com

Sidhpur is located on the banks of Saraswati river

Dawoodi Bohras

The Dawoodi Bohras are a Shia Muslim trading community from Gujarat with a very distinct history and identity. A close knit community, they have a significant presence in Indian cities like Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and East African countries like Madagascar.

The Bohras or Vohras, as they are known locally, invested in and built distinctive and grand residences in their ‘native’ towns/villages after they migrated.

Photo source: artsy.net

The Vohrawads are rows of narrow, deep houses, about three to four storeys high, and either along the main street or in a grid like formation.

Most of the houses shared a wall with the houses on either side giving a feeling of connectedness.

Since the community tended to stay together, entire neighbourhoods came to be called Vohrawads or Bohrawads, housing Bohra families.

Modern-but-traditional gated enclaves organised around a main street which branches off into narrower side streets.

The compact footprint — necessary for security, quick pedestrian access, and insulation from the extremes of hot and cold weather — is compensated by piling up more than one storey above the ground floor.

A very small ‘grilled’ shaft of open air, called the chowk, runs up through the central room of all the floors bringing in a controlled amount of sun


Intricate jaliwork represents islamic architectural element.

The streets of Sidhpur, Gujarat seem anachronistic, capturing the Dawoodi Bohra trading community in a capsule outside the rush of time

. Ornate interiors,

rainbow-coloured facades, flowing ridas murmuring against fantastically intricate and symmetric architecture.

Photo source: flicrhivemind.net

Two flights of steps to reach the entrance of the house act as transition from outside to inside

Zarokhas with jali work patterns also suggest the community’s introvert nature.

Intricate carvings being the great examples of islamic architecture

The entrance lobby creates a transition space from the outsides to the insides.

Deep plan. planned for the hot dry climate of sidhpur.

Decorative wooden extensions of the upper storeys often project out from the building line, in the older vohrawads particularly, help keep the sun out from the street floor.

Even by day, then, the street is a cool, shaded space. The otlas, or extensions of the high plinths, are carefully designed to be lounging spaces, particularly once the sun weakens.


Use of decorative pillasters,fascia boards,jaliwork patterns as elements for facade treatment

The women in the house stay mostly in the ‘andar ni parsal’ and the rasodu

Peculiar combination of an intimate formality, and exquisite craftsmanship in wood enlivened further by the subtle and uplifting play with colour.


The three-part division of the facades, often with a tall door or window in each part, is of very European style—especially when decorated with pilasters

The interior of the house, though, is organized around the cultural values of community, with a central room (the one with the “courtyard”) the everyday family living space.

Windows off the raised ground floor, with or without window seats, are decorated richly—they are the main architectural elements on the façade 3 part division of the

facade

Richly decorated ceiling, made of stucco plaster or POP.



Intricate timber railings, flooring , and partitions

The Bohrawad “courtyard” is generally no more than a series of cutouts in every floor, lined up one above the other.

The opening is small, about 4 sq. ft , and covered with a metal grille or mesh for safety.

Provide natural light and ventilation without letting too much of the weather in.

The shaft also helps the hot air to escape, leaving the house cooler.

This vertical shaft also lets families on different floors of the house stay in touch. Each family achieved a level of privacy, as in an apartment, while connection across families was maintained by the architecture.


Thank you! PRESENTED BY-SHREYA DESHPANDEPOOJA DIXIT

dawoodi bohra houses

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