Envisaging the scope of amphibious architecture in below sea level regions of Kuttanad

EasyChair Preprint no. 1308

Abstract

For centuries, Kuttanad has been the focus in agriculture as it is the only place in India where paddy farming is done below sea level and also gained the fame “Rice bowl of Kerala” for the past years. However, over the recent years, the situation has changed and frequent floods with high intensity are occurring and successive damage episodes are happening. The people of Kuttanad are now facing huge difficulties during floods especially the recurring damages happening to their properties and moving to some other safe places for shelter. Since Kuttanad is one of the most vulnerable area for flood, proper technologies should be implemented here to provide flood proof, safe and affordable structures for all residents of Kuttanad especially because majority of them are farmers and belong to Below Poverty Line. This report will explore and documents the various ways of protecting and creating a sustainable living environment for residents in Kuttanad with the help of floating architecture. This dissertation will answer the questions like “How can a structure sits in ground can survive during floods?” In this dissertation, I focus on Amphibious architecture, which is the technique to provide houses for flood residents functioning both in land and water. Amphibious Architecture is cost effective and safe alternative for permanent static elevation with improved recovery from the disaster and it is achieved by buoyant foundations. In order to ensure the well-being of the inhabitants, number of case studies are analyzed and interacted with the residents of Kuttanad itself, for the purpose of identifying key features that will facilitate the construction of amphibious houses in Kuttanad. This report is a response to design challenges raised by recent disastrous flood happened in 2018.

Keyphrases: amphibious architecture, below sea level farming sysytem, Kuttanad floods, living with flood

@Booklet{EasyChair:1308,
  author = {Nikhila Nelson},
  title = {Envisaging the scope of amphibious architecture in below sea level regions of Kuttanad},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 1308},

  year = {EasyChair, 2019}}