Saythu: Building Conservation Resources

In one of our previous blogs we had said that ‘historic buildings are constructed of natural materials and hence they behave differently’. In this blog we discuss ‘what is different’ through one example: stone masonry in construction of historic structures, particularly South Indian temples.  Typically in South Indian temple architecture stone masonry is constructed either as a single veneer or as a three veneer composite masonry. By single veneer I mean masonry with single layer of stone blocks in regular bonding. Composite masonry has inner and outer veneers in stone masonry and a core filled with rubble and mud or in few cases brick masonry in lime mortar.  In both types the important point to note is that the veneers are of dry stone masonry – meaning there is no mortar used in construction of the stone walls. Then how are the stones joined? How do they stay in place? Would the blocks not collapse with a strong push to the wall? What happens in case of earthquake? Well, th