UROOSI - ART AND CULTURE
News:
In Srinagar, fighting seismic threats the Mughal style
What's in the news?
● 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 realization 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:
● Uroosi
is believed to be a Persian term meaning ‘hidden
bride’.
● Uroosi
is a Mughal-era home architectural
element.
● Uroosi
are wooden shutters used as
partition walls within homes, instead of concrete walls.
● 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.
Dhajji Diwari:
● 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.