Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

A STUDY ON THE BUILT HERITAGE AND VISUAL PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE FADING IMAGEABILITY OF THE RURAL SETTLEMENT OF NARASINGANPETTAI, THANJAVUR IN TAMIL NADU INDIA

Ar. Shravanthi Gopalakrishnan and Ar. A Purushothaman

Abstract

Increasing urbanization has a significant effect on the loss of heritage value of any rural settlements. Over the years due to the changing technology and trends, the characters that define the identity is fading away, losing its historic value and significance. Rural India is fast losing its historic fabric and identity. In this context, perceiving the heritage of a settlement which is fading slowly and reestablishing its identity becomes a virtue. The Imageability of any settlement is the unique defining character that gives the settlement its identity. This Imageability is defined by the settlement pattern, the quality of the streets, and the elements of built heritage. The aim of this paper is to establish the defining characteristics, understand the Imageability of the rural settlement of Narasingampettai village at Thanjavur district, physical elements, morphological evolution that has taken place over the years and its effect on the alteration of the image of the settlement. A heritage pocket was identified and around 160 houses were observed and documented insitu and a questionnaire survey for a random stratified sample of 150 people was conducted. The data is statistically analyzed to ascertain the characteristics of the built heritage, identify the unique architectural elements, and evaluate the visual perception. The results show a high dependency on the built heritage for imageability. The results of which could be used for evaluating and re-establishing its identity states that amongst the three factors: age of the building, predominant building materials and the architecture style, the third factor has the highest impact on determining the imageability of the settlement. Several architectural elements collectively contribute to the style of a building and to preserve the image of such buildings, traditional elements can be preserved or recreated using contemporary materials.