A vernacular atlas of Himachal
A vernacular atlas of Himachal Pradesh — drawn, measured, photographed. Eighteen years of fieldwork across Kinnaur, Shimla and Sirmaur, documenting building methods, materials and forms shaped by the hills long before any code was written for them: timber-laced stone walls that flex in an earthquake, slate laid to shed four feet of snow, techniques refined over centuries and disappearing in a generation.
That fieldwork continues as doctoral research at NIT Hamirpur, where Ar. Suresh Sharma is pursuing a PhD in Architecture (2024–present), with coursework at IIT Roorkee, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Madras spanning the practical and environmental questions vernacular building raises today.
Doctoral coursework
- International Studies in Vernacular Architecture
- Architectural Conservation and Historic Preservation
- Sustainable Architecture
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Understanding and Reducing GHG Emissions — Building Design and Construction
- Building Materials and Composites
- Research Methodology for Planning and Architectural Studies
The work is published open — for students, conservationists and anyone building in the hills.