Students of Eighth Semester Architecture along with two faculty members, embarked upon an eight-day study tour of Uttarakhand (also known as Dev Bhoomi), in the month of January 2020. The state of Uttarakhand is broadly divided into Garhwal and Kumaon regions and the tour traversed the latter, covering Nainital, Ranikhet, Almora, Baijnath Valley,Dwarahat, Kausani and Jim Corbett National Park.
The students observed and learned a variety of architecture styles and construction technologies. Starting from the ancient temples of the Baijnath Valley and the Mritunjay temple complex of Dwarahat which were built of stones with little or no mortar, to the pre-independence structures of the hotels – the Naini Retreat and the Palace Belvedere at Nainital, to structures that displayed application of traditional knowledge to modern structures as seen in the War Museum at Ranikhet and the Anasakti Ashram at Kausani and finally the totally modern brick and concrete structures built on contoured sites. In addition, they also saw the traditional houses that were built with stone walls and slate roofing.
A study tour based architectural design problem of an Eco-Resort was set, to be designed on a contoured site located near Kausani, adjoining a tea garden and having a splendid view of the Himalayan ranges towards the North.