THEORY OF

ARCHITECTU
RE
DEPARTMENT OF ADT
GURAGE HOUSES

NON TEACHING SECTION-1

SUBMITTED TO: Mr. TSEGAYE
ZAFU
ALPINE SKI HOUSE
 GURAGE
VERNACULAR  LOCATION

ARCHITECTURE  CULTURE

PRESENTATION CONTENTS
YOUR TITLE
 HOUSE MAKING PROCESS
 FLOOR PLANS AND ELEVATION

GOES HERE
 VILLAGE SETTING
 MATERIALS USED

SUBTITLE
 INTERIOR GOES HERE
 CONCLUSION

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 GURAGE
“SKILLED TRADERS” – NEGA
MEZLEKIA

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LOCATION
 Gurage peoples are a Semitic-speaking ethnic
group inhabiting Ethiopia

 They inhabit the Gurage Zone, a fertile, semi-

mountainous region in central Ethiopia, about
125 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa,
bordering the Awash River in the north, the
Gibe River, a tributary of the Omo River, to
the southwest, and Hora-Dambal in the east.

 The principal crop of the Gurage is ensete

(also "false banana plant"). This has a
massive stem that grows underground and is
involved in every aspect of Gurage life.
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LIFE AND CULTURE
 Agriculture: The Gurage are primarily
agriculturalists, and farming is an integral
part of their culture and livelihood.

 Social organization: Gurage society is

organized into clans and lineages. Each clan
has its own territory, and descent is traced
through the male line. And judging system
called “ye joka”

 Traditional housing: Traditional Gurage

houses are typically round or rectangular with
thatched roofs made from grass or leaves.
The walls are constructed using mud or
woven bamboo. ALPINE SKI HOUSE 5
HOUSE MAKING
DIGGING , WALLS THEN COLUMN
AND ROOFING

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INTRODUCTION
 Gurage houses encompass all the
essential elements found in houses now
a days. And one thing that is very
amazing about their architecture is that
they don’t use any nails for the
structures to be erected

 However, they differ from modern

construction methods in that the walls
are erected before the columns, as
opposed to the conventional sequence
of foundation, columns, and then walls.

 The construction process involves a

collaborative effort, and also require
the expertise of ALPINE
skilled craftsmen.
SKI HOUSE 7
CONTINUED…
 Construction of the house is carried out
in collaboration, but particular parts
need special crafts men. Starting from
the site clearing it is made in group,
which makes their work easy even
though the house making needs details
and hard to install.

 Door framing

 Central supporting pole

 Roof supporting struts and thatching

needs the special craftsmen to work

ALPINE SKI HOUSE 8

SITE CLEARING AND
EXCAVATION
 Is the first step in the construction of
Gurage houses.

 Clearing the site would make the

construction easy and levelling the site
is also included in the process. (ሼት
ይመወርጪ).

 The second step is excavating

(digging) in circle (use traditional
measurement), for the walls to be
inserted and the center for the pillars
even though the pillars are inserted
later.
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WALLS AND OPENINGS
 The walls in which the houses are
made of is called “Gordera” or
“Zhemar” (is made from a strong
eucalyptus tree, this is inserted to the
holes dug or excavated earlier that act
as a wall and also a support for the
whole Gojo house.

 The gordera is choosen because the

wood is long lasting without decaying
and it is cut in perfect half before it is
inserted to the holes.

ALPINE SKI HOUSE 10

CONTINUED…
 And on top of that bamboo, the gordera
is covered by a bamboo on the outside
horizontally which creates a beautiful
design and also gives a stronger
support for the wall.

 The gordera and the bamboo are tied

with a rope like object called “kacha”
or “abita” or “weficho”. (are found
from stem of an enset and pine
trees ,will be later discussed.)

 And on the interior the walls are

finished by mud and has additional
decorating materials
ALPINEon the
SKIinside.
HOUSE 11
CONTINUED…
 Windows: 2 windows are often built
on the house but the number can
increase with the functions. And the
windows are made of wood board with
opening.

 Door: like the windows the doors are

also made from wood board and it is
placed in front of the pillar on the
center of the circle. The doors are often
named as “giye qerqer” or “a door that
is positioned to prevent dogs from
entering” and the doors are not tall as
the doors now rather they are short and
the opening make it easySKI
ALPINE to HOUSE
see what’s12
inside.
WEGA

PILLAR AND ROOF

 As father is the head of the family and
the pillar is the head of the house.

 Pillar: The pillar is also named as

“Echba” or “Cheban” found on the
very center of the house which
supports the roof.
ECHBA
 “Wega” : are supporting members
made of timber that connects and holds
the roof and pillar together. This
structure is connected to the pillar not
with a nail rather with a hole dug
through the pillar and spreads out
through the entire ceiling.SKI HOUSE 13
ALPINE
CONTINUED…
 Mothers often utilize the weka as a
covert storage space for personal
belongings.

 The roof is constructed using sturdy

timber in a circular shape, securely
linked to both the walls and the roof for
added stability.

 To prevent sunlight and rain from

seeping through, dry grasses are placed
atop the timber roof.

 The roof is connected to the wall,

known as zhemar, using abita, and its
ALPINE
width surpasses SKI HOUSE
the wall's circular14
 INTERIOR
OPEN FLOOR PLANS, DECORATIVE
INTERIORS AND “THE GORDET”

“From all parts of the house, Qaqet is the

best.” Implies that qaqet is the room that is
loved the most in their tradition.
ALPINE SKI HOUSE 15
INTERIOR
 The interior is decorated with colorful
decorative materials but, comparing to
the houses now a days there is a limited
amount of sunlight entering to the
house.

 Rooms often don’t have partitions. And

because of the height of the ceiling
there is ample circulation of air
throughout the house.

 Most of Gurage houses have the same

floor plans and the internal partitions in
the house doesn’t reach to the roof,
have the height of the exterior walls.
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THE GORDET
 Is the traditional fire place (chimney),
found near the pillar. It is designed and
made entirely out of mud.

 Once the mud is ready after kneaded

until it is pliable and then it is molded
into beautiful designs.

 Then a hole is dug, then it will be a pit

that is flattened with soil and crammed
up evenly and mud and animal dung is
molded and placed on top of that.

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CONTINUED…
 There is a hole on the center of the
gordet which is used to store the ember
over night and used for another day.
And the fire they get on the next day is
known as “yesheswe esat”.

 The fire is stored on the hole within a

pot called “Gonzia”

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ROOMS
 Even though it is an open floor plan
there are rooms and spaces which
divide the sleeping, living and spaces
for the cattle.

 Living room: the living room includes

the place where they eat, the Gordet
and the a place for the guest to rest
(Qaqet).

 Bedroom: usually the bedroom has no

partitions that clearly defines the space
but sometimes they use curtains or
partitions to define the space of the
bedroom. ALPINE SKI HOUSE 19
CONTINUED…
 The rooms mentioned in the previous
slide take up over 50% of the interior
space of the house, while the remaining
portion is dedicated to a specific room
for cattle.

 Historically, the cattle room was

located at the back of the house
without any clear separation from the
living area, but nowadays there is a
wooden partition in place.

 This room also serves as a small

kitchen for simple household tasks,
although the main kitchen is located in
a separate area designated
ALPINE for that20
SKI HOUSE
CONTINUED…
 The room includes a sleeping area, a small
gordet and a place where materials are
stored inside.

 The sleeping area of the cattle is full of dry

grass to make it comfortable for the cattle.

 is a sloppy area which is intentionally made

to the to drain their manure and is used to
make the gordet and other materials for the
house hold by carefully molding them.

 There is a storage area above the barn

“Kote” , “ቆጥ” or loft. It is mainly used for
storing chopped wood when Meskel or
Arefa is coming.

ALPINE SKI HOUSE 21

FLOOR PLAN OF
GURAGE HOUSES
 Gurage has mainly 3 rooms without
partitions between them but now a days they
have partitions between the living room and
the cattle room to avoid the smell coming.

 1. Gader and derar: room for cooking and

cattle keeping, found on the left side of the
house.

 2.qaqet: the main living room.

 3. bedroom

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ELEVATION AND
SECTION
 Very little mud plaster is used in gurage
house just to fill unavoidable voids between
split wood.

 The horizontal rings of the wall frame work

are made from split bamboo and they
usually placed at interval of not more than
30cm

 The height of the wall is is 2-2.5 m long and

the pillar is over the double of the height of
the wall.

ALPINE SKI HOUSE 23

FLOORING
 There is no floor finishing like cement
and tiles on the floor but instead they use
“Jibe” as a flooring, made of weficho
and qacha. And this jibe is not washed by
water.

• Yewefonche jibe: the jibe near the

entrance.

• Yeqaqet jibe: the jibe on the qaqet or

living room and it is thin and also has its
own beautiful design that differs from the
others.

• Yechbe jibe: the jibe near the pillar.

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 MATERIALS
USED
Unique material used by gurage people
for the construction are discussed

Enset is the heart beat for the people,

almost everything include enset directly
or indirectly.
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MATERIALS
 There are lots of materials used in the
processes of building houses in gurage.

 Abita: is a vine string, that is used as a rope,

it is found from the plants in the forest
mainly used to tie the Qerkeha running
through the wall, not only abita is used for
house making it is also used in bridge
making.

 Weficho: together with abita it is used to tie

the bamboo on the wall and the roof with
the wall.

 Kacha: It is a durable and resilient material

derived from the enset plant, commonly
employed as a cordage with exceptional
ALPINE SKI HOUSE 26
tensile strength and resistance to breakage.
CONTINUED…
 Weisa: a small axe used for carving the
gordera for the roof exactly to be placed on
the top

 Maresha: traditional farming material used

for digging holes for the placement of the
gordera.

 Qerkeha(Bamboo) : a flexible, traditional

bamboo mats used as walls, paneling, or
wall cladding.

 Cattle dung: it is used together with mud

for the plastering of the walls in the
interiors, to smoothen the floor and the
gordet.
ALPINE SKI HOUSE 27
VILLAGE SETTING
 Jefore: is the name for the avenue, it is a place
where several events takes place.
 It could be conciliation, meditation, wedding
or even horse riding.

 All the houses in gurage have enset in their

backyards, which is also called false banana

 The enset provides livelihood as well as a

secondary building material for the house.

ALPINE SKI HOUSE 28

THANK YOU
Group Members
1. Abenezer Temesgen
2. Kidist Mulat
3. Mitiku Amare
4. Samuel Ababaw
5. Henok Mesele
ALPINE SKI HOUSE