Architecture of Indus Valley Civilization
Contents
Town Planning:
The town-planning of Harappan culture is one of its most impressive aspects, as though it was the handiwork of a genius of an architect. Immaculate was the arrangement of the city. In every aspect like roads, houses, drainage, bath, granary, the Harappan people have left an imprint of originality and brilliance.
Streets & External Drainage:
The most prominent feature of Indus Valley Civilisation architecture is the drainage system. It shows how important cleanliness was for them, and it was achieved through having a series of drains running along the streets that connected to larger sewers in the main streets.
Houses:
The advanced living style houses are the most important part of Indus Valley Civilisation architecture. People lived in stone houses that were 2-3 stories high and all of them had sewage systems. The system was built with mud bricks and ran under the street.
Wells & Sanitation:
Within the city, individual homes or groups of homes obtained water from wells. Most houses also had private wells. There is also found in Harappa a central depression that might have been a public pool for drinking and washing which allowed wider access to the resource. There are more private than public wells, which points to the fact that the public wells probably got polluted or run out due to heavy use and affluent citizens then dug their own. A special class of labourers probably periodically cleaned these rooms.
Public Buildings:
One of the important building or structure of the Indus Valley Civilisation was ‘The Great Bath’. It is one of the well known structures of the time and the said civilisation. It has been traced and found in the ruins of the old settlement of Mohenjo-Daro i.e. in the present day Sindh of Pakistan. Mohen jodaro is one of the largest settlements of Indus valley civilization and provide a great deal of information about the facts, dress codes, lifestyle of the people.
Building Materials:
The main materials used were sun-dried and burnt bricks, which were made in molds of 1:2:4 ratios. Easy availability of wood for burning meant baked bricks were used in abundance in Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Mud mortar and gypsum cement is also in evidence, and mud plaster and gypsum plaster are also found to have been used.