ABSTRACT
Santals mostly live in Northern parts of Bengal. Santal houses are distinct in the precision of mud construction and style of space formation. Most of the existing studies on Santals focus on the ethnographic, demographic, political and social issues. As such their vernacular construction techniques, use of materials and space typology has been rarely examined. This study explores use of material, construction and space typology in selected villages of North Bengal. From analyzing the space formation of villages it focuses on few selected dwellings to demonstrate these issues in detail. In Santal dwellings the socio cultural dynamics shape the physical spaces. This study attempts to analyze these subtle yet strong relationships through case studies. Structured observation and interviews with locals and experts were used to explore the space typology, process of the construction, use of building material, construction techniques and methods, etc.
