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SETTLEMENT LOCATION AND DISTRIBUTION
People have been very particular about the location of their dwellings and giving importance to the sitting and situation of houses.
Old time settlements were located in the center of the village and agriculture area surrounded it, but in the past 30-50 years many new settlements have been constructed in different places of agricultural land.
The settlement is of dispersed type because the villagers site their houses on their individual fields. The area also remained safe and secure, and therefore the people did not find it necessary to cluster their houses together in selected sites. Thus the houses are scattered throughout the village from one end to the other end.
DESIGN OF HOUSE
The important house type of the village is Wakhi house type. The Wakhi house is the combination of all human activities in one open connected space. The whole structure is erected on five central pillars to support the roof. The fireplace is in the middle of the floor. The different functions of houses are located around the central fireplace (buxari)(gafe). The house has a lantern ceiling type. The roofs have chimney holes (ricen) of about nine inches in diameter, which is the only way to let in light. During rain or snow a lid being placed over it, closes the ventilator. The roof is completely flat from end to end.
The inside of the house is divided into different sections to be used for different purpose e-g. siting (nikard), sleeping (razh), store (ganz) etc. The villagers have also a separate portion for guests called "Bangula". This mostly comprise two to three rooms for guests.
Next to the entrance on the left side we find the room or storeroom. The entrance Kunj comprises the lowest level of the house as well as the place, which is called Yorch, where all footwear has to be left on the right and the left side two elevated platforms to be found called Razh, which are utilized for sitting during the day and for sleeping at night. When one enters the house the right platform is assigned to men and the left one to women. Behind central fireplace there is the cooking platforms called Dildung. This is the special sphere for the housewife for long houses. She is occupied with preparation of food for the whole family, the preparation and distribution of food is done here and she can survey the whole scene. Behind the cooking platform there is Chikish and store, which is reserved for housewife. There all utensils are displayed in a cupboard Trak and edible are stored in special containers of the store. Guests are asked to rest against the pillars supporting the flat roof and to sit in the corner of their respective platform (Dildong Ben), which is the place closet to fire in order to importance. The animal portion called Ghel is built at some distance from the house. It consists of three to four rooms. There is also a room for storage of fodder called wueshdoon.
