Atthangudi TilesMATERIAL STUDY

Artisans in Architecture

This study, research, documentation and information dissemination project hopes to bring together efforts so as to find a respectable space for artisans in architecture today.

Atthangudi tiles are handmade decorative cement floor tiles.

This art is 3 generations old ,around 120 to 150 years old. These tiles need no special machines and not even baking, as the ingredient used is not clay, but sand and cement. Just bare hands, a clean glass, and a mould are enough. Certain designs didn't even need the mould.

Manufacturing process

Sand: local kalve sand with higher quartz content. It is formed of weathered rocks and found locally.

Cement: used as base

Oxides: used as coloring agents. Different proportion of sand, cement and oxide used to give different colors.

Equipments

Frames: bounding box for tile

Moulds: patterned tile making

Mild steel 20 mm thk

Wooden drawing tool: free hand pattern tile

Glass plates: base plates for smooth surface

float glass, frosted & textured

glass

miscellaneous: ladles, leveling equipment,

mixing equipment

Ladles : pouring the oxide

AinA Pg-2

1. Preparing of dry cement and sand mixture in the ratio 1:3 respectively.

2. Preparing of wet cement sand water mixture in the ratio 1:3:5 respectively

3. Preparing of oxide proportions 4. Setting up the workplace

Oxides- proportionsThe proportions of sand cement and oxide determine the colour. Trial and error method is adopted to obtain various shades while regular shades have fixed proportions.

Yellow:

8 Cement4 Yellow oxide

1 white cement4 sand

White:

2 Cement4 Yellow oxide

4 white cement

1 sand

Blue:

4 Cement1 blue oxide

2 sand

Green:

4 Cement1 green oxide

2 sand

Red:

3 Cement1 red oxide

1.5 sand

Other colors like burgundy, purple black, rust, pastel shades etc made by changing proportions

Tile properties:- Cheap and simple production method

- Simple tile maintenance, to be cleaned with water only.

- Custom made designs possible at cheap rates.

- Variety of designs and colors available.

- Porous, so no under water use and also catches stains quickly.

- No polish required after laying

- Naturally gets polished with use

- Variations in colors and patterns due to handmade production.

- Due to less compact layers cannot take heavy loads.

- One damaged tile in floor cannot be replaced.

- Tile size limitation due to production process.

- Due to use of oxide fading of colors in direct sunlight.

AinA Pg-3

30-40 secs

20 - 30 secs

20 - 30 secs

15 secs20 secs

20 - 30 secs

5-15 secs

Workman 1:

Cleaning the frame

Setting the frame and mould on the glass.

Workman 2:

Putting dry cement sand mixture on the earlier tile as a jointing compound.

Leveling the layer of dry mixture.

Step 1

Step 2

Workman 1:Pouring of oxide into the mould.

Leveling of oxide and removing the mould.Putting of first layer of dry cement mortar and sending it to workman 2.

Workman 2:Putting of wet cement sand mixture.Leveling the mixture.

Compressing the tile with the metal plate.

Finishing tile edges and removing of the frame. then sending it for stacking

AinA Pg-4

2 days

2 days

10 days

drying curing drying

Floor border

10” x 10” 10”x 5”

8” x 8” 8” x 6”

8” x 5”

8” x 4”

Oxide layer

3-4 mm thk

Cement sand layer (dry) 3-4 mm thk

Cement mortar (base)

10 mm thk

Tile sizes

Tile layers

Areas that we need to work upon:

- Instead of using ladles to pour the oxide, different sized nozzles can be used. It would result into uniform layer of oxide, possibility of intricate designs and would be faster to pour.

- The compression technique with the aid of a metal plate does not provide the required pressure needed to attain the adequate compactness.

- The layers are manually leveled which results into restriction of the tile sizes.

- Due the raw material, the tile thickness cannot be reduced as it makes the tile brittle.

- During curing discoloration occurs around the edges

AinA Pg-5

Varieties of tiles:

Flat shade tiles: tiles with a single flat color.

Hand patterned tiles: tiles with organic patterns and free-flowing designs.

Molded patterned tiles: tiles with ornamental intricate or bold patterns. Available in variety of colors.

Textured tiles: Tiles with textured surface for areas like bathrooms where friction on the floor is needed.various frosted textures and patterned textures available.

Border tiles: border tiles in smaller sizes which can be used for skirting or for framing of the floor tiles.

Motifs : smaller motifs for inserts in between the tiles

Combined patterned tiles: Tessellation of repetitive patterns to create a complete form with border tiles andmotif inserts.

Tile costs:

- Locally it costs Rs 18 per sq. feet.

- Out of state it costs Rs 25 per sq. feet including the laying charges and excluding the transportation

- Cost of one tile:

Within 30kms- Rs. 8/-

Madras- Rs. 10/- to 12/-

Bangalore- Rs 15/-

AinA Pg-6