The social, political and architectural history of India is dominated by men. The country’s most famous monument, the Taj Mahal, is dedicated to a woman, yet very few people know that there are many beautiful historic structures that were commissioned by women in the past.

This list celebrates 9 women from Indian history who left us some lovely monuments. It is time to bring their unsung contributions into the limelight.

1. Itmad Ud Daula, Agra

Photo Source

The first marble tomb in India, Itmad Ud Daula mausoleum was built by Noor Jehan on the banks of river Yamuna as a tribute to her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg (Itmad-ud-Daula was the title given to Mirza Ghiyas Beg). Elegant and painstakingly crafted, the delicate decorative work on this monument clearly has a distinctive feminine touch. With an inlay work of red and yellow sandstone, the tomb looks like a beautiful jewel box from a distance.

2. Virupaksha Temple, Pattadakal

Photo Source

Not to be confused with the better known Virupaksha Temple at Hampi, the Virupaksha Temple at Pattadakal was built by Queen Lokamahadevi in 740 AD to commemorate her husband King Vikramaditya II’s victory over the Pallava rulers. A beautiful blend of the north Indian Nagara style and the south Indian Dravida style of temple architecture, the magnificent temple is also called the Lokeshwara Temple as a tribute to the queen who built it.

3. Humayun’s Tomb, Delhi

Photo Source

The first garden-tomb on the Indian subcontinent, Humayun’s tomb was built by his wife, Hamida Banu Begum (also known as Haji Begum).  Persian and Indian craftsmen worked together to build this grand red sandstone mausoleum that is famous for its inlaid tile work and carved stone screens that integrate decorative elements from both cultures. It was also the first Indian building to use the Persian double dome in its architecture.

You may also like: These 34 World Heritage Sites Will Make You Fall in Love with India Again

4. Rani Ka Vav, Patan

Photo Source

An intricately constructed stepwell, Rani Ka Vav was built by Udaymati for her husband King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty in the 11th century. Stepwells were a distinctive form of subterranean water resource and storage systems in medieval India that evolved into elaborate multi-storey works of art and architecture. Designed in the Maru-Gurjara style as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water, Rani Ka Vav has seven levels of stairs, more than 500 principal sculptures and over a thousand minor ones on its panelled walls.

5. Khayr al-Manazil, Delhi

Photo Source

An imposing two-storied structure located directly opposite the Purana Qila, Khayr-al-Manazil mosque was built in 1561 by Maham Anga, a powerful wet nurse of Emperor Akbar. An influential woman of the court, she briefly ruled the Mughal empire during Akbar’s childhood. The mosque has five high arches that lead into the main prayer hall. The hall has beautiful inscriptions but the most impressive feature of the mosque is its massive red sandstone gateway.

6. Mirjan Fort, Kumta

Photo Source

Perched on a bank of the river Aganashini, Mirjan Fort is a lofty fort enclosed by a double layer of high walls and towering bastions. Queen Chennabhairadevi of Gersoppa established and lived in this mighty fort during the 16th century for about 54 years. Nicknamed ‘Raina de Pimenta’ or ‘The Pepper Queen’ by the Portugese because she ruled over lands that grew the best pepper, she gave refuge to several artisans fleeing from wars in distant lands. In turn, they helped the queen build a strategically strong fort of her own.

7. Lal Darwaza Masjid, Jaunpur

Photo Source

Built in 1447 by Rajye Bibi, queen of Sultan Mahmood Sharqi of Jaunpur, the Lal Darwaza mosque is dedicated to Saint Sayyid Ali Dawood Kutubbudin. Built as almost a replica of the Atala Masjid, the Lal Darwaza mosque is smaller and gets its name from the imposing vermillion painted gate. The queen also founded the first school for girls in the region during her husband’s reign and a madrasa built by her, Jamia Hussainia, still stands.

8.  Mohinishwara Shivalay Temple, Gulmarg

Photo Source

Built in 1915 by Maharani Mohini Bai Sisodia, wife of the then king of Kashmir, Raja Hari Singh, Mohinishwara Shivalay Temple stands proudly on a small hill, right in the middle of Gulmarg. Named in honour of the queen who built it, the Maharani Temple was the royal temple of the Dogra dynasty of Kashmir. With its bright red sloping roof framed against a background of snowy peaks, the picturesque temple is visible from almost every corner of Gulmarg town.

Also Read: Experience Medieval Bathing Rituals at This Ancient Hammam, Bhopal’s 300-Year-Old Turkish Bath

9. Mahim Causeway, Mumbai

Photo Source

The princely sum of Rs 1.67 lakh used to build the Mahim Causeway in 1843 was almost entirely provided by Lady Avabai Jamshedjee, the wife of famous Parsi businessman Jamshedjee Jejeebhoy. A tragedy, in which 20 boats capsized in the marshy swirling waters of the Mahim creek, compelled Avabai to commission the linking of Bandra island with mainland Bombay through a causeway. The Mahim Causeway later became and still is an important lifeline of the city of Mumbai.

Like this story? Have something to share? Email: contact@thebetterindia.com, or join us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia). To get positive news on WhatsApp, just send ‘Start’ to 090 2900 3600 via WhatsApp.

The Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti in Delhi is home to many monuments that have been damaged over the years due to various reasons. These buildings are now being restored using a traditional craft-based approach. 

Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, was buried in the Nizamuddin area in the 14^th century. Since it is considered auspicious to be buried near a saint’s tomb, many other tombs came up in the locality over hundreds of years, making this part of Delhi, rich in the architecture of medieval Islamic buildings.

 One of the many tombs in this area is Humayun’s Tomb, the first garden tomb in the Indian sub-continent, which was declared a World Heritage site in 1993.

                                                         Photo credit: C Ram Rehman

In 1997, the gardens of the Humayun’s Tomb were restored by the Aga Khan Development Network with permission from the Indian government.  After the successful completion of this project, in 2007, this foundation associated itself with the Archaeological Survey of India, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi and the Central Public Works Department, and has embarked on an urban renewal initiative in the historic Nizamuddin area. Many projects have been completed since then and some are still in progress.

“Through this initiative we have managed to complete the conservation work in over 30 monuments in this area. We are working towards creating a 100 acre city park with sensitive landscaping in the Sunder Nursery-Batashewala Complex, which is almost done. We are also working towards making significant improvements in the lives of the residents of this seven century old basti,” says Ms Archana Saad Akhtar, Senior Program Officer, Design and Outreach, of the Aga Khan Development Network.

The monument conservation project aims to demonstrate the need for a traditional craft-based approach to conserve India’s monumental buildings.

                                                    Photo credit: AKDN Archives

Conservation works in the Nizamuddin area have helped revive traditional crafts and age old craft skills. Hence, stone carvers, masons, plasterers, glazed tile makers, brick layers, art conservators, and carpenters work alongside architects and engineers. The architects and engineers do not take any decisions on the restoration work without taking inputs from all the craftsmen, who are extremely skilled in their particular fields. These craftsmen are encouraged to match the work of their forefathers using traditional tools, building traditions and materials.

“At the onset of the project, it became clear that in the recent past, particularly in the 20th century, repair works were carried out on many of these monuments using inappropriate materials like cement. These had to be removed and replaced with traditional building materials that were originally used – like lime plaster,” says Dhani Ram from Rajasthan, who is a master craftsman working mainly with the Delhi quartzite stone.

The use of traditional building materials and original craft skills has helped to restore the historic character and architectural integrity of these monuments.

                                                         Photo credit: AKDN archives

Attar Singh has been working with Dholpuri stone for almost 35 years now.  He says, “In our hometown we would work with this particular stone, which is used for many modern buildings these days. The designs carved by us were repetitive and very basic. Ever since we became involved in restoring these age old monuments, our craft skills have been challenged and we have had to use our brains and hands well, to match up to our ancestors who used such intricate designs in these monuments.”

The restoration of the tile work on the canopies on the roof of Humayun’s Tomb was one of the many interesting challenges in this project. The ancient tiles were studied in detail and it was found that no Indian craftsman had the expertise to make these tiles with the specific glaze that was used centuries ago. A hunt across the world resulted in the conservationists being led to tile professionals in Uzbekistan who were then brought to India. These craftsmen trained some of the youth in the basti to make the tiles and glaze them too. The outcome of this incident was that many young people in the basti learnt new techniques, which have provided them with better income opportunities.

In addition, after four years of experimentation and training, the craftsmen at the tile workshop in the basti were able to produce tiles suitable for the restoration work of the canopies.

                                                                                   Photo credit: AKDN archives

To make the urban development initiative successful, a multidisciplinary team works together  to restore monuments in the Nizamuddin area. The experts working on the ground are architects and engineers with various specialisations, historians, educators, doctors, public health specialists, horticulturists, ecologists, designers, project managers, administrators, and finance specialists. The residents of the basti too have been trained to take on specific responsibilities under the guidance of specialized consultants.

The project aims to establish a model conservation process in the Indian context. This process, in addition to the emphasis on utilizing building craft traditions, is based on exhaustive documentation using state of the art technology such as 3D laser scanning, archival research spanning centuries of accumulated materials, peer review by independent national and international experts, and high levels of supervision.

For more information log onto www.facebook.com/NizamuddinRenewal

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on Whatsapp!

Conservation architect Vikas Vedprakash Dilawari is the brains behind the restoration of several Mumbai gems, including the Bhau Daji Lad museum, Flora Fountain, Esplanade House, Alpaiwala Museum and the Lal Chimney Compound.

It’s 2:30 pm on a Monday and it seems to be a very busy afternoon at the office of Vikas Dilawaris Architects, located in Jawahar Nagar, Goregaon West; the company is owned by Vikas Vedprakash Dilawari, a 48-year-old Conservation Architect. The office is filled with young employees, some are busy working on their computers, others are taking prints and still others are rushing into the cabin inside for a discussion with their boss.

After a while, putting all his work aside, he begins speaking:

“During the 1950s to the 1960s, my father came to Mumbai from Kashmir, to set up his own business. Even back in those days, Mumbai was considered The City of Gold, The Land of Opportunities and The Dreamers’ Paradise! He established his business here in Goregaon, which was a pleasant neighbourhood, since he owned a house here. Hence, my brother and I were born here in Mumbai.”

Bracketed on either side of the railway line by the Western Express Highway and Linking Road, Goregaon was primarily a middle-class residential neighbourhood. Until the late 1970s, the suburb was sparsely populated. This began to change when residential localities began to spring up.

“One of our favorite games during childhood days was to play with dragonflies and butterflies. Back in those days, there were no compound walls for houses, so my neighbourhood friends and me used to often spill out on the road to play. There were so many talavs, trees and birds. Mumbai gave me a beautiful childhood! But slowly slowly the birds started disappearing and houses started building compounds walls for safety reasons. Then came the box windows, the grills, the CCTVs… the list goes on and on now. And also, the concept of ‘neighbourhood friends’ does not exist anymore,” he says with disappointment.

During his school days in Jamnabai Narsee School, Juhu, Vikas Dilawari was very fascinated with history. But it was only when he started his B. A. in Architecture at the L S Raheja School in 1985 that he really discovered the architectural heritage of the city.

“Up until then, I hadn’t seen many of the heritage buildings,” he says. “I had always loved history, so my interest in historical buildings was natural I suppose.” Architecture school introduced him to many of our city’s beautiful structures, but it also showed him how little they were appreciated.

“We had an academic exercise where we were supposed to redesign Crawford Market. I tried to conserve it, but didn’t get good marks – people who demolished it got the best marks, so it motivated me to study further and do my thesis on it, just to prove that I was not wrong in conserving it. Hence, I landed up doing conservation, and there’s been no looking back since. Back then, conservation involved a lot of activism because it was not in fashion,” says Dilawari.

After he decided that he wanted to specialise in conservation architecture, he enrolled for an M. A. in the subject at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi.

Image Source

In 1990, he was among the first batch of Indian students with this specialisation. “When I got my degree, no one knew what it was because the concept of conservation architecture was introduced in India in 1985— so they thought I was doing ‘conversation architecture’,” he says with a laugh.

Back then, heritage buildings didn’t offer as much work or pay as other types of architecture. “Working as a conservation architect has definitely involved sacrifices,” says Dilawari. “You can’t make big money, although it is getting more comfortable now. Back then, getting to do small work on the exterior of the building was considered to be a great thing and interior work was out the question. Conservation is not like [contemporary] architecture or interior design: there are no quick projects. During my initial days we used to volunteer with various NGOs to conserve the buildings that the government wanted to demolish,” he adds.

Between 1986 and 1991, Dilawari began his career with the first heritage conservation project in the country, the Gaiety Theatre project in Shimla, under Ved Segan, the architect of Prithvi Theatre.

Image Source

Since then, Dilawari has actively helped build an infrastructure for conservation architecture, which was near non-existent when he started working. Perhaps the most important work has been putting together a skilled labour force: “Since conservation demands a lot of handcrafted work, there was huge requirement for good craftsmen. The difficulty in finding craftsmen who are professionals in working with traditional materials and delivering good quality of work is major challenge that we face even today.”

Inspite of all the challenges, in 2001, his restoration of the Rajabai Clock Tower, built between 1869 and 1878, received a UNESCO Asia Pacific Special Mention Award.

Years later, in 2005, his work on the 140-year-old Bhau Daji Lad museum in Byculla received the Award for Excellence – the only building in the city to have received this honour.

Image Source

His portfolio of work also includes an impressive array of other iconic Mumbai structures including: Flora Fountain, Esplanade House, Alpaiwala Museum (the only Parsi museum in the world), JN Petit Library, Army Navy Building, Standard Chartered Bank Office, Lal Chimney compound, Marzaban Colony in Mumbai Central, Royal Bombay Yacht Club Residential Chambers in Apollo Bunder and many more.

His work has been recognized by UNESCO 10 times, making him one of India’s top conservation architects.

Image Source

“The field of conservation architecture needs patience and also in-depth knowledge about the history of the building one is working with. It’s all about getting the building to look the way it was originally built,” he says.

Many a times, getting back the authentic look of a building led to Vikas Dilawari travelling across the globe. For example, to find the right hue for the Bhau Daji Lad museum was a particularly time-consuming process. Dilawari visited Victorian heritage buildings in the UK to make sure that the colours he found matched the ones under the layers of paint, operating much like a detective searching buildings for clues.

The process of sensitizing people about the value of heritage is the most important one and Dilawari is exploring all avenues to raise the next generation of conservation architects to whom he can pass the baton.

Image Source

He also conducts heritage walks as a means of raising awareness. After all, it was through heritage walks organized by his college that he fell in love with historic buildings. “I take children from my daughters’ school for these walks,” he says. “After all, we need to really think about the legacy that we are going to leave behind. Is it only redevelopment or we going to preserve our architectural heritage? My wife says that my future is in ruins but I tell her that ruins are what makes an archeologist happy,” he laughs.

To read similar stories and explore places through people, extend your support to The People Place Project here

Featured image source: 1, 2, 3

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us onFacebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on Whatsapp!

Ajinkyatara is one of the most important historical monuments in western Maharashtra, but languished in a state of dilapidation for many years. Watch how the efforts of a group of volunteers, led by a local dental surgeon, helped restore the fort and its surroundings.

Ajinkyatara, a 12th century fort that overlooks the historic city of Satara in western Maharashtra, may have had a prestigious place in Maratha history but not long ago, it was an ignored ruin. Dr. Avinash Pol, a dental surgeon living in Satara (and now an integral part of Paani Foundation) dreamed of transforming this situation – not by petitioning the government but by using his own two hands.

Dr. Pol and two other volunteers would meet every morning and do shramdaan, i.e. manual work, for two hours. Gradually, the group grew to around 40 volunteers from diverse backgrounds who do shramdaan daily 365 days of the year. Starting with cleaning the fort area, the group moved on to watershed management work on the large hilltop. Numerous water bodies on the hilltop came back to life as ground water levels in Satara city rose dramatically.

Ajinkyatara is the story of the power of citizens’ initiatives.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

Anthony Raj worked in the corporate sector for several years before he learnt about indigenous architecture techniques and became fascinated by them. Today, he builds many eco-friendly homes in India. This is his story.

“My family wanted to invest in a farmhouse on the outskirts of Chennai, back in 2010. Our search led me to Mudaliarkuppam in Edaikazhinadu, about 80 km from the city. We were thrilled to see the huge banyan trees and the abundance of coconut, cashew, and palmyra trees there. The greenery in the area motivated us to build something that would be in sync with this beautiful land. So we came up with the idea of constructing a house using eco-friendly material, utilising indigenous architecture techniques,” says Anthony Raj, the founder-director of the Centre for Indigenous Architecture, which promotes wellness by constructing buildings using holistic architectural methods.

Anthony, who left the corporate world behind a few years ago, is currently involved in building organic habitats across the country, using an indigenous architectural approach.

He started this journey with the construction of a farmhouse on his family’s land – a house that is now known as Arulville and is considered to be a model for sustainable architecture.

Indigenous architecture is based on local needs and availability of construction materials. It reflects the local traditions and is about the beauty and benefits of native architecture. The technique involves minimal use of cement, steel, paint, etc. The use of electricity for cooling is also minimised.

Locally available materials are used for eco-friendly, energy-efficient, cost-effective and sustainable construction.

The 61-year-old was inspired to take up this form of construction by Dr. Satyaprakash Varanasi, a former professor of architecture living in Bengaluru, who has been promoting eco-friendly, cost-effective architecture for years now. He wrote to Dr. Varanasi, requesting his help in building his dream house; Dr. Varanasi then introduced him to Dharmeshbhai Jadeja, an architect from Auroville.

“While Dharmeshbhai could not spare much time for us, he helped with the initial design of the farmhouse and gave it the look of a mini resort. He also gave me deep insights into the concept of indigenous architecture. That is how and when I was bitten by the indigenous architecture bug, its beauty, and its benefits. Soon, I designed the campus of the farmhouse with whatever little knowledge I had and with the help of contractors and artisans from Auroville,” he says.

Anthony used several techniques, using different indigenous materials. The construction team did not cut a single tree on the site; instead, the family has added 40 more trees over the years.

Today, Arulville serves as a ‘model house’, an eco-tourism destination, and as an inspiration for many students and teachers of architecture. The construction has been documented by several architecture students. It also serves as a mini exhibition of sorts for the demonstration of the various materials and techniques used in indigenous architecture.

“Arulville brought me a lot of appreciation and encouragement. Many have visited us here. Some had the fortune to stay and enjoy the environment it is enveloped in,” says Anthony.

Madly in love with this kind of architecture, which enhances health and happiness, Anthony decided he wanted to spread the concept as much as he could.

This is when he quit his job as the Executive Director of Shriram Group and set up the Centre For Indigenous Architecture (CFIA).

CFIA takes up one project at a time. This helps Anthony’s team members fully immerse themselves in every aspect of design and construction. Anthony’s second project, right after the farmhouse, was a centre called Vedapatashala where Vedic scholars teach and discuss Vedic practices.

Since then, the team has built an ashram campus, constructed right in the middle of a granite quarry, and a small bungalow located on a sandy beachfront. They are currently working on a home for senior citizens in Chennai, where they are trying to reduce the noise level and fight industrial heat and dust because the home is coming up in the heart of an industrial estate.

“All my buildings are designed to provide physical and visual comfort through proper ventilation, rather than depending on heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC),” says Anthony.

Some of the traditional cooling techniques employed in tropical climatic zones include Madras terrace, rammed earth walls, sloped clay tiled roofs, etc. Such constructions are highly resistant to radiation and help in conduction of heat to bring thermal comfort to the occupants despite the heat and humidity. Additionally, most of these buildings have verandahs as buffer spaces that protect the external walls from direct sunlight. Shading the external walls up to 50% from the sun is necessary for those living in hot and humid climates.

Anthony says the discovery of this construction method was an inward journey for him. “I did not travel much for research except for a few visits to Auroville. Coming from Nagercoil in Tamil Nadu, I had seen traditional style dwellings when I was young. I had also seen many such houses in Kerala, erstwhile Bombay, and Bangalore. This is why I refer to it as the ‘grandfather’s house architecture’. My work is my tribute to the innate wisdom and practicality of our ancestors. It is a salute to their practice of building climate-responsive habitats over the centuries.”

“With increasing urbanisation, and consequent changes in lifestyles and affordability, we are bidding goodbye to the more sensible, healthier habitats of yore. To reverse this trend, architects must demonstrate the beauty and benefits of indigenous architecture in urban, semi-urban and industrial contexts,” he adds.

Anthony is not a trained architect but he has never been afraid of venturing into new territory. He says architecture is his passion and full-time hobby.

“Strangely, I have never felt any fear. Not when I invested the family’s hard-earned savings in a crazy project like Arulville. Not by the fact that I am not a trained architect. In fact, this career after my voluntary retirement is a dream come true. The joy of designing for the specific needs of each client is only matched by the wonder and appreciation you see in their eyes at every stage of construction,” he says.

In the future, Anthony wants to empower young architects through the Centre For Indigenous Architecture, to study and collaborate with other architects on architectural projects, and to research different techniques and materials. His motto? “Leave the place better than you found it’,” concludes Anthony.

(Written by Rajasekar KS)

You can contact Anthony by writing to him at anthony@arulville.com.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

In these rapidly changing times, the labyrinthine bylanes of Pune’s peth areas continue to retain their old city charm. Here’s a peek at some old architectural marvels that have been preserved by their proud owners.

Intricate woodwork of the balcony railings, tinted glass windows that reflect rainbow colours when sunlight falls on them and the longstanding stone-walled wadas that hark back to a historical era- the lanes and bylanes of Pune’s peth areas have all of it.

Since urbanisation and globalisation swept sleepy Pune off its feet to turn it into a city that’s growing by the day, much has changed for this small old town of pensioners. While skyscrapers go up in the city, there’s still a slice of the past that remains rooted in these bylanes.

There’s change happening everywhere, yet there are some proud owners of such century-old or even older properties who are striving to preserve the traditional buildings.Walk down the lanes of the old city and you’ll find such structures and the people who have held them dear for years.

Purushottam Joshi, owner of the Waman Sadan in Shaniwar Peth, is one of them. Wadasare historical architectural forms characterised by stone walls, typical wooden staircases, and the chowk– an open space in the centre attaching one structure to the other. Waman Sadan, where a third generation of the family now resides, was built in early 1900s by Joshi’s father.

An octogenarian himself, Joshi wishes to hold on to his house and along with that, the fond memories of his parents.

“I have grown up in this house. There are so many memories. We have kept the wadain an excellent condition- there’s constant repair work and painting done to keep it in the best state possible. It is a piece of legacy and I wouldn’t want to let go of it just yet,” says Joshi.

He highlights some typical architectural features of the wada like the chowk, the typical kadi–koyanda (the unique bolts) and the four-brick-thick walls that trap the cold inside in the summers and keep it warm in the winters.

There are many such old buildings adjacent to Waman Sadan, but not all have been preserved by choice. Lying within 100 metres of the famous historic monument of Shaniwarwada, there are many constraints on the redevelopment of these wadas. However, there are many who have no complaints about the restrictions. Usha Bhide, owner of the 125-year-old Bhide Wada, says redevelopment is not an option for her.

“We have maintained our wada so well and we will keep it as it is. It’s a small, cosy property and the new buildings lack this homely feel,” she says.

Also read: German Video-Mapping Artist Turned Pune’s Shaniwarwada into His Canvas This Diwali & It Was Superb!

While the likes of Waman Sadan and Bhide Wada still stand tall, there are hundreds that have been torn down across the city either for the purpose of redevelopment or due to safety issues. Skyscrapers are rapidly replacing the spacious single-storied houses, leaving behind little trace of the old times.

A simple stroll across the narrow paths of Shaniwar peth, Kasba peth, Budhwar peth and the adjacent areas reveals a plethora of architectural marvels, some crumbling, some still standing tall. As you drift into the lanes at the cost of getting lost, you find more such interesting buildings that clearly shout out ‘heritage.’ Not only are there wadas, but also multi-storied buildings from the British era that adorn the narrow streets on both sides.

Let’s take a peek into the golden days through this series of photos, and let the nostalgia set in!

Also read: 30 States, 30 Stunning Photos: These Award-Winning Images Show Why India’s Beauty Lies In Its Diversity

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

With the constant need for adopting more sustainable practices in order to stop the deterioration happening to the environment, “green buildings” are something that have been largely overlooked in India. With India having ratified the COP 21 climate change agreement, green buildings promise to be a great source to reduce the overall Carbon footprint.

What is a Green Building?

Any building that makes optimum use of natural resources throughout its life—from planning, design, construction, and occupancy to its decommission—can be called a Green Building. It is the practice of creating more resource-efficient designs, which can be sustainable. It has an overall positive impact on the ecosystem. For example, from taking care of the well-being of the construction workers to making sure that the construction material has maximum re-usability, there are many factors that contribute to a building being green.

According to research, buildings account for 18 % of total CO₂ emissions. If construction keeps growing at the present rate, the emissions will double by 2050, according to a report from the United Nations Environment Program. This is where the rub lies. While buildings are a major contributing factor to global emissions, they also hold the most potential to deliver significant cuts if we start focusing on building greener.

Benefits

A green building has a variety of advantages. We can broadly classify them into three subheads:

• Environmental Benefits: Green buildings have a huge positive effect on the environment. They use less natural resources as compared to a normal building. A green building ensures that it is water-efficient and energy-efficient, and has a much smaller carbon footprint. A green building also ensures that the surrounding eco-system is protected and further enhanced.
• Economic Benefits: It is commonly believed that green buildings are costlier than normal buildings. While that might be true at the initial stage i.e. while the building is being made, it has been effectively proven that the overall costs are much lesser than the normal buildings. They consume less resources, and improve the productivity of occupants. Green buildings also entail higher real estate value. Besides these benefits, incentives are also given by local government bodies in order to achieve a sustainable future.
• Social Benefits: Green Buildings have been proven to have a positive impact on the health of residents. Since they provide a balanced and optimal eco-system for residents, they have a positive effect on the productivity and well-being of those who occupy the building.

Green Building Rating Systems

A green building rating system evaluates and rates the performance of a building according to a set of pre-defined parameters. It measures the building’s impact on the environment throughout the life-cycle of that building.

In India, pre-dominantly three rating systems exist—LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), IGBC (Indian Green Building Council), and GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment).

Green Buildings in India

Green Buildings do not account for even 5 % of the total building footprint in India. Yet, according to the Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, by 2018, the green building industry in India will grow 20 %. Slowly yet steadily, green buildings have started to grow in India. Although sustainability is more of a choice right now, with right awareness, it will become a need. In a bid to further promote green buildings in India, some of the state governments and local bodies have started providing incentives to those who get their building green-certified.

Below are some of the best green buildings currently existing in India:

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad

The CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Center (GBC) was the first building outside of the US to be awarded the LEED platinum rating at the time of its inauguration. 90 % of the building does not require artificial lighting during daytime. It has also inculcated measures like solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and green roofs.

Suzlon One Earth, Pune

Having received a platinum certification by the LEED, Suzlon One Earth uses a variety of resource-efficient mechanisms. Natural daylighting, fresh indoor air, and use of energy-efficient air conditioning are just some examples.

Empress Altius, Kolkata

This was East India’s first IGBC Green Homes’ pre-certified platinum-rated building. Features include energy savings of more than 20 %, water savings of more than 50 %, waste management, on-site water treatment ,and use of grey water for flushing and landscaping.

Below is a list of states and local bodies providing extra FAR (Floor-to-area ratio) for green buildings.

It is vital that more state governments start providing incentives in order to push more people towards green buildings. More awareness is also necessary in order for people to opt for green buildings voluntarily.

To find out more about other ways to enable sustainability in architecture and construction, and to learn more about Green Buildings in general, visit GreenBanao’s website.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

The concept of ‘water charity,’ has been a longstanding tradition in India. In the olden days, it was a common sight to see a foot traveler on the streets of South Mumbai, stop by a local water fountain, have a refreshing drink of water, rest a bit to soothe his tired muscles and move onward.

Indeed Hutatma Chowk (Martyr’s Square), has one of the finest examples of these heritage ornamental fountains – the Flora Fountain, built as early as 1864.

This sort of historic architectural genius also reflects in more than 30 pyaus (drinking water fountains) across the city – documented by the Municipal Corporation.

With profound iconography and free flowing designs, these early 20th century structures are fragments of history from a lost time.

The last few years have seen these fountains lose their identity owing to negligence, lack of maintenance and developmental advances.

A classic example of this is the demolition of the Bharat Mata Pyau on 12th December 2010, for to a road widening project.

Rahul Chemburkar, a city-based conservation architect, is dedicated to the cause of saving these historic pyaus. Jokingly referred to by his friends as the ‘Pyauist,’ his firm – Vaastu Vidhaan Projects– specializes in heritage conservation.

Rahul’s interest in Pyaus began in 2009, when he was commissioned by the Municipal Corporation to work on a pyau. A native of Chembur in Mumbai (therefore the surname is Chemburkar), the dysfunctional pyaus in the 70s piqued his curiosity as a child. He revisited these as part of his research.

“I came across a documentation by Dr Varsha Shirgaonkar which included most drinking and pleasure fountains in the city. These structures may not be as elaborate as Mumbai’s other heritage sites like VT or Gateway, but reflected and resonated the Indian culture of water charity, which was a confluence of two important factors: the memory in which they were built and its public utility as a water dispensing unit,” says Rahul.

You may have walked past these pyaus, but we bet you wouldn’t know the unique historical narrative behind them:

1. Kesowwji Naik Fountain and Clock Tower, Bhaat Bazar, Masjid Bunder

2. Sir Cowasji Jehangir Fountain, Kala Chowki

Read more: 10 Forgotten Women Warriors of India!

3. Devidas Prabhudas Kothari Pyau and Kabutarkhana

3. Anand Vitthal Koli Pyau, Prabhadevi

The Anand Vitthal Koli Pyau was built at Prabhadevi by Shri Anand Vitthal Koli in 1929 in the memory of his father Vitthal Koli and uncle Keshav.

Outside Zandu Pharmaceuticals at Dadar’s Gokhale Road, this pyau has a natural Kurla stone finish. Its placement is considered strategic as it stood close to the textile mills like Jupiter, Shriram Stanrose to provide drinking water to mill workers back in the 90s.

It also served the devotees of the nearby Siddhivinayak and Prabhadevi temples.

4. Mancooverbai Ranadas, Horniman Circle

You may also like: In Pics: See Chennai’s Fishing Community Like Never Before

The restoration of any pyau based on several factors like age, architecture, cost, water engineering, tenders, — takes between 6 to 9 months. The central challenge is the maintenance after restoration.

“Built in the late 19th  and early 20th century with large budgets of Rs 5,000-20,000, these pyaus were designed by the natives of the city for the natives. We are the custodians who have to restore and maintain to the gifts of our ancestors,” he says.

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

Bricks and cement aren’t the only material used for building a house. A much more sustainable way is earthbag construction.

S Samyukhta, an architect interested in sustainable architecture, did not want an ordinary home. When she set out to build one for herself in Valukkuparai, Tamil Nadu, she decided to do so using earthbags, and a team of civil engineers, architects and volunteers helped her to construct it.

So what are these earthbags and why would one build a house using that?

First, Samyukhta tells The Hindu, earthbag construction is not at all labour intensive. It is cheap compared to houses made of bricks and cement. It also has the unique advantage of providing insulation, through which the temperature inside is colder compared to outside by a few degrees.

The walls also gradually become stronger.

She bought the bags from the market and used mud for construction with a contemporary twist, reports The Hindu.

“I am lucky the soil in the plot was just right with the right proportion of clay and sand. Sacks are filled with the soil and beaten to remove excess moisture and make it hard,” she told the publication. Barbed wires were places in between to create friction.

From the time they started 3.5 months ago, her team has been working from 7 am to 2 pm. “The walls are complete, and it has all been done by my team and volunteers. We did not hire any labours, except for the foundation. The flooring will be mud, and the roof will be made of Mangalore tiles. There will also be a dome at the centre, which will also be made of earthbags,” she added.

To build her house, Samyuktha reached out to online groups asking for volunteers to join her.

Many architects, farmers and civil engineers got back to her. They all stay at a farm near the construction site.

Initially, many were unsure of this kind of construction. It has its drawbacks too. For instance, one cannot raise the height of the walls beyond a point. The extension of the house could prove problematic later on if not planned earlier on. The house would also need a lot of care. One needs to protect it from insects and get the plastering changed once in a few years.

However, this form of sustainable architecture has piqued the interest of people, and many have reached out to Samyuktha and her team with queries around the possibility of the team building a similar structure for them.

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

Manish Golder, Sayan Dutta, and Siddharth Hajra have embarked upon a mission to photo document all the heritage buildings in Kolkata before they disappear from the city’s skyline.

“Siddharth and I grew up in Kolkata. Sayan is from Delhi, but being a Bengali, he shares a close connection with the city. Together, we all feel a common sense of belonging,” says Manish.

Their Instagram account, ‘Calcutta Houses,’ is a diverse collection of aesthetically shot photographs of heritage buildings in Kolkata. Aiming to archive the rich history and culture behind these timeless buildings, the trio, via their Instagram account, also wants to ensure that these structures remain immortal.

Kolkata is one of the few cities in India where heritage buildings are still occupied. An integral part of the city’s cultural fabric, some of them have fallen into disrepair.

Intimately acquainted with the city, the friends have always loved to go on long walks and observe its many sights. They noticed that post the construction boom in 2005, old houses in Kolkata began to disappear, and fast. Manish recalls situations where they would be drinking tea, next to a heritage building one day, and the next day, it was gone—torn down by the unyielding authorities.

The trio uses phone cameras to capture these priceless moments. Manish, a seasoned DLSR user, claims that today’s phones have better features than his first DLSR.

“Phones are relatively more inconspicuous. If you go with 2 or 3 large-format cameras, people get perturbed and misinterpret our intentions. Carrying a phone attracts less attention,” says Manish.

Phones are also preferred because one can use the inbuilt GPS feature to provide the accurate location of the building, with the photo.

The trio didn’t have a particular agenda in mind, apart from one to take good photos of significant buildings, and they decided to start an Instagram page to showcase their work to a broader audience.

Quality is important. Manish reveals that out of hundreds of photos which are shot, only one is selected. The page isn’t promoted, and all their followers and traffic is organic.

“We consciously curated the page, mindfully adding content, taking our time. We have no intention of monetising this, or no agenda to make money off it. Everything is organic. We wanted to see how people would respond, and whether this would foster an interactive community of like-minded people,” he says.

The trio has had many interesting experiences, and Manish recalls one in which a man, emerged from one of the house to tell the trio it was futile just to take photos and something beyond that needed to be done. In yet another incident, the team was shooting in central Kolkata, when someone alerted the owner of the home. Livid, she threatened to call the media and the police.

 

“A lot of people, especially the youth, find these houses fascinating and want to live in them,” says Manish.

However, intricate ownership patterns, pending litigation and other complications make renting these houses out nearly impossible.

The trio’s primary objective is to “create awareness, by taking photographs and archiving them,” explains Manish explains. He states the benefits of a record of these heritage properties existing, as opposed to nothing at all and says that the benefits of archiving may not be apparent now, but will be evident later.

Calcutta Houses doesn’t have a set plan.

Manish says, “This is not a movement. It is just a convergence of like-minded people. A lot of people wish to get involved, by way of contributions or otherwise. The community should grow, have more followers, and then maybe, some noise can be created.”

“We have been documenting Kolkata for a long time, in different ways,” says Manish, adding that “the city is a treasure trove of photogenic moments.”

Here are 10 photographs from the “Calcutta Houses” project, that will inspire to walk around and explore, the next time you visit the City of Joy.

All Pictures Courtesy: Calcutta Houses.

You may also like:-Six Photojournalists Who Will Open Your Eyes to Unseen Parts of India Through Instagram

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or

connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

Meja is a small village in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan with a population of around 10,000 people. The men are usually involved in agricultural activities or work as labourers in the factories of the nearby textile town of Bhilwara. Meanwhile, the women are restricted to doing household chores.

A native of the village, Priyamvada Singh was working as a freelance content strategist of non fiction shows in Mumbai. She would only visit Meja during short breaks from work to meet her family.

It was during one of these visits that Priyamvada found a reason to quit her job in Mumbai and never go back. That reason? Her ancestral fort in Meja.

The story goes that Priyamvada’s ancestor Rawat Amar Singh was granted land through the Jagirdari system in 1870. The construction of the Meja Fort began soon after and was completed in five years. The fort has been the property of her family ever since, with its current custodian being her father, Rawat Jitendra Singh.

However, it has been in a state of neglect for years.

“My grandfather worked for the Indian Railways, and my father is a bureaucrat with the state government. Their jobs kept them away from the village for many years with little time for the upkeep of the fort. Due to this, we faced many issues. Neighbours encroached the fort’s premises. Some of them even opened the drain pipes in the compound and started using one corner as a dump yard,” Priyamvada told The Better India.

She added that trees had grown out of the fort’s walls and the roof had developed water seepage issues. One could find owls and bats living there, and only two rooms had electricity

So, Priyamvada decided to restore her ancestral fort to its former glory.

Step one? She packed her bags and decided to live there.

“The fort is my only home in Meja, so I had to stay there. My father was posted in Udaipur, and my grandparents live in Ajmer, which is about 2.5 hours from Meja. There was no way I could have lived in either of the cities and got the work done,” she told TBI.

Initially, her family was quite reluctant to let her stay all alone. Even the villagers thought she was crazy. However, things changed when Priyamvada started her project.

“Since I was trying to revive old construction techniques, I thought of involving retired masons because they had the knowledge and experience to work with things like lime plaster (choona) or dry masonry with stone, etc. I got young and old masons to work together so that these ancient construction techniques could be passed onto the next generation. For the work at the fort, they were paid by us. But soon after, it worked to their benefit as their work got noticed and they got called to work for other restoration projects across Rajasthan,” said Priyamvada.

With her help, men who weren’t earning at all over the last few years and utterly dependent on their families got the opportunity to earn again.

One of them, 45-year-old Shiv Ji Bhati, told TBI, “I lost my eyesight in an accident a few years ago and became jobless. It was getting really difficult for me to take care of my wife and three kids until the fort project came up. I have been engaged in chores that I can do without my sight like scraping off old lime plaster from stone walls to reveal their original look, digging holes for plantation, scrubbing old doors with sandpaper to polish them and filtering sand through an iron mesh for finer construction.”

On seeing her spearheading this project, many local women joined in as labourers. They too realised their potential beyond domestic chores.

34-year-old Maya Devi told TBI, “After becoming a widow at a young age, I was burdened with the responsibility of single-handedly raising my school-going daughter. I was financially dependent on my in-laws until I started working at the fort. All these years I was known as ‘Chandu Ki Bahu’ in Meja. Now, after almost a decade of being here, people finally address me by my name. It’s a great feeling.”

Once they started the repair work, one thing led to another.

Once, when Priyamvada was cleaning the fort, she found a lot of old books on history, geography, travel, moral science and Hindi literature. She decided to open up a community library.

Soon she received old and new books from friends, family and colleagues and is now in the process of collecting more to start a full-fledged library for the community within the fort.

Priyamvada has also begun organising activities like blood donation camps and yoga camps at the fort to get the community together.

They celebrate local festivals like Gangaur and Jal Jhulni Ekadashi there. Even competitions have been organised to bring the young together.

“These are all community-driven projects that we organise with a lot of local help. Now that people have realised the importance of these activities, everyone is doing their bit to help. For instance, when I thought about doing the blood donation camp, we offered the fort as the venue. It was the villagers who helped me get in touch with a Bhilwara-based NGO, and once we had them on board, we got in touch with a hospital in Bhilwara who sent us volunteers – a team of doctors and nursing staff to get the job done. The villagers turned up in great numbers and made the camp a success,” she said.

As far as the construction work goes, they have almost completed work on the outer boundary and the landscaping.

The seepage issues have been resolved and some of the original artworks inside have also been restored. The rooms too are also nearing completion.

Now that the place is enclosed, they plan to start a community-run kitchen garden project soon.

Additionally, Priyamvada wants to use her experience in the media to transform Meja into a cultural hub.

This fort will soon become a community run homestay, where the villagers will come together to offer warmth and hospitality to their guests, though there’s still some time for that.

In the meantime, Priyamvada wants to give her native village a complete facelift.

Let’s hope she succeeds!

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

Mumbai, the city of dreams, has a special place in history. Whether it is Bollywood, business, or even food, Mumbai has been the go-to place for many! Now, it is also home to a backpacker’s hostel, made in a 100-year-old home. Started by four friends, the hostel is called ‘Horn Ok Please!’

You may also like: Looking For A Budget Stay While Travelling? These 20 Quirky Hostels Won’t Burn A Hole In Your Pocket!

What makes this hostel so special? Find out by watching the video below!

Featured image courtesy: Facebook

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

If there were a Nobel prize for architects, the Pritzker prize would be it. Known as the highest honour in the field of architecture, this award has been bestowed in the past by stalwarts and world-renowned architects like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, IM Pei, and Shigeru Ban.

But one man has broken the mould to place India on the global map by becoming the first Indian architect to win this prestigious honour.

Meet 90-year-old iconic architect Balkrishna Doshi or as he is known B V Doshi who is being conferred the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

Known for designing some of the most known buildings and institutions in the country, Doshi’s life has been nothing short of inspirational.

BV Doshi was born in a family of furniture makers on August 26, 1927, in Pune. In the past, he’s quoted how his early works were inspired by his own grandfather’s home which accommodated a big joint family of three uncles and their families.

Speaking to the National Public Radio, he said, “I always sensed the space as alive. Space and light and the kind of movement that gets into space for me are very, very significant. That’s what generates a dialogue. That’s what generates activities. And that’s where you begin to become part of life. My architecture philosophy is: Architecture is a backdrop for life.”

Doshi is an alumnus of the known JJ School of Architecture in Mumbai. He is one of the very few living architects who had the chance to work with the legendary Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier in Paris known as the master of modernism

He travelled to London and Paris to be an apprentice under Le Corbusier in 1950 and returned to his country to supervise the architect’s projects. He regards Corbusier his guru. In response to his Pritzker prize he said, “I owe this prestigious prize to my guru, Le Corbusier. His teachings led me to question identity and compelled me to discover new regionally adopted contemporary expression for a sustainable holistic habitat.”

It was in 1955 that Doshi established his studio Vastu-Shilpa (environmental design) and worked with the likes of Louis Kahn and Anant Raje in designing the iconic campus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

It isn’t the only institute he has designed. Needless to say, the architect’s memorable works include IIM Bangalore, IIM Lucknow, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Tagore Memorial Hall, the Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad, the 1996 Aga Khan award-winning Aranya Low Cost Housing (Indore), ATIRA low-cost housing (Ahmedabad), ECIL township (Hyderabad), IFFCO Township (Kalol), the Jnana-Pravah Centre for Cultural Studies (Varanasi), the Sawai Gandharva (Pune), and many others.

The Pritzker prize jury’s announcement summarised the wonders of Doshi’s work beautifully. It said, “Over the years, Balkrishna Doshi has always created an architecture that is serious, never flashy or a follower of trends. With a deep sense of responsibility and a desire to contribute to his country and its people through high quality, authentic architecture, he has created projects for public administrations and utilities, educational and cultural institutions, and residences for private clients, among others.”

“Doshi’s architecture explores the relationships between fundamental needs of human life, connectivity to self and culture, and understanding of social traditions, within the context of a place and its environment, and through a response to Modernism.”

Doshi described architecture as an extension of the body, and his ability to attentively address function while incorporating climate, landscape, and urbanisation is demonstrated through his choice of materials, overlapping spaces, and utilisation of natural and harmonising elements.

Read more: Plastic Bottles to Build Toilets: How One Architect is Solving Two of India’s Biggest Issues!

Doshi’s works were also lauded for keeping acute awareness of the context in which his buildings are located.

“His solutions take into account the social, environmental and economic dimensions, and therefore his architecture is totally engaged with sustainability,” it said.

We salute the iconic architect for making India proud globally! He will be travelling to Toronto in May to receive the Prize and will also deliver a public lecture.

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

In the villages across the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas, one comes across mud houses with slate roofs. The mud houses shelter the residents from cold drafts of wind coming from the snow covered mountains behind them, and in summer the mud walls provide a pleasant ambience inside their homes.

Today, thanks to an octogenarian architect in Himachal Pradesh who has been designing eco-friendly buildings for over three decades, many renowned institutions and residences have been made using similar, locally available materials.

Stones from rivers, mud, bamboo, and slate go into the making of these buildings in ochre hues that have the advantage of remaining cool in summers and warm in winters.

Living in the quiet suburb of Rakkar, a few kilometres away from the touristy town of Dharamshala, 88-year-old Didi Contractor, received the Women Artists, Architects and Designers (WADe) Asia Life Time Achievement Award 2017.

Lauding her commendable work, dignitaries from the architecture fraternity from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Nepal, who were attending the event in Gurgaon, gave her a standing ovation when she received the award.

Also Read: Clay Bottles to Bamboo Straws: 10 Products That Can Reduce Your Plastic Footprint

Sitting in the winter sun outside her classic mud, bamboo and slate double storey home, Didi is on a break from her site visits. She lives with a few interns who learn from her by assisting her in her projects.

Nestled amid green cover and surrounded by homes built by her, Didi’s residence is impressive. One of the solar cookers she designed in the 70’s and built with mud bricks stands near the door.

“I designed the solar cooker to reduce energy consumption and pollution. In this valley the cooker can be used at least for four months in a year while there is good sunlight,” she says.

Next door is ‘Him–Noor’ the residence of Kishwar Shirali, a retired professor of clinical psychology, built by Didi Contractor. An orange tree brimming with ripe fruits amid deep green leaves adds cheer to her garden. Ahead are more mud houses designed by Didi. They are connected by short flights of stairs that are paved with smooth river stones.

Are traditional mud houses sturdy?

“The monasteries in Tabo are built with mud and are centuries old. They are still standing strong, and this house is already over thirty years old,” Didi explains.

I spot a glossy coffee table book on a chair next to Didi. Titled, “An Adobe Revival—Didi Contractor’s Architecture,” which is replete with impressive photographs of Didi’s projects, and talks about her life, works, and philosophy.

Born to a German father and an American mother, both well-known artists, Didi Kinzinger grew up in Texas where her father headed a new art department in a university after coming to America as a refugee before World War II.

Didi is her nickname. When asked about it, she says, “My parents planned the nickname of Dodo if it was a boy and Didi if it was a girl.”

Didi was she was drawn to architecture, even as a child. As a teenager, she helped her parents renovate an old adobe (material sourced from the earth) house in New Mexico, and even built a fireplace in her room. She met Narayan Contractor, at the University of Colorado, where both of them were students. The two fell in love, got married, and she moved to India in 1951 where she initially lived with her husband’s joint family in Nashik.

The couple eventually moved to Bombay, with their children, to a house designed by Didi, near Juhu beach. Built using lime mortar with a thatch over the roof, and large doors and windows, the house was admired by many, admiration of many, including her neighbour, actor Prithviraj Kapoor. She would go on to design a cottage and a storage unit for him, which later became Prithvi Theatre.

Soon she got the opportunity to work on several projects, including the interiors of Udaipur Lake Palace during its transformation as a luxury hotel at the behest of Bhagwat Singh, the Maharana of Mewar. Didi also designed the sets of ‘The Guru,’ a Merchant–Ivory film starring Michael York.

An interesting fact to note here, is that Didi is a completely self-taught architect.

It was a visit to Andretta in 1974 that made Didi choose Himachal Pradesh as her home. Andretta is a village and an artists’ colony in Himachal Pradesh, which was established in the 1920s, by environmentalist and Irish theatre artiste, Norah Richards.

“I came to Andretta in the summer of 1974 on an invitation from ‘Daddyji,’ potter Padma Shri Gurcharan Singh. He and Prithviraj Kapoor, whom I knew as ‘Papaji,’ had both talked about Norah and their visits to the colony which she had founded before the partition,” she says.

Norah’s residence, as well as homes of other famous artists such as Sobha Singh and BC Sanyal, were built using mud, slate and bamboo, the same materials which can be seen in Didi’s work today.

From campuses for NGOs to living spaces, the works of Didi Contractor over the decades are varied. The home where she currently lives and a clinic for her friend Dr Barbara Nath-Wiser at Nishtha, Rural Health, Education and Environment Centre, were two of the first buildings she worked on.

She followed them up with many private homes, buildings on the sprawling campus of the Sambhaavnaa Institute of Public Policy founded by eminent lawyer, activist and politician Prashant Bhushan, and the Dharmalaya Institute for Compassionate Living at Bir for the American designer, educator, and writer Mark Moore, president of Earthville LLC and Founding Director of the Earthville Network.

A visit to one of her buildings in the Sambhaavnaa campus displays her acumen in marrying functionality, comfort and tradition.

Rooms with ochre mud walls featuring high ceilings are warm despite snow-capped mountains outside. The team is silently at work, the occasional sound of keyboards on workstations are a gentle reminder of civilisation in a soothing ambience that takes you back by a century.

There are many who have been fascinated by her work, and she has also been the subject of two documentaries, namely “Didi Contractor – Marrying the Earth to the Building,” by Swiss filmmaker Steffi Giaracuni, and Shabnam Sukhdev’s “Earth Crusader” commisioned by the Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India

Also Read: One of Mumbai’s Last Surviving Green Spaces Is Under Threat: Lets Save It!

Didi is currently busy with her recent projects, at Hamirpur and Bir—the latter village is a popular paragliding destination. “I am working on a house for a young couple who want to stay away from city life,” she says.

Through her unique eco-friendly architecture, Didi is surely setting an example for people to realise how fragile the ecosystem is and steps that can be taken to mitigate environmental disasters in the future.

(This article has been written by Syeda Farida)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

In these rapidly changing times, the labyrinthine bylanes of Pune’s peth areas continue to retain their old city charm. Here’s a peek at some old architectural marvels that have been preserved by their proud owners.

Intricate woodwork of the balcony railings, tinted glass windows that reflect rainbow colours when sunlight falls on them and the longstanding stone-walled wadas that hark back to a historical era- the lanes and bylanes of Pune’s peth areas have all of it.

Since urbanisation and globalisation swept sleepy Pune off its feet to turn it into a city that’s growing by the day, much has changed for this small old town of pensioners. While skyscrapers go up in the city, there’s still a slice of the past that remains rooted in these bylanes.

There’s change happening everywhere, yet there are some proud owners of such century-old or even older properties who are striving to preserve the traditional buildings.Walk down the lanes of the old city and you’ll find such structures and the people who have held them dear for years.

Purushottam Joshi, owner of the Waman Sadan in Shaniwar Peth, is one of them. Wadasare historical architectural forms characterised by stone walls, typical wooden staircases, and the chowk– an open space in the centre attaching one structure to the other. Waman Sadan, where a third generation of the family now resides, was built in early 1900s by Joshi’s father.

An octogenarian himself, Joshi wishes to hold on to his house and along with that, the fond memories of his parents.

“I have grown up in this house. There are so many memories. We have kept the wadain an excellent condition- there’s constant repair work and painting done to keep it in the best state possible. It is a piece of legacy and I wouldn’t want to let go of it just yet,” says Joshi.

He highlights some typical architectural features of the wada like the chowk, the typical kadi–koyanda (the unique bolts) and the four-brick-thick walls that trap the cold inside in the summers and keep it warm in the winters.

There are many such old buildings adjacent to Waman Sadan, but not all have been preserved by choice. Lying within 100 metres of the famous historic monument of Shaniwarwada, there are many constraints on the redevelopment of these wadas. However, there are many who have no complaints about the restrictions. Usha Bhide, owner of the 125-year-old Bhide Wada, says redevelopment is not an option for her.

“We have maintained our wada so well and we will keep it as it is. It’s a small, cosy property and the new buildings lack this homely feel,” she says.

Also read: German Video-Mapping Artist Turned Pune’s Shaniwarwada into His Canvas This Diwali & It Was Superb!

While the likes of Waman Sadan and Bhide Wada still stand tall, there are hundreds that have been torn down across the city either for the purpose of redevelopment or due to safety issues. Skyscrapers are rapidly replacing the spacious single-storied houses, leaving behind little trace of the old times.

A simple stroll across the narrow paths of Shaniwar peth, Kasba peth, Budhwar peth and the adjacent areas reveals a plethora of architectural marvels, some crumbling, some still standing tall. As you drift into the lanes at the cost of getting lost, you find more such interesting buildings that clearly shout out ‘heritage.’ Not only are there wadas, but also multi-storied buildings from the British era that adorn the narrow streets on both sides.

Let’s take a peek into the golden days through this series of photos, and let the nostalgia set in!

Also read: 30 States, 30 Stunning Photos: These Award-Winning Images Show Why India’s Beauty Lies In Its Diversity

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

With the constant need for adopting more sustainable practices in order to stop the deterioration happening to the environment, “green buildings” are something that have been largely overlooked in India. With India having ratified the COP 21 climate change agreement, green buildings promise to be a great source to reduce the overall Carbon footprint.

What is a Green Building?

Any building that makes optimum use of natural resources throughout its life—from planning, design, construction, and occupancy to its decommission—can be called a Green Building. It is the practice of creating more resource-efficient designs, which can be sustainable. It has an overall positive impact on the ecosystem. For example, from taking care of the well-being of the construction workers to making sure that the construction material has maximum re-usability, there are many factors that contribute to a building being green.

According to research, buildings account for 18 % of total CO₂ emissions. If construction keeps growing at the present rate, the emissions will double by 2050, according to a report from the United Nations Environment Program. This is where the rub lies. While buildings are a major contributing factor to global emissions, they also hold the most potential to deliver significant cuts if we start focusing on building greener.

Benefits

A green building has a variety of advantages. We can broadly classify them into three subheads:

• Environmental Benefits: Green buildings have a huge positive effect on the environment. They use less natural resources as compared to a normal building. A green building ensures that it is water-efficient and energy-efficient, and has a much smaller carbon footprint. A green building also ensures that the surrounding eco-system is protected and further enhanced.
• Economic Benefits: It is commonly believed that green buildings are costlier than normal buildings. While that might be true at the initial stage i.e. while the building is being made, it has been effectively proven that the overall costs are much lesser than the normal buildings. They consume less resources, and improve the productivity of occupants. Green buildings also entail higher real estate value. Besides these benefits, incentives are also given by local government bodies in order to achieve a sustainable future.
• Social Benefits: Green Buildings have been proven to have a positive impact on the health of residents. Since they provide a balanced and optimal eco-system for residents, they have a positive effect on the productivity and well-being of those who occupy the building.

Green Building Rating Systems

A green building rating system evaluates and rates the performance of a building according to a set of pre-defined parameters. It measures the building’s impact on the environment throughout the life-cycle of that building.

In India, pre-dominantly three rating systems exist—LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), IGBC (Indian Green Building Council), and GRIHA (Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment).

Green Buildings in India

Green Buildings do not account for even 5 % of the total building footprint in India. Yet, according to the Dodge Data & Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report, by 2018, the green building industry in India will grow 20 %. Slowly yet steadily, green buildings have started to grow in India. Although sustainability is more of a choice right now, with right awareness, it will become a need. In a bid to further promote green buildings in India, some of the state governments and local bodies have started providing incentives to those who get their building green-certified.

Below are some of the best green buildings currently existing in India:

CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad

The CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Center (GBC) was the first building outside of the US to be awarded the LEED platinum rating at the time of its inauguration. 90 % of the building does not require artificial lighting during daytime. It has also inculcated measures like solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and green roofs.

Suzlon One Earth, Pune

Having received a platinum certification by the LEED, Suzlon One Earth uses a variety of resource-efficient mechanisms. Natural daylighting, fresh indoor air, and use of energy-efficient air conditioning are just some examples.

Empress Altius, Kolkata

This was East India’s first IGBC Green Homes’ pre-certified platinum-rated building. Features include energy savings of more than 20 %, water savings of more than 50 %, waste management, on-site water treatment ,and use of grey water for flushing and landscaping.

Below is a list of states and local bodies providing extra FAR (Floor-to-area ratio) for green buildings.

It is vital that more state governments start providing incentives in order to push more people towards green buildings. More awareness is also necessary in order for people to opt for green buildings voluntarily.

To find out more about other ways to enable sustainability in architecture and construction, and to learn more about Green Buildings in general, visit GreenBanao’s website.

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
NEW: Click here to get positive news on WhatsApp!

There is something arresting about beautiful architecture. A lot of thought goes into the field, and the Pritzker Prize for Architecture is the fraternity’s way of recognising outstanding work. Often called the Nobel Prize of Architecture, the Pritzker Prize has been won among others, by Balkrishna Doshi, also known as B V Doshi, according to The Hindu.

The nonagenarian architect and reputed urban planner has been announced as this year’s winner of architecture’s highest honour, the first Indian to do so.

Right from iconic designs like the Indian Institute of Management, Bengaluru, to low-cost housing solutions like the Aranya Low-cost Housing (Indore, 1989), that currently houses 80,000 people through a system of houses, courtyards and a network of internal pathways.

Joshi has been influenced by masters of 20th-century architecture Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, also known as Le Corbusier, and Louis Khan. He told The Hindu that his work is an extension of his life, philosophy and dreams.

Well, here are some of the iconic buildings that Doshi designed, that got him recognition and this prestigious prize.

IIM Bangalore:-

The iconic management institute’s campus is a sprawling delight. The third IIM to be established, after IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Kolkata, its campus on Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru, was designed by Doshi and completed in 1983.

Known for its unique all-stone architecture and lush woods, the campus occupies an area of over 100 acres in South Bengaluru.

The institute has been based on the design of the town of Fatehpur Sikri. The interplay of walls and openings, lights and shadows, and solids and voids changes the building’s character during different times of the day and seasons. The high corridors are sometimes open and sometimes partly covered with skylights. The design offers students and faculty the ability to see and feel nature, even when inside the classroom.

Amdavad Ni Gufa:-

This underground art gallery houses the works of artist Maqbool Fida Husain, and the design was inspired when Doshi and Husain met around 30 years before the project even took shape.

Doshi’s project description in Architect Magazine describes that the structure designed as an art gallery, transformed and became a living organism and sociocultural centre, due to an unusual combination of computer-aided design, use of mobile Ferro-cement forms and craftsmanship by local craftsmen, using waste products.

The form and space of the Gufa animate the mysteries of light and memories, and the description goes on to explain that the interaction between an artist and an architect gave birth to the most unexpected.

The Gufa has porcelain mosaic tiles, which reflect sunlight and minimise heat, covering the tortoise-shell inspired roof that shelters the undulating cave-like interiors below.

The shells are handmade, from reinforcing bars and mesh, covered with cement, and then covered with compacted vermiculite, followed by mosaic pieces.

Sangath Architectural Studio:-

This is Doshi’s studio, composed of a series of sunken vaults, sheathed in china mosaic, as well as a small grassy-terraced amphitheatre and flowing water details. This building is considered as one that fully describes Doshi, and is a complete combination of his architectural themes from his previous projects.

According to Arch Daily, it has complex interiors and structures, ambiguous designs, edges, vaults and terraces. It also expresses Doshi’s desire for a connection between nature and the individual. Rolling mounds, cave-like spaces, terraced land, playful water channels and reflective surfaces are evident. ‘Sangath’ means ‘move together through participation’, and the building complex is itself a set of domes and flat roofs at different heights and different angles.

Aranya Township:-

Designed for combating the housing problem, this township was initiated by the Indore Development Authority. A rectilinear site of 86 hectares was designed to accommodate around 6,500 dwellings for the weaker sections of society. The project was characterised by bright colours in the facades, railings, grills and cornices commonly seen in the old houses of Indore.

Internal streets and squares in this township are stone-paved, reducing cost and maintenance.

The city’s climate was also taken into account, and thus, a conducive living environment was achieved in Aranya, according to Architecture in Development.

Most of the plots are small in size, and the houses clustered in low-rise blocks. It accommodates around 80,000 people with houses and courtyards, linked by a maze of pathways.

Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology:-

Located near university area in Ahmedabad, India, the CEPT University offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas of the natural and developed environment of human society and related disciplines.

The building is set back 100 ft from the main road and has been shielded by trees, to create a serene atmosphere inside the campus.

The emphasis is on open, flexible faces with hardly any doors, and since the land was earlier a brick kiln, the site was undulated, giving the opportunity to play with levels.

Inclined skylights on top of the studios let in natural light into the spaces, and the buildings are placed orthogonally along the site. The buildings themselves are spread out, and interspersed with loosely held open spaces. The flowing spaces are traversed by several combinations of paths, thus conveying a sense of continuity and openness.

Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad:-

In Architect Magazine, Doshi has described this project as one that was designed to house ancient manuscripts, a research centre and eventually, a museum. All the elements that one finds in Indian buildings are present here.

Doshi considered lighting, temperature and humidity levels to preserve the ancient artefacts stored inside. Inspired in part by Kurashiki Town Hall, a project by 1987 Pritzker Laureate Kenzo Tange, the building’s two stories, high plinth and full-length veranda are all components of traditional Indian buildings.

By his admission, Doshi had studied a Jain upashraya, a home for monks, before designing the institute. He had also met several Jain saints in the city to understand the traditional architecture for this building type.

Tagore Memorial Hall:-

Designed by Doshi in 1966, this building is a piece of Brutalist architecture. Brutalist architecture flourished from 1951 to 1975 and had descended from the modernist architectural movement of the early 20th century.

Brutalist architecture is distinct by its ruggedness and lack of concern to look comfortable or easy. Rigid frames in reinforced concrete plates provide the outer shell to this hall, according to Architectuul.

The structure has vertical folds 17 m high, increasing in depth from 1.15 m at the base to 2.4 m at the top, with a constant plate thickness of 15 cm.

A ‘seating bowl’ with a capacity of 700 is supported on an independent structure. Sculptural columns and cantilevers of this bowl are in the lobby area. The hall is in fact located on the banks of the Sabarmati River and is supported on individual and strip footings resting on sandy strata.

You may also like:- Bengaluru Architect Builds Unique ‘Insta House’ That Can Be Installed In a Day!

Well, his creations do look stunning, as proven by the photos. Architect Doshi seems to have left no stone unturned in his quest for the perfect building design.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

What business centre can an architect deliver with a modest construction budget and a small parcel of land?

It turns out quite a lot.

With Rs 1,200 per square foot towards construction costs, Chennai-based architect V S Vigneswar designed a building that became a hit with its corporate occupants, had a sustainable design that saved them around ten per cent of the energy costs metered by similar buildings in the area–plus, a handful of awards.

Studying architecture at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, and Masters in Architecture at TU Delft, The Netherlands, Vigneswar, observes, “What defines my work is my commitment to adding value to built spaces through sensible design.”

Most commercial buildings in cities like Chennai, especially the smaller ones, look mundane because the limited ground space doesn’t allow an aesthetic architectural design, or ends up getting Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP) on its street-facing walls to get a sleek appearance.

But the problem is that such panelling traps heat into these buildings, which in turn, brings about huge electricity bills for air conditioning.

In a hot city like Chennai, this is beyond foolish, but unfortunately, this has become a trend. In contrast, Arcot Plaza is a simple, unpretentious and sensible building, with sound economics behind it.

Spanning a built area of 20,000 square feet, it is a small, sustainable business centre that addresses user comfort and aesthetics, working with Chennai’s notorious sunshine, rather than against it.

This building won the Bronze Award in the Architecture Category of the A’ Design Award & Competition held in Italy earlier this year for the “Value-Addition provided through Good Architectural Design”. This is arguably the world’s largest design competition, awarding designs, design concepts, products and services.

The building also bagged the Best Commercial Project Award at the Festival of Architecture and Interior Design 2017 in Mumbai and was judged the winner in the commercial category at the Delhi Architecture Festival 2017.

So…how did this come to be?

Awards were the last thing on this client’s mind. The brief given by the client to V S Vigneswar was simply: “Maximise the revenue potential of the site and attract ‘corporate’ tenants (banking sector already visualised!) through a design that stands out and involves a low operating cost.”

The architect decided to go local, right down to the street. The site was on an arterial road in the heart of Chennai, so Vigneswar decided to open the building to the streets, rather than wall it in.

The site, a small plot of land measuring 7,620 square feet has its shorter side (21.5 m) facing the street. This didn’t give him much space to create a complex design.

So Vigneswar decided to open up the building with an imposing double height patio adjoining the ground floor and mezzanine floors, with glass panes as the street-facing northern wall.

From the perspective of the building’s user, the patio serves as a common lobby space for the ground and mezzanine floors, a space-saving feature that corporate clients would love. The upper floors have an independent entry through a driveway towards the centre of the building.

Continuing with the glass frontage of the ground and mezzanine floors for the rest of the floors, rather than a concrete façade overlaid by heat-trapping panels, he gave the building’s street-facing side a solar-rated glass frontage. With this, cost-free day-lighting for the workspaces was achieved, Chennai being a city where heat and light are in surplus.

To cut off excessive solar heat falling on the glass and the associated glare, he structured shading devices in the form of triangulated translucent polycarbonate fins in a designed pattern, the fins projecting perpendicular to the facade.

At night, when all is lit up, the fins reflect the interior lighting of the building in intriguing geometric patterns… an attention-grabbing façade achieved at virtually no cost!

“In Chennai, during summer, the setting sun moves northward. During such months, the fins provide diffused light. During other times, they cut the glare from the bright sky. It also offers an interesting view to the street from the office spaces breaking the monotony of the spaces,” says Vigneswar.

He continues, “While meeting the tight budget was the primary challenge, the other was in convincing the client that this kind of a building would be economically and commercially viable.”

Also Read: This Man Quit the Corporate World to Embrace Indigenous Architecture and Build Eco-Friendly Homes

For instance, most small multi-tenant commercial buildings have concrete front walls on which the firms flaunt their signage. Arcot Plaza’s glass facade doesn’t allow this. So, Vigneswar created space for displaying signage on the driveway’s entrance arch.

Further, the building’s side walls having been constructed with insulating AAC Blocks and recycled cement mortar, minimise heat gain from the hot Chennai air.

What about ventilation?

For this, he tried a variation of the traditional architectural design element ‘kaatrupandal’ meaning ‘wind tunnel’ in Tamil.

But he did this without constructing a tunnel, simply by giving larger window openings on the eastern walls and narrower slit-window openings on the western face of the building, which limits the harsh western light and creates a pressure gradient that sucks in Chennai’s south-west wind, creating a natural breeze.

All the utilities have been relegated to the building’s posterior face, i.e., its southern face. No unsightly AC or other ducts can be seen on the building… Vigneswar simply ran the ducts through the ceiling beams and led them to the services area at the building’s posterior, where the utilities find a place on exposed steel structures, easy to access and maintain.

And of course, the building sports a 100 per cent rainwater harvesting system and a grey-water recycling option, while solar energy use is planned for the common areas.

So then, with the building’s “A’ Design Award” tag in mind, if you had been looking for some funky out-of-the-world appearance, you will be in for a disappointment. Frankly, there isn’t anything spectacular about this building. What makes it superlative is its sound sense.

There is a misconception in society that design is expensive and that contractors can do the job of architects. But in this case, design is what brought out the economic and commercial benefits.

“Good design is sound economics and good business. This has to be understood by the general population, specifically the builder community,” notes Vigneswar.

As of now, local governments hardly consider sustainability in the context of the construction industry. “If they incentivise sustainable buildings, our cities will become much better places,” he concludes.

You May Also Like: Photo Story: 7 Unique Indian Buildings That Won the Biggest Award in Architecture!

Arcot Plaza demonstrates that sustainable buildings can be a win-win for all concerned, and that the scale or budget needn’t put the brakes on for such ventures. One hopes that it inspires more such developments on the cityscape. After all, sustainability is smart.

(Edited by Shruti Singhal)

Like this story? Or have something to share?
Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com.
Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Home is not a place, it is a feeling, and those of us looking to build one want to ensure that every detail aligns with our idea of a ‘home.’

If you are someone who lives a conscious life, you would be well aware of the impact that constructing and maintaining a home, can have on the environment.

So, building an eco-friendly house seems either impractical, unaffordable or both.

But what if there is a way to equip your home with all the modern amenities while ensuring that the cost—to your pocket and the environment—is minimal?

The Better India spoke to Abhijit Priyan, the CEO of Build a Home (BAH) an organization which provides end-to-end solutions for cost-effective homes.

Abhijit, an engineer from Bengaluru, recently worked on a house in Mangaluru, Karnataka and made it as eco-friendly as possible.

He replaced traditional bricks, cement and design ideas with sustainable architectural methods that cause minimal carbon impact.

Speaking to The Better India, Abhijit said, “The first challenge we faced was the location itself. Mangaluru is a city that enjoys only two seasons—extremely hot summers and heavy monsoons. We wanted to build a home that was cool by design and would not require fans or ACs. The heavy rains were also a hurdle.”

The necessity to overcome the twin obstacles of heat and water is what led to the birth of Urvi, the house named after the earth.

1. Replacing the conventional with the eco-friendly.

Cement is one of the most harmful materials used during construction. If you have lived near a site which is under construction, you would know the inconvenience that this can cause.

So, the architects and engineers of Urvi decided to replace cement with Porotherm—a hollow block walling system made of clay which is just as efficient as a standard brick. However, it is more sustainable and uses about 95% less water during construction.

“Incidentally, we did not plaster the walls either and used Porotherm itself as the finished product,” Abhijit says, adding that “This move saved a lot of cement and sand. However, this is a process that requires very careful and intrinsic work that only experts can undertake.”

This secured the walls and slabs. But what about the pillars?

“Reclaimed wood from demolished houses fulfilled the entire wood requirement of the home. Not a single tree was cut down,” says Abhijit.

Next in line was the question of ventilation, air and cooling. Who doesn’t like a breezy home with ample natural light? However, in the race to get the highest standing house in the urban jungles, often we miss out on this aspect.

But not BAH.

The architects used a high-performance glass on the roof as skylights and ventilator turbines—the kind you see on the roofs of warehouses—to make sure that the house was well-lit and perfectly ventilated.

“I feel our biggest achievement in this house is to keep it cool naturally, in a place like Mangaluru,” says Abhijit.

To reduce the use of water, the designers used the resource at hand—rains!

“The home runs on rainwater during the rainy season, and in the other seasons, water from the borewell water is used,” he explains. “The underground tanks have a capacity of over 50,000 litres, and the recharge pits spread all across the home recharge the groundwater, facilitating the improvement of water levels. The house also recycles its water in what is called a ‘grey water filtration technique.’ In this, the water from the sinks, the kitchens and the showers gets recycled and is used for flushing and landscaping purposes. So compared to a typical house, this house uses every litre of water 1.6 times.”

You may also like: Bengaluru Architect Builds Unique ‘Insta House’ That Can Be Installed In a Day!

In addition, the architects experimented with bamboo for the false ceiling, earthen pots and filler slabs for the concrete structure and even used old unusable Vinyl CDs to build the floor of the music room!

Solar water heaters were installed on the roof, and explaining what the designers did with the waste materials, Abhijit says, “All the wastage of these materials and granite is used in the terrace. The terrace has a high-performing thermally insulated waterproofed membrane which is protected by these broken tiles which retard the slab from heating.”

2. The resources employed

This unconventional house needed a team of creative, eco-conscious experts who could build a sturdy, sustainable structure in the coastal town.

A full-time engineer was employed at the site who oversee the construction from start to finish. Apart from that, BAH provided architects, designers and back office support as and when needed. Carpenters, labourers, tradesmen, masons, fabricators, glass fitters, painters, tile layers etc., were employed as and when their services were required.

You may also like: This New Tech By Kerala Architects Could Build Post-Flood Houses Under Rs 5 Lakh!

“All the materials for the project were sourced locally in Mangalore. Clay blocks, clay jaali tiles, earthen pots, bamboo false ceiling etc. were all locally available. Certain artisan works like Athanagudi tiles were sourced out of Mangalore, but all other materials were sourced locally,” Abhijit informs us, adding that the glass fitters were full-time Saint Gobain employees.

He added that the entire process took about ten months.

3. How expensive is a house like this?

“The house cost about 57 lakhs to build. This includes the architecture, design, and construction of the entire home including electrical and plumbing work. The cost also included Government liaison (plan sanction, completion certificate etc.), interior design and execution of the interiors (kitchens, wardrobes, false ceiling etc.) The cost of solar panels, solar water heater, all the filters in the house, as well as landscaping inside and outside the house is also included,” said Abhijit.

Your home can be anything you want it to be. And with examples like Urvi, we know how to make them green, sustainable and eco-friendly without giving up on aesthetics or amenities!

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Jayan is an organic farmer in the Attapadi village of Kerala. You can see him toiling away in his field, using natural fertilisers and pesticides to nurture his crops. His green, chemical-free field is his pride and joy.

And it was this prized possession that made him decide to shift from his concrete, non-eco-friendly home to a mud house designed by Biju Bhaskar, the founder of Thannal Hand Sculpted Homes.

Chemical free, sustainable living is the way of the future and why should your home not be a part of the same? Whether you wish to build a “natural” house in the middle of a bustling city or as a way of getting closer to nature in a remote area, Thannal will help you build sustainable mud houses with your hands.

Here, we bring to you the advantages, challenges, and features of mud houses as we speak to Thannal’s founders and team members who have been their passionate advocates and builders.

Let’s start with the advantages

Speaking to TBI, Biju Bhaskar, one of the co-founders of the organisation says, “Mud buildings are very much similar to the human body. Mud walls, being porous, can breathe, like our skin. This helps in maintaining comfortable indoor temperature, irrespective of extreme weather conditions outside. So one can save a lot of money spent on ACs and other mechanical means to keep the space comfortable.”

Matkas are a classic example of how cool (literally) mud is. Of course, you won’t be able to adjust the indoor temperature of your house like you would with an AC, but the clay house will keep the structure naturally cool in summers. You are free to install fans or heaters inside to maintain the temperature that suits you.

“Another major advantage is that the material is re-usable and if you break it down, mud can easily go back to nature. So if your son needs to build a house, he can re-use the entire material and not really look for anything new. This way we can reduce the dependency on nature for construction,” the founder says.

Yet another advantage of these houses, Biju says, is that they utilize the locally available resources and labour.

The proportion of how much lime, clay, cow dung, among others, you use in the mud to construct the house may vary. But as the raw materials are local, they naturally complement the climate, weather conditions of the area and the needs of the residents.

A 500 sq feet house for a family will take between two to five months to build and not be a big burden on your purse.

“Depending on the availability of materials available locally, we have been able to attain a construction cost of Rs 800 to Rs. 1000/- per sq ft. It is very affordable as compared to conventional building costs or so-called “sustainable architecture,” which is even more expensive than the conventional architecture (Rs.2500/- to Rs. 3000/- per sq ft.)

This is achieved due to the main material required—Mud—which can be sourced from either the site itself or from nearby areas. Lime is the major binding material and is required in less quantities than cement. We neither use cement in our buildings nor mix it with mud. We do not use materials like sand or steel in our construction and likewise, materials which are on high demand by the construction industry. This also helps us keep our material costs down. We refrain from using plastic wastes in our buildings as we believe the aura and positive energy in making a space more habitable are derived from natural materials only,” says Thannal’s website.

Where do I get all this mud from?

When it comes to mud houses, there are four major types of construction practices.

· Cob is the simplest and the oldest technique where a mixture of soil, clay, cow dung, hay, cow urine, and lime is used for construction.

· Adobe goes a step forward and sun-dries clay to form bricks.

· The Wattle and Daub method uses bamboo for construction

· Finally, the rammed earth technique uses two wooden planks tied on either sides of what will be your wall and mud is filled in between.

The technique that best suits you depends on the climatic conditions of the location and the size and type of architecture you want. It is best to consult with experts like Thennul (link to contact below) to know what would best suit you.

“In a rural scenario, it is not at all difficult to procure materials. If you have a plot, you can dig a pond for water conservation and use the same mud for making the house. In [an] urban scenario, if you look at any construction site, for example, shopping malls or any big houses, tonnes of mud will be used for raising up the building to the road level.

They use mud, which is like ‘gold’ for making houses, under the building and use concrete to make the spaces which are used by humans.

So such contractors can be contacted for mud in urban scenarios,” says Sindhu Bhaskar, Thannal’s co-founder and Biju’s wife, giving a general idea about where one can obtain the primary materials

In the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, the duo further inform, every district has at least one lime kiln. “We can get both stone lime and shell lime, as per proximity to the sea. You require only 25-30 bags of Lime for a 500 sq ft home, whereas you need a truckload of cement for the same,” she says.

The challenges that you will encounter

Mud houses were common in the yesteryears and you can still see a few in remote villages across India. However, concrete has taken over most parts of the world and so, one cannot guarantee that building a mud house for yourself will be a smooth process.

Firstly, you might need to take a personal interest in gathering the materials. The people at Thannal believe in their own special form of barter system—where they offer you services in exchange for “creating learning opportunities” about which you can read more, here.

Although conventional construction plans require personal supervision as far as the requisition of materials is concerned, for a mud house—you will have to go the extra mile in search for supplies.

You may also like: British Man Builds Eco-Home for Rs 1.5 Lakh in Karnataka, Donates It to Farmhand

On the brighter side, you learn the art of constructing an eco-friendly home and the satisfaction of building your home with your own hands! Thannal, especially, makes sure that you do.

Secondly, since mud is naturally cool, the architecture might not be suitable for cold regions unless you make specific arrangements to keep the indoors warm through naturally insulating roofs and floors.

Areas that receive heavy monsoon showers might face severe problems since mud, as we know, disintegrates in a deluge. However, this can be solved with a high foundation of stones, leak-proof roof projecting on all sides and advanced waterproof plasters of Lime.

Thirdly, if gaps are left in between roof and walls, you might invite insects and tiny reptiles as your house is essentially made of natural resources. However, eco-friendly repellents and techniques, using plant derivatives should do the trick for you and keep them away.

The brains behind Thannal

Biju comes from a traditional farming family. He was pursuing a degree in architecture when, interestingly, he dropped out of the conventional course and began travelling to different parts of India to learn about natural living and eco-architecture.

Trained in wood sculpting at Khajuraho, the entrepreneur completed his architecture degree in 2009 and started Thannal Hand Sculpted Homes in 2011, along with his wife, Sindhu.

The Bhaskars, and their children Adhya Vriksha and Bodhi Vriksha, live in a mud house at the foothills of Arunachala, Tamil Nadu, and promote this kind of living to everyone.

“We have used a different technique with mud, using Earth-Bags. Earth-bag is a technique used by the armed forces in making stronger outposts in less time. It is also used in creating bunds and terraces to reduce soil erosion. This can also demonstrate to the locals a new technique, as Cob and Wattle and Daub are already familiar to them. Earth is filled in jute bags and used as building blocks. It was done in forty-five days, involving six farmers and two shepherds. Natural material used were mud, lime, different plant and animal derivatives as admixtures. It’s an example of top to bottom use of Natural Material,” they say.

You may also like: This Bengaluru Engineer’s Green, Innovative & Low-Cost Home Is Perfect for Us All

Thannal, too, is based in Tamil Nadu, but like in the case of Jayan the farmer, they are not restricted to the State.

Whether you wish to build a farmhouse in a village or go eco-friendly in a concrete jungle, a mud house is worth being considered as a sustainable, practical and cost-effective option.

You can contact the Thannal experts here to know more about how they can help you, where you can find the materials or information about how you can join them as a volunteer.

(Edited by Saiqua Sultan)

Like this story? Or have something to share? Write to us: contact@thebetterindia.com, or connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.