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Earth and lime buildings prove that old is gold
Much like the past when natural and hand-sculpted homes were constructed, urban dwellers are returning to the same concept due to environmental consciousness, say architects who specialise in sustainable designs.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
The concept of hand-sculpted, natural buildings is becoming popular among the urban population of states like Tamil Nadu. People from regions where low-rise development is still happening, find such buildings suitable for homes and office spaces. Also, those who are looking forward to a reverse migration from the cities to the villages prefer to build natural homes, say architects in the city who specialise in this type of construction.
“It could be said that individuals who have the aspiration to be sustainable and environmentally conscious want to build an entire house out of earth because for them it’s a lifestyle choice from ground up,” says Santhosh Shyamsundar, the co-founder of Studio Tyto. His team and he met when they were working at Made in Earth, a Bengaluru-based company that’s into sustainable architecture and building practices. “We decided to start our own company in Chennai along the same lines — we specialise in constructing homes using earth and lime,” he adds.
When a client approaches the team, they work with the earth (clay, silt and lime) they find at a proposed building site. Depending on the chemical composition of the earth and local availability of raw material, they suggest viable building techniques. There are five main walling techniques, according to Santhosh:
- Cob: Clay soil, sand and straw are sculpted in place while wet
- Adobe: Tradition of making and building with sun-dried raw earth bricks
- Wattle and daub: Tightly woven wooden sticks or split bamboo known as the wattle are coated with a mix of straw and soil, hair or animal dung known as the daub
- Compressed earth blocks: The soil is slightly moistened, poured into a steel press and then compressed either with a manual or motorised press
- Rammed earth: A load-bearing technique where earth is compacted in successive layers within a formwork
“We truly believe that wattle and daub will be suitable for the urban scenarios. It uses less material and can deliver thin walls, which are supported by columns,” says a spokesperson of Thannal Hand-sculpted Homes. This natural building awareness group was founded by Biju Bhaskar and Sindhu Bhaskar in a village in Tiruvannamalai and their forte is creating art and natural buildings on their own using low-embodied energy materials and low technologies.
Not just offices and homes, some schools in the state have also turned to clay and lime as building materials. What started as a simple structure of mud, Cuckoo Forest School in Singarapettai eventually began to use material only from the forests around its surroundings for construction and expansion. The Marudam Farm School in Tiruvannamalai is another example. “We experimented with different materials like mud, plaster and cow dung mixtures, mud blocks, jack arch roofs with terracotta and tiles and so on to build our classrooms,” says Arun Venkataraman, one of the founders of the school.
For those interested to learn about natural buildings and hand-sculpted homes, both Studio Tyto and Thannal conduct workshops. “We have folks from all walks of life coming to learn about natural buildings. Right from children as young as three years accompanied by their parents to elderly people, many come to us with the idea of building a natural home for themselves like the ‘older days’,” concludes a member of the latter.
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