Tag Archives: Earth
Practice: Kudali Learning Center, Telangana
I’m happy to share that the Kudali Learning Center in Medak, Telangana is up and running. Please find below a small snippet from their website, yakshi.org.in/kudali/. Here is a document that captures the collaborative process of the construction with different stakeholders, communities, and landscapes between January 2014 and December 2016. Kūdali – is a transformative space for […]
Praxis: Earth House, Himachal Pradesh
Location: Village Chandpur, Block Baijnath, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Building Type: Guest House Architect: Siddharth Menon Design Team: Pappu Kumar, Uddham Singh, Pratap Chand, Hansraj, Roshan Lal, Meher Chand, Om Prakash, Deepika Amonkar Castes, Crafts & Communities: Gaddi stone cutters, Chamaar carpenters, Lohaar carpenters, Pandit slate cutters, Thakur-Rana labour, Chowdhury masons, Patiyaal painters, Masand labour […]
Fieldwork: Indigenous Building Practices, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh
Latitude: 30N; Longitude: 75E Altitude: 250-6975 m Average Annual Rainfall: 1539 mm Average Precipitation Days: 86 Max. Summer Temperature: 34-35 degree Celsius Min. Winter Temperature: 0-3 degree Celsius Languages of Indigenous Craftsmen: Pahadi, Gaddi, Punjabi, Hindi Local Materials: Kacchi inth (Adobe), Gaara (Mud mortar), River stone, Blue gun patthar (Blue sand stone), Baans (Bamboo), Cheer […]
Fieldwork: Indigenous Building Practices, District Koraput, Odisha
Latitude: 18N; Longitude: 82E Altitude: 969 m Average Annual Rainfall: 1567.2 mm No. of Precipitation Days: 84 Max. Summer Temperature: 38-40 degree Celsius Min. Winter Temperature: 10-12 degree Celsius Language of the Indigenous Craftsmen: Odiya, Konda, Poraja, Gadaba, Durua, Hindi Local Materials: Adobe (Sun dried mud brick), Cob (Mud balls), Mud mortar, Laterite stone, Mahua […]
Public: Design and the Politics of Space
The following article was featured in Issue 46, Journal of Landscape Architecture www.lajournal.in. Can be downloaded here. In the 21st century, ‘developing’ countries like India are a unique study in contrast demographically. At one end, there are the privileged elite and the growing middle class, aspiring to live and consume like their western counterparts. At […]
Public: The Earth House, Himachal Pradesh
This interview was published in October-November 2015 issue of Elle Decor India. Photographs courtesy Sumit Mahar. Details Eco Buzz – Oct-Nov’15. Walk us through the idea behind Earth Guest House. The Earth House is a 1500 sft. Guest House in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh for a travel company called Linger (www.linger.in). They […]
Public: The Role of a 21st Century Architect in Rural India (2)
The article was published in Domus India, September 2015 edition. Can be downloaded here. Yakshi Inter Generational Learning Centre, Telangana, India Yakshi (http://www.yakshi.org.in) is a Non- Government Organization based in Hyderabad, India. They are a team of indigenous educators, theatre activists, artists, researchers, community organizers and leaders, primarily from adivasi communities who work with adivasi communities in India, […]
Public: An Architecture of the People, by the People, for the People
The following article was published in thewire.in on 29 July 2015 on the trials and tribulations of building in rural Uttar Pradesh. The full article can be accessed here. Building in rural Uttar Pradesh is always a massive challenge. With its feudal backdrop where caste and politics share a powerful relationship, people’s issues and concerns become […]
Public: Ecological Interiors-Mud and its many hues
The following article was featured on 27th July 2015 in http://www.sawdust.online on ecological interiors and the use of mud for the same. When designing and building in rural areas, mud should be the de facto material of choice. Excavated right from the foundation for the building or from an adjoining farm, it has a very low […]
Public: Ar. Siddharth Menon
The following interview was featured on 27th July 2015 in http://www.sawdust.online on the challenges of mud architecture in India. When did you build your first earth building, and could you describe some of its features? I built my first earth building at the Auroville Earth Institute (www.earth-auroville.com) in Auroville, Tamil Nadu in 2011. I was training […]
Urban & Economic Geographer 