Tag Archives: Mud
JOURNAL: CLASS, CASTE, GENDER, AND THE MATERIALITY OF CEMENT HOUSES IN INDIA
Out now in Antipode journal. My peer-reviewed article (below) on the intersectional class, caste, and gender dynamics of new cement houses in India. It’s open access and can be viewed here. Menon, S. (2023). Class, Caste, Gender, and the Materiality of Cement Houses in India. Antipode, 55 (2) 10.1111/anti.12898 Abstract Recently, large parts of India and […]
RESEARCH: DIDI CONTRACTOR RESOURCES
91-year-old environmental designer and builder – Delia (Didi) Narayan Contractor – passed away peacefully at her home on July 5, 2021. I had the privilege of working closely with her as a junior architect for three years from 2011 to 2014 in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. She instilled in me an ethos of critical thinking and […]
PUBLIC: Episode 3: Architect + Geographer Siddharth Menon
The following podcast interview was conducted by Lauren Gifford for Carbon Social Club where we spoke about concrete, architecture, and rapidly transforming urban environments in the Global South. To listen to the whole interview, please visit https://www.carbonsocialclub.com/episodes/episode-3-architect-geographer-siddharth-menon
Public: The Social Life of Concrete
The following interview was conducted by GBSNP Varma and published in Fountain Ink Magazine in their February 2020 issue. To read the whole interview, please visit https://fountainink.in/qna/the-social-life-of-concrete- Things around us shape us, influence us, and create an experience. They shape our environments, our economies and our life in perhaps not so obvious a manner. Things […]
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 […]
Workshop: Third Annual International Anthropology of Concrete Workshop 2019, Rice University
It was great interacting with critical scholars working on the relationship between concrete and society from different interdisciplinary perspectives on 2 March, 2019 at Rice University, Houston. A special thanks to Kali Rubaii for organizing the same and for the images. Details below. Ecopolitics of Cement and Concrete Third Annual International Anthropology of Concrete Workshop […]
Talk: American Association of Geographers Preview- Student Talks
Four Geography graduate students will present a preview of the talks they will give at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) meeting in New Orleans April 10-14, 2018: Sarah Tynen: State Territorialization through Bureaucratic Control: Authoritarian Governance at the Neighborhood Level in China Aaron Malone: Diaspora Bureaucracy? Formalizing emigrant engagement and the evolution of Mexico’s 3×1 Program […]
Public: Interview in Yourstory.com
https://yourstory.com/2018/02/siddharth-menon-sustainable-architecture/ Meet Siddharth Menon, who uses architecture to address socio-economic inequality, ecological and cultural degradation Hema Vaishnavi posted on 20th February 2018 Siddharth Menon, a travelling architect and geographer, works with the aim to provide contextual and contemporary design solutions in the rural hinterland. Siddharth Menon, who graduated from IES College of Architecture in Mumbai, veered […]
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 […]
Urban & Economic Geographer 