“Of Three little pigs, one built a house of straw, another of sticks and the last built his house of bricks, Soon came the days of the big bad wolf, who huffed and puffed and blew the straw house down! He huffed and puffed and blew the stick house down, but try as he might, […]
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2016 Hands On Mud
Introducing Earth building at NIT,Trichy When you build with earth, you have to get your hands into it! Here are glimpses from a series of HANDS-ON workshops; introducing various earth building techniques to students of Architecture, at Archcult, National Institute of Technology, Trichy. The Diversity of Earth Architecture Earth is the oldest and has been […]
Read moreTadelakt, a Moroccan Marvel
There is a certain magic in working with natural materials, there is life in using earth and lime. There is a large palette to play with, but it was not until I learnt about Tadelakt, the Moroccan marvel technique, did I discover the pure class of craftsmanship in earth. There were almost twenty of us, […]
Read moreWe imagine a school, in Earth
“For us, it goes in circles, move and continue, and move and continue and keep moving.”– This brief from the team at Kashi Education Society came a long way in shaping our design process. We imagine children running, walking along walls, a casual finger trailing a texture or a motif along a wall, stopping to […]
Read more2015 Cute and Care
Suma and Shuba are two sisters from Bangalore with secret alter egos. They are setting up an organic farm near the small village of Seegehalli, in the outer reaches of the city. The quaint farm is a 400 m long strip of land jeweled with a row of coconut trees on either side. They […]
Read moreStars in mud mortar
Then came Kali, he gave me a hundred kisses on my cheek, I hugged him and did not let him go. He was excited. He was one of those to whom the school belonged. I had been waiting on the rope bed for one of my friends to ask for a brick or some mortar. […]
Read moreBuild a school!
“The Cuckoo Movement for Children” is an informal group of friends and volunteers who has been working with rural children of Tamil Nadu since 2004. They have established libraries and nurseries in villages across the state, organizing plenty of creative activities. They also partner with local schools to introduce the kids to traditional folk arts, […]
Read moreMaking an earthen floor
Most people often remember earth as a crude material; it’s plain looks that are so contrasting from the aesthetics of finished industrial products. But the irony is that the principle virtue of this material lies in its aesthetics, one that is natural, subtle and simple, adapting itself to the diversity of techniques, cultural aspirations and […]
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