In Emmad, a serene village located in the border area of Thrissur district, lies a traditional house that stands out because of its unique model and simplicity.
While Ragesh T decided to build his own house on the outskirts of the city, his only desire was that it should be sustainable and have a dedicated space to encourage his interest in reading as well as music.
“Our idea was simple,” says Ragesh, a teacher by profession, “giving zero importance to luxury and artificiality. Located in a calm area, we wanted to preserve the ambience of our plot and bring in as much natural air and light into the home as possible.”
On learning this, Ragesh’s friends directed him to Shanitilal, who runs an architectural company called Costford in Thriprayar, which focuses on constructing eco-friendly buildings.
Highly experienced in the field of sustainable architecture, Shantilal was more than pleased to take up the project. He came up with a plan of action to build an alluring house that would stand out from the standard cement buildings we see everywhere.
Choosing sustainable architecture
As the family needed only two bedrooms, the architect decided to build a single-storeyed house, but with the facilities of a double-storeyed one.
“My plan was to build the house at an above-normal height to help lower the temperature inside and attract plenty of daylight. The family supported this idea,” says Shantilal.
The walls of the house ‘Geetham’ were built using red stone, giving it a traditional look. The outer walls were left unplastered following the exposed style of construction. Whereas, the interiors were plastered using a quirky eco-friendly mix of mud, jaggery, lime and myrobalan (haritaki).
“In almost all the sustainable houses I have designed so far, I’ve used this plastering mix to keep the walls strong just like cement. Moreover, by leaving out cement, the cost is reduced tremendously,” shares Shantilal.
The architect continues, “I used old roof tiles above a waterproofed bamboo sheet to avoid possible leakage issues in future. All the doors, windows and furniture were to be made using recycled wood, but unfortunately due to the advent of the pandemic, we faced some challenges and went ahead with steel frames and wooden planks instead.”
Read More at https://www.thebetterindia.com/305212/eco-friendly-sustainable-house-in-thrissur-kerala-using-bamboo-bricks-wood-red-oxide-saves-electricity/