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The Story Of Earth Building Company: One of the most important issues troubling the world today is global warming and air pollution as it directly impacts our lives today. When it comes to air pollution, every action matters as the production of dioxide gasses is one of the main factors causing global warming.
The construction sector is responsible for 39% of energy and process-related carbon dioxide emissions.
39% is an alarming situation and the construction industry needs to focus on alternative methods or natural materials without delay, to somehow reduce the pressures of adverse effects.
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The term ‘natural materials’ refers to those substances that are found in nature and which can either be used directly for some particular building function or require human intervention (e.g processing) to make them usable.
Natural or organic building means sustainable building at its “greenest.” It utilizes minimally processed, nontoxic materials and systems used appropriately for the climate, site and intended use. The buildings are inspired by, built around, and blend in with their natural surroundings.
The need of the hour demands that more and more people, young architects and environmentalists come forward to support this change.
One such team which rose to the occasion was ‘ Earth Building’, initiated by Stanzing Phuntsog from Ladakh and Samyukta Saravanan from Coimbatore.
Samyuktha explains,” Earth building is an endeavor that is trying to re-bring natural building as a method of construction to people.
The term ‘natural materials’ refers to those substances that are found in nature and which can either be used directly for some particular building function or require human intervention (e.g processing) to make them usable.
Our main motto is to keep our designs eco-friendly, aesthetic, functional, unusual and thermally comfortable. We are trying to reclaim our ancestral knowledge of building and use it to the best of our abilities with our own spin.”
Stanzin Phuntsog and Samyuktha, are two people who love working with mud and enjoy thinking out of the box to make things happen. Literally from two ends of India, their love for mud brought them to work together.
They love making crazy designs that are functional too. Traditional homes inspire them and their thirst for adventure keeps them traveling and exploring traditional techniques in natural building.
Stanzin Phuntsog is a self explored architect and started his journey from his childhood in Ladakh. In Ladakh, the village community gets together to build homes for each other.
This was the fodder for his curiosity in building things. He was always searching for alternative solutions for problems.
Uncomfortable with theoretical and irrelevant education, he intentionally walked out of the schooling system when he was 16. He pursued alternative education at SECMOL, Ladakh.
Secmol is the alternative education centre initiated by Sonam Wangchuk where children are encouraged to explore new ideas. Stanzin says that spending time at Secmol gave him tremendous inspiration.
His next exposure was at Swaraj University, Udaipur. This is where he met many like minded people and his ideas got empetus.
He traveled a lot through India observing, learning and understanding architecture and materials. He is extremely passionate about alternative education, sustainable living.
Samyuktha hails from Coimbatore and is the complementary part of Earth Building. By education, she is an architect. She felt incompetent to build, even after 5 years of her course.
She started searching for hands-on experiences. She then continued her journey in a self-designed learning course at Swaraj University, Udaipur.
Destiny played its role and brought ideas from north and south of India together. Stanzin and Samyuktha met at Swaraj. Samyuktha wanted to first experiment by building her own earthbag home.
Along with Stanzin and with the help of some volunteers, they designed and built her Earthbag home in Coimbatore.
Stanzin Phuntsog is a self explored architect and started his journey from his childhood in Ladakh.
In Ladakh, the village community gets together to build homes for each other. This was the fodder for his curiosity in building things.
He was always searching for alternative solutions for problems. Uncomfortable with theoretical and irrelevant education, he intentionally walked out of the schooling system when he was 16.
He pursued alternative education at SECMOL, Ladakh. Secmol is the alternative education centre initiated by Sonam Wangchuk where children are encouraged to explore new ideas.
Stanzin says that spending time at Secmol gave him tremendous inspiration. His next exposure was at Swaraj University, Udaipur.
This is where he met many like minded people and his ideas got empetus. He traveled a lot through India observing, learning and understanding architecture and materials.
He is extremely passionate about alternative education, sustainable living.
She says,”Building my home was an extraordinary journey in my life giving me confidence in my skills as an architect. In my journey in earth building, I find that I like trying out plaster combinations and making different paints and finishing layers.”
Earth Building is an endeavor that started back in 2017 with their first project being Samyukta’s earthbag home.
Both of them had strong sustainable values, had explored different techniques in natural building and wanted to start something that would enable people to trust in natural building materials and techniques.
It became even stronger when Samyukth’s home was complete. The journey was such a struggle because the house itself is a challenge to the society’s vision of a home, both in terms of design and materials.
People have been living with a rigid mindset for decades and it takes generations to make people think differently, especially when it is a revolutionary idea..though going back to organic construction is actually going back to our roots.
She says,”Building my home was an extraordinary journey in my life giving me confidence in my skills as an architect. In my journey in earth building, I find that I like trying out plaster combinations and making different paints and finishing layers.”
It was not easy to convince people to trust their building techniques initially. People had doubts whether mud construction would withstand climatic weather changes, if it has a long life or be safe to live in or that these fanciful ideas are just for the off beat listless ones etc.
Responding to changing mindset and proving on ground that organic building was the way forward to supporting sustainable lifestyle and saving our planet, were the main reasons why they started ‘ Earth Building’.
They wanted to encourage and support those who resonate with their vision and also help them during construction, especially where the owners are fully involved in the project and are passionate about making a sustainable home.
Nature has given us all the pieces required to achieve exceptional wellness and health, but has left it to us to put these pieces together.”—Diane
Life is not easy for those wanting to follow their calling. There is tremendous societal and family pressures.
People don’t have faith in your decision and maybe they want to protect you from failure. Professionally also, since they did not have past projects to show initially, clients did not trust their ideas instantly.
Slowly, they remained persistent and received positive responses to their projects.
Clients started trusting them and projects started flowing in. Building up a profile and career has been an arduous but enjoyable journey for both of them. In addition, balancing finances and showing their families that they could sustain in their careers was quite a challenge.
Achievements did follow. Along with team Pizhai Azhagu,they introduced some practices like madras terrace roofing(kattai kuthu), Chettinadu egg plaster, Sallimann wall construction, Odai Kal wall construction, earthen mirror finish, etc in their projects.
Several homes have been constructed in Tamilnadu. A meditation therapy centre was completed with volunteers in Attapadi, Kerala.
Parallely, they have been working with SECMOL and HIAL teaching how to make earthbag domes to the students there.
They have also completed a home and are working on a natural resort in Ladakh currently.
In the consultation where they support the owner to build, they have been able to guide homes to be built with Rs. 800 rs per square feet.
Main features they use are ~
Cob, Earth Bag, Adobe, Stone Masonry, Rammed Earth. Clay plaster, Lime and Lime Clay Plasters , Lime Surkhi, Tadelakht Lime Plaster. Tiled Roof, Reciprocal Roof, Ladakhi Traditional Roof and so on.
Natural Building Techniques used today in most organic construction projects~
“Cob” is an old English term meaning loaf or lump. Cob construction uses a mixture of clay, sand and straw, and is used mostly in a structural, or load-bearing, capacity as house and building walls.
Extremely versatile medium, used for garden walls, benches, bas relief, bread ovens,etc. The high thermal mass of cob helps reduce temperature swings by storing and releasing heat.
Earthbag construction is a relatively quick process that uses woven polypropylene feed bags filled with clayey or sandy soil, sand or gravel to form foundations, walls, benches, and more. Beautiful curvey forms and domes can be created using earthbags.
Rammed-earth techniques create beautiful, thick, solid earthen walls by ramming slightly moistened earth in sturdy forms. The resulting walls can be finished with a clear sealer to reveal the earthen stiations, or plastered with lime or earth plaster.
Colored clays or artifacts such as geodes and fossils can be cast into rammed earth walls for added interest. Rammed earth walls are load-bearing and offer very high thermal mass but low insulating properties.
CEB ~ Compressed Earth Block ~ Slightly moistened earth is compressed under great pressure into blocks that are immediately ready to put into the wall.
CEB can be used to form perimeter or interior load bearing walls or can be used for infill within another structural system.
Adobe: sun dried bricks are a very easy method to use currently as they are easily available in brick kilns and the labor are easily able to adapt it.
We have seen that there are many alternative natural options available now. Young responsible, sensitive, conscious architects like Stanzing Phuntsog and Samyuktha proved that following your heart’s voice, does lead to positive results.
After all that struggle, the ‘Earth Building’ company is now promoting natural construction methods and entering various sectors.
Samyuktha shares,”We are so happy to see different sectors embracing natural building. More and more people are willing to be open and give more importance to health and the natural environment.
Right now our projects are across sectors like hospitality resorts, healing arts and Ayurvedic centres, interpretation and exhibition spaces, homes etc.”
They both strongly believe that tomorrow’s future lies with the youth and suggest that “ Connection to the community around and the nature and environment in which we live is important.
In our madness around the so-called development, let us not lose the care and connection with our own roots which actually enables us to have a healthy and wholesome life.”.
True change makers who are ‘walking’ their talk!
Contact details: email- [email protected]
ph 60055455954
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthbuilding.in/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mudhouses
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