PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE SACRED GROVES , AUROVILLE
MATRIMANDIR
Auroville was born on 28 feb,1968 with a view to be in the words of it founder the mother : A p l a c e w h e re t h e n e e d s o f t h e s p i r i t a n d t h e c a re f o r p ro g re s s w o u l d g e t p re c e d e n c e o v e r t h e s a t i s f a c t i o n o f d e s i re s a n d p a s s i o n s t h e s e e k i n g f o r p l e a s u re s a n d m a t e r i a l e n j o y m e n t s U n i t e d b y t h e v a l u e s o f m i n i m a l u s e o f re s o u rc e s , o p e n m i n d e d n e s s , c o n s c i o u s l i v i n g a n d t e a m w o r k
ABOUT THE ARCHITECT Ar . Manu Gopalan is a professional architect w i t h o v e r 1 5 ye a r s o f e x p e r i e n c e i n t h e management of international organisations such as Greenpeace, amnesty international , architecture and development and auroville international township. He has worked in multi -country contex ts in India, Nepal ,Sri- lanka , Pakistan , Burma , Thailand , Tu r k e y , M a l a ys i a a n d U K . He is the founder of EarthHauz architecture and design whose current focus is to develop affordable housing using 100% natural and r e c yc l e d m a t e r i a l s , p a r t i c i p a t o r y d e s i g n a n d s e l f help construction of built that is site specific, climatically responsive and respectful of traditions. He believes in hands-on work, to feel and mend the materials and bring in togetherness with right communication and hardwork. This is how Sacred Groves an ecological housing project in the light of auroville was started by Manu.
There is an acute shortage of affordable housing in auroville which deters many good people from j o i n i n g t h e c o m m u n i t y. The Sacred-groves project was conceived to alleviate this problem with construction of 108 homes for newcomers, aurovillians and volunteers in a manner consistent with m o t h e r ’s v i s i o n o f auroville
The Project is designed to be a model of ecological community living using ecologically sensitive construction methods
HOW?
WHY?
THE GOAL
R
E N D E R S
PRACTICES UNDERTAKEN
Working area
The Goal was to create a gathering space that acts like a seating as well as parapets walls for protection of the user as the plinth is around 1.2m high The images show the progressive work and the final output after months of working and experimenting with different techniques. Before diving into the work, we conducted a soil test analysis.
The partition wall was going to be used on the second floor of the prototype to divide the spaces
We were supposed to redesign a bamboo house into a space for a user to reside in it. The idea was to make use of most of the 3x3.5 m space.
REDESIGN
The previous bamboo house was dismantled because of termite issues and a new proposal for an earth structure was given. It was a space for one user.
PROPOSED MODEL
PROPOSED PLAN
The plan was designed in such a way that the user gets the basic utilities of kitchen and a bedroom along with the deck protruded towards the jungle and sacred circle to get the view. The kitchen was placed a level up so that it differentiates between service space and a habitable space. Circular opening was given to sit and read. Openings on all sides ensure good ventilated space.
The material pallete was entirely earth. The external walls were supposed to be rammed earth while the circle recessed in one of the walls was decided as adobe. The foundation was a rubble trench or earth Crete. The roof was decided as bamboo and bamboo reapers covered with tarp. A thing coat of lime wash was to be given to protect from termites. Louvers were to be provided near kitchen for no direct visual connect via people passing by the pathways opp. office