FEB 2017
EDITION 7
ARCHITECT’S
THE
diary
DIGITAL ONLINE MAGAZINE
GREEN
OVER GREY BACK TO HEAVEN UNEVEN
VASHI FARM HOUSE d6thD
A DAY IN AUROVILLE
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BACK TO HEAVEN
- UNEVEN
P laced in a very serene context this Weekend homes consist of 44 cottag-
es; planned in phases over a stretch of Shanti Lake, which weaves beautifully into a rustic rural surrounding and adds to be a perfect get away for its inhabitants. Concept of Landscape Design: The layout was designed propagating the focus on retaining the natural character of site and scenic lake in the front. Main points of consideration were:
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A. Retaining all existing trees and replanting
B. Encouraging local and native vegetation that already grows on the banks in order to retain the existing ecosystem
C.In the intervention ,entire road is
made of grass pavers instead of hard surface to help recharge ground water, reduce heat radiation and enhancing true experience of a green road (as vehicular movement is discouraged within the premise)
D. Special care has been taken to plant: Fruit trees to encourage birds. Flowers of both aesthetic value as well as fragrance. Large trees for shade.
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The layout of the entire site was planned simple and linear. Each cottage holds basic necessities that one would need for a short stay. Compact traditional interior design with a combination of rustic finishes and authentic embellishment conjure very beautiful and refreshing experience. Special care has been taken in terms of retain ‘scale’ after a proper research of such traditional homes in rural India. The rural experience here takes you back in time even though totally equipped with moderns needs.
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Back to Basics! TEXT BY : SHISHMA SHEKH An interview with Ar. Himanshu Patel
Ar. Himanshu Patel, is passionate about design driven by ideas rather than personalities. His d6thD Design studio promotes vernacular architecture using locally available materials, and climate responsive architecture. His primary interests lies in creating spaces that creates harmonious relationship between mankind and nature. Q: Your prime focus lies in vernacular Architecture, Who or what is your inspiration? A: The things an Architect builds and his methods reflect his experiences, vision and archives in his memory. My practice in vernacular architecture is inextricably bound with my childhood in village. I took keen interest in observing the daily chores carried out without the use of technology; Most of the techniques used were simple and cheap but genius as well. I still cherish the memories of my grandfather building house himself, keeping his main concern the strength and stability rather than the aesthetics. This simplistic and holistic approach towards life left an inedible impression on me. While studying architecture, the work 10
of Laurie Baker in India, Hassan Fathy in Egypt and Geoffrey Bawa in Sri Lanka left a significant impact on me. However, I would like to give credit to my guru R.L.Kumar from CVA for teaching me the techniques and principles of vernacular architecture. He wasn’t an architect on paper but in spirit. Q: In most of your buildings, you work with exposed brick. How did you evolve with bricks? A: Common red burnt brick is a great invention of man that has taken thousands of years to evolve and be what it is today. It’s colors range from cream, through orange sandy colours to brown and even blue brown. When built into a wall, pleasing and interesting simple patterns appear.
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Like people who all have one nose, one mouth, two ears and two eyes but no two look exactly the same, so each brick, although so simple in shape, has its own individuality. Working with bricks is not only an interesting but it is also very satisfying to me. Even a plain simple brick wall is full of pattern and colour. There are a number of well-known famous world personages who built brick walls as a hobby and as an occupation for relaxation and pleasure when other pressures were too great. Sir Winston Churchill was one of them! Q: You believe that ‘A village of India has so many things to learn’ Can you describe in brief? A: Gandhiji said,” The real India lives in the villages.” I consider myself lucky to have experienced that. Village-life is plain and simple. People are one with nature.
Gandhiji said,” The real India lives in the villages.” I consider myself lucky to have experienced that. Village-life is plain and simple. People are one with nature.
The climate dictates the village settlements. For example, village settlements in Uttaranchal are characterized as houses of with thick stone walls of coursed rubble masonry designed to ward off cold, with a shelter for animals below (the heat given off by mulch animals heats the house above). In Kerala, village houses are slope-roofed with Mangalore tiles and thatch to draw off and channel rain. In Assam, the same houses are often built on stilts, counter the often damp ground. The list goes on. But in each case we see that villages in India’s diverse regions has evolved a unique way of responding to the climate and the environment that is sustainable, shows an intelligent approach to the problems of climate, and is a delicate balance of social and cultural factors through spatial vocabulary such as walls, courtyards, floors and semi-private and private spaces.
Q: In today’s scenario ‘Clients have their own fantasy to get the best design with low cost. How did you manage to design? A: There is nothing wrong to get the best out of low cost. In fact, it is the best practice we should adopt. A look at the overall picture of the present building industry makes it clear that the cost of building is extremely high and well beyond the means of the ordinary man. Much money could be saved merely by using common sense, along with simple, established, tried building practices.
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Can you explain about working with space in vernacular architecture?
Space, basically is a dimension dependent on the viewer or his/her viewpoint. Most people cannot experience the “emptiness” of space but instead, their attention is drawn to the objects or form that defines the outer limits of the space. The way I see it is that the challenge, challenge to make that “spatial nothingness” perceivable to people in context to culture and customs through vernacular architecture. As an architect how do you visualize a future with vernacular architecture? Does it play important parameters in today’s scenario? Vernacular Architecture is not new, it is the most widespread and most of us were raised in these homes. However, Vernacular architecture has been
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losing ground over the last couple of centuries, as modern methods prevail. In being modern, we have lost virtue. We need to review our sense of values. I find that the most cost reduction techniques shown by vernacular architecture give better quality and give our architecture an Indian identity that supersedes the imitation urban stuff with which we are defacing our cities today. Vernacular architecture is not merely a style but it is an attitude which carries holistic lifestyle. To me, vernacular architecture has all answers of our current urban problems if we try to find it consciously. It is only necessary for us to go one step further with the research work which our forefathers have done- that is for us to add on our twentieth century contribution to improve on what has already been achieved. But it must be a contribution and not a contradiction.
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VASHI FARM HOUSE COVER STORY
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COVER STORY The country whose culture and history is as rich as that of India, it is always interesting to see how designers and architects bring that context into their modern ways. The quaint, vivid “Vashi farm house� featured in this post is designed by Ar. Himanshu patel who runs a firm d6thD in Ahmedabad with overt principle of vernacular architecture in mind.
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Nestled in the rural landscape of south Gujarat, on the outskirts of Surat city, this 450 sqmt farm house sits in a beautifully landscaped plot of 1.25 acre near magnificent Andheshwar Shiva temple at Amalsad village becomes a much needed antidote to today’s rushed life style. This weekend house has a distinct feel of familiarity – rooted in regional elements of design and decor. Right from the sloping roof to combat the heavy rainfall prevalent in this region, to the deeply covered verandah that acts as the transition space from the hot exteriors and the heart of the home - the centrally placed inner courtyard around which are arranged the other living spaces, remind you of the ancestral homes. Its culturally respon-
sive design explores the various facets of nature, acting as a recharging node. Just a couple of days here, and the users feel rejuvenated. Upon approaching the property, one encounters a composition of variously proportioned roofing volumes that scale along with the circular mass of random rubble stone wall that are arranged over the changing landscape, all of which have a strong underlying cohesiveness. The scheme contains majorly two blocksOne is for residential purpose contains four bedroom, living, dinning, kitchen, courtyard and other circular block is a conference room.
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COVER STORY
The program of residential block has been laid out in an ‘H-shaped’ plan conceptualized around the idea of two green zones, a ‘COURTYARD’ and an outdoor ‘GARDEN’ that look as extensions to indoor spaces, thus diluting the boundaries between inside and outside. A taller four bedroom mass was planned south of the courtyard to ensure a shaded and accessible open space. The Northern side of the courtyard had a slightly shorter mass. The two masses on either side of the court are connected with stone slab verandah having a gazebo on top. This balance of the two masses creates an interesting form – in line with our philosophy for the home.
A fascinating drop-off area semi covered by wooden pergola and a lily water body lead you towards the corbelled brick wall entrance with two small Nandi idols which references the religious distinctiveness of the owners’ attachment. Entrance verandah has subtle flooring pattern by polished and rough finished golden kota stone along with cutouts in slab above reference to the plantation below. Series of twisted brick column around courtyard adds drama into the welcoming gesture. 16
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The living space is a slice from the open space concept that accommodates seating, dining and a kitchen making it feel like an expansive lounge. High volume Living space has been highlighted with interesting geometrical patterned flooring created by reusing old marble tile with ceramic inlay and colored stain glass above warli wall painting unfolding the story about traditional lifestyle follow the vernacular theme while the cus-
tomized sheesham wooden sofa with earthy color soft furnishing provides a touch of ethnic luxury as it both complements and enhances the natural material’s beauty around the building. Customized dining chairs add visual interest with its elaborately cantilevered shape. A loose stone chips hardscape passage with a rectangular roofing skylight adds the required warmth within living space creates the impression of living outside.
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COVER STORY Gazebo just above the entrance door surprisingly creates a sense of security element and at the same time it becomes an almost sensual feel sit out for the upper level bedrooms where the couple spends most of time enjoying the an unobstructed panoramic view of garden. Boundaries between interior and exterior have been disinterested; every bedroom opens through large folding door to a private outdoor balcony/ verandah offering views to garden or courtyard, allowing one to fully engage with the surrounding landscape. Metallic Golden colored Clay pot filler slab bedroom ceiling with small led lights
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were planned to be simple yet ethnic in its place. All the bedrooms have attached bathroom flooded with skylights so that the feel of an open space is not lost for an instant. Exposed cement finished wall and crazy kota stone flooring compliment the robust looking textured granite back panel with brushed golden faucets in rain shower area. The staircase leading to the upper floor is interestingly half done with solid thick kadappa stone steps and half done with open riser wooden planks, adding to the openness of the space.
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The materials and techniques employed in this house are not only time tested and reliable but clearly reflect a cultural and climate sensitivity towards the area. The foundation is of random rubble stone masonry, and 14� thick load bearing exposed brick walls in quetta bond act as thermal insulators. The house integrates numerous roofing techniques with different volumes. The construction methods adopted also creates training and jobs for the neighboring villages. Part of
the building which is circular shape is the purely response towards reusing curved shaped old windows.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the house remains true to its context and testifies itself to the norms of vernacular architecture, instead of vying for an identity amongst lipstick architectural buildings so called modern.
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COVER STORY Outdoor deck and landscaped gardens serve as expansive entertaining areas. As the trees grow and the building ages, built-and un-built will become more and more indistinguishable and graceful.
It is a joyous experience to all those who has built this, who live here and those who visit this house. They say that there is some immeasurable hidden dimension that rejuvenates and vitalizes them once they are in this house. Could we call it the spirit dimension? We call it the 6th dimension; dimension to feel good- says architect.
Fact File: Typology: weekend home Location: Amalsad Village, Nr.Surat, Gujarat Principal Architect: Himanshu Patel Design Firm: d6thD design studio PMC: Phoonyx Consultant Structure: VMS Engineering Landscape Consultant: Earthscapes Civil Contractor: Purvi Construction Interior Designer: Himanshu Patel Interior Contractor: RDM interior Flooring Contractor: Mukesh Solanki Landscape Contractor: Scale Enterprise photography: Maulik patel, Nitin Panchal Completion Date: October 2016 built up area: 450 sq.mt site area: 1.25 acre
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Let’s get back together with Mother Earth! TEXT BY : RUKHSAR RANGWALA
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Developed from being a 20 sq km. of
Centre, started a new era in earthen architecture. barren land Auroville has come a long This Visitors’ Centre of 1200 m² was way since its inception in the 1960s. granted the “Hassan Fathy Award for Living true to the ideals of The Mother Architecture for the Poor” in 1992. (Mirra Alfassa), Auroville has always Built of compressed stabilised earth been the place of an unending educablocks, it demonstrated the potential tion, of constant progress and a youth of stabilised earth as a quality building that never ages. material. Bridging the gap between the past and Later on more public buildings were future, Auroville decided to link the an- added to list of earthen construction. cestral tradition of raw earth building Auroville Earth institute (1989 to with modern technologies of stabilised 2008), Isaiambalam School (1990), earth. Through series of experiments Udavi School (1991 to 1993), Shakti and research carried out by AuroVihar School at Pondicherry (1992 ville earth Institute, it has proved that to 1994), Kindergarten at Auroville Earth, as a building material, can be (1993), Deepanam School (Ex Mirraused for creating a modern, progresmukhi: 1994 to 1996), Solar Kitchen sive and eco-friendly habitat. (1996- to 1997), Multipurpose Centre The creation of the former Auroville at Vérité Community (1999 & 2000). Building Centre/Earth Unit in 1989, and the construction of the Visitors’
Figure 1: Visitors Centre - CSEB - 1992 Hassan Fathy award for architecture for the poor
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Figure 2:Training centre of the Auroville Earth Institute - CSEB and rammed earth
Figure 3: Solar Kitchen for 1000 people at Centre Field area – CSEB
Figure 4:Deepanam School near Matrimandir - Stabilised rammed earth & CSEB vault.
Nowadays, Most of the projects are built with compressed stabilised earth blocks (CSEB). In Auroville, these blocks present many advantages compared to fired bricks: - Walls made of CSEB are always cheaper than fired bricks. - The embodied energy is 15 times less than the bricks fired in the village. - The strength of these blocks is most of the time higher than the local fired bricks. Stabilised rammed earth used for walls is slowly getting known and a few projects already implemented this technique. www.thearchitectsdiary.com
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Figure 5:Auram press 3000 - Multi mould manual press with 17 moulds for doing ~ 75 blocks
There are also three other earth techniques used in Auroville. These techniques are very marginally used as only 8 buildings have been built with them: - Raw rammed earth, for only two buildings. - Adobe blocks, the traditional sun dried mud brick, for two buildings. - Wattle and daub which is mud plastered on a wattle made of split bamboo or palmyra tree, for 4 buildings. Let’s get more familiar with the earthen technology!!
Figure 6: 75 different kinds of forms of CSEB blocks can be made. Just imagine the no. of forms achieved by the permutation and combination of these
Figure 7: Digging the trench and filling the frame
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Figure 8:Rammed earth forms
Figure 9: Composite columns
Figure 10: Composite staircase
Figure 11: Composite Beam
Figure 8:Rammed earth forms
Figure 12: Hourdis blocks and ferrocement channels
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A D AY I N AU R O V I L L E ! DIARY TEXT BY : RUKHSAR RANGWALA
“If you get a chance, please do pay Auroville a visit!” the seniors advised us. No sooner did the opportunity knock on our door. We were a little too willing to take a detour from the National NASA trip and visit this Universal Township which was a 20 sq. Km of barren wasteland up until February 1968. Early in the morning before sunrise we left from Pondicherry, we reached Auroville by the break of dawn, which is where the name of the city is derived from. Finding quite some rush in the visitor’s Centre we decided to explore the city on our own with the help of the city Map. While walking down the shaded lanes of Auroville, we came across people from diverse nationalities doing their daily chores. Coming from a city where the only means you travel is by fuelled vehicles, I was surprised to find people, Old and young either walking or riding bicycles. “Go Green” was their unspoken motto. Our first stop was MATRI Mandir, and it was a sight to behold. The serenity of the place had us hypnotised. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed inside the campus as the rule said we had to acquire prior permission to enter its Campus itself. But One factoid which interested me the most was that Inside the campus of the Mandir was kept an Urn filled with the soil of 35 countries. Depicting the true purpose of establishment of this township, i.e. to promote human unity.
After going ahead searching for some food, surprisingly we crossed paths with one of our seniors, whom we begged (almost!) to become our guide for the day and he was happy to oblige. He explained various customs or rules (depends the way you look at it) that they had to live by to be a part of this unique society. I’d like to share some of them with you They gathered every morning to Meditate at Matri Mandir which is a solar powered building. The people there preferred to grow their own food. Coming Back to Food, we found huge Solar Kitchens that cooked food for a large number of people who gathered every day to dine together. Yes, we were lucky to taste some of it. I wouldn’t call it mouth-watering but it definitely was healthy made me remind of my childhood vacationing in the village of my grandparents.
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Photo Credits : www.fabricarchitect.com
Our Guide (that day he got a new name) took us to visit a very unconventional architect, Ar. Manu Gopalan who lived comfortably with bare necessities of life. His addressing statement struck me “All you study in college is useless, as it’s just from the books. You cannot know about the materials unless you touch them and play with it.” Also his workshop cum Living place was built by him manually from the scrap materials available from in and around the site. He truly entranced us with his knowledge and his philosophies of life. After this enlightening interview we visited some more buildings, and we had an Aurovillian to escort us, so we weren’t just headless chickens running around. I felt that it was an unspoken tradition around there to build with earth and the locally available materials. They have an entire institute carrying out various research and experimentation to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of it.
After Walking for an entire day, we are back en route to our destination. This trip definitely questioned our way of living! Just taking from the nature and not giving back! Building concrete jungles instead of green ones! Let’s just go back to the basics! Here I woud like to share some photographs of my trip!
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Photo Credits : www.fabricarchitect.com
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