LIVING MATERIALS

The Khasi Hill tribe of Meghalaya, India are one of the strongest indigenous designers utilizing living materials in everyday life. The state of Meghalaya has the highest levels of precipitation in the world, with an average of five hundred centimeters (197 inches) of rain during the four month monsoon season, June to September.026 027 Intense monsoons bombard the region, thus travel is often cut off as many areas are flooded. However, the Khasi tribe has developed a strong and flexible form of thoroughfare which is able to withstand the heavy rains: living root bridges.028 The Khasi philosophy and mythology has deep roots in environmental and human synthesis, as they see themselves as one with the surrounding ecosystem.029 The interwoven latticework style living bridges are able to withstand the intense climate of the region better than any artificial or modern structural system.030 Due to the remoteness of the Khasi tribe’s region, their way of life and environmental synthesis has been preserved from the rapid and egregious over development of India.031

The author of Lo_Tek Design by Radical Indigenism, Julia Watson, denotes this foundational technology as a socio-ecological system: which “consist of a ‘biogeo-physical’ unit and [is] associated with social actors and institutions.”032

The infrastructure of the unique and ingenious rubber tree bridges, or jingkieng dieng jri, consist of training roots of the Ficus elastica, or rubber fig tree, around the trunk of a betel nut tree which acts as a structural scaffolding.033 After about fifteen years, large flat stones can be placed in the various gaps in the bridge, creating a more holistic structure with diverse biological elements in the matrix.034 These integrated biological systems can span up to thirty meters (approximately 98 feet) in length and have support systems up to forty meters high (approximately 130 feet).035 After careful consideration and planning of the root system and thirty years of growing and training, the jingkieng dieng jri is able to hold approximately fifty people.036 These root bridges have been able to thrive for hundreds of years, only growing stronger with the brunt of many monsoon rains.037 In addition to the ancient development of the living root bridges, living ladders are integrated into the socio-ecological system of the Khasi tribe. This development aids in the access of horticulturally applicable land, which is typically isolated to large plateau escarpments.038

019 | Rubber Tree Bridge, Meghalaya, India

Overall, the Khasi tribe showcases a strong arsenal of inventiveness, patience, and integration regarding their synthesis with the surrounding environment. Technology and society works with nature and not despite nature, especially regarding the intense climate conditions of Meghalaya. Selfrepairing natural technology needs to be integrated into the modern world of architecture, design, and urbanism. This type of technology and intrinsic philosophy is the first step to repair the broken system of ecological injustice which some aspects of modernity and consumerism has wrought on the Western World. Patience is necessary in order to implement a redirection focused on a long lasting, sustainable, and resilient future for the built environment, and thus, the earth.