More often than not, I am greeted with blank looks whenever I mention the words 'earth architecture'. But forget mud huts and even the Great Mosque (Mali's masterpiece of traditional earth building). Despite it being an ancient building material, designing with earth these days is not as humble as it may appear, especially in urban settings. This unseeming paradox is one that Indian architect Chitra K. Vishwanwath - a well-known veteran of the profession - has worked with for almost two decades. Along with her firm belief that mud is possible in urban settings, her works show that the proof is in the pudding: earth is just as versatile and aesthetically pleasing as your run-of-the-mill, high-tech, designer eco-material - as well as answering that unspoken question on everyone's mind: why bother with earth?TH: When did you build your first earth building, and could you describe some of its features?
Chitra K. Vishwanath: I graduated in December 1988 and after a one-year stint in an office in Bangalore, I started one of my own with the support of my husband Vishwanath. In the first five years of our practice we did just two mud buildings and rest were economical structures based on Laurie Baker's innovations.
There is not much to say about the first two mud buildings but a lot about our house which we completed in 1995.
We decided to use earth as a primary material after looking at the site and incorporated a basement to procure the needed mud. This is now our mantra every time we design: look for the possibility of getting earth for the building - which is usually best done by incorporating a basement. This house of ours is also a laboratory of ideas: ideas on material use, spaces suitable for different climates, biodiversity, water and food. So far, it has no need for fans, recycles water, harvests rainwater and has a facility to turn waste into fertilizer. What we love about our house is that it is always growing on us and fosters innovation as a partner, thus it is always a work in progress. After completing our house in 1995, all the work we have done is ecological and 99% using earth.
TH: What are some of the inspirations that steered you in this direction?
CKV: Inspirations have been many and always depends on how one looks at it. The philosophies and methods of Laurie Baker, the Indian Institute of Science and its innovations in mud construction and all the different works at Auroville have been my teachers, but to be able to put it in action in the fast-growing city of Bangalore - will compel me to claim it has been just our persistence and firm belief that mud is possible in urban settings. Also, the contribution of our engineer friends who have helped us realize our visions is paramount.
TH: What is an interesting recent project that you've been working on?
CKV: Now the office has grown from a one-woman show to eight partner architects and people from other professional spheres - all working on many different projects. I work on few and one of the recent one is a small resort near Satpuda Game Reserve, in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
This project has been interesting personally because it was in a different context. Here we had to learn from contending with a restricted range of available material and still make the place unique. We were lucky to have a very enthusiastic contractor who is also a trained architect, Vikesh Agarwal. His team worked wholeheartedly and we worked extensively on "cob" walls for the rooms, and we also built partly with rammed earth.
There are many other projects happening in the office which are all very interesting in terms of their nature of client brief, construction method and materials and finally the design per se. We find every residence to be a fresh challenge.
We are currently doing a marketplace for rural women, an orphanage / reading centre, an eight room resort in Coonoor, on 150 acres of abandoned tea estate, a school for blind children and numerous residences.
Besides Architecture Biome (as the new office is known) is also involved in giving strategic consultancy towards i