We really want to Re use old casuarina poles and bamboos (poor man’s timber). Casuarinas will get harder when it gets old. Most of the materials were ready on site. We collected different stones in different size and shape from nearby land for a Rock game.
We started with common living room as first phase for our cob homes. Two natural colours were used for the grid as well as for the curved wall of cob foundation. For the basic grid points we used red mud and for curves we used lime powder.
This grid pattern really helped for marking curved walls. Cob walls can be attached for future expansion, so we kept two tales on both ends. After digging the foundation we kept PVC pipe for the casuarina poles and pour cement inside, so that the poles wouldn’t get damaged.
For foundation mortar we thought of using cob and lime. Here we mixed lime and red mud in 1:10 ratio and kept it side by side. We are planning to keep it for minimum 4 days and drill small holes and pour water on top of the piles.
Mean time climate in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu is changing. There are chances for rains and we had heavy rains in other part of India this year. So we called our bamboo worker friend for help and going to start roof work to prevent our Cob walls.
The “Thannel†team is doing an absolutely marvelous job in the field of natural architecture. The concept of eco-friendly Villas will set a new definition and milestone for the way houses are designed, which is the most essential issue in the current time. Such houses will reduce the gap between humans and nature. Thiruvannamali is the famous spiritual place in the world, and this architecture is really underlining the power of nature, as well as it is connected with Human nature. I wish all the success to this team.