This article is a part of Thannal Homes series – Owner’s Build
In the heart of mud and memory, women are returning to the soil not just as homemakers but as homebuilders. Across the country, a quiet revolution is taking place, shaped by the hands and hearts of women in natural building across India. They are learning and laboring to reimagine how homes can be made—with earth, with intention, and with integrity. Their journeys are a powerful testament for anyone wanting to learn natural building in India.
Inspiring Stories of Women in Natural Building in India
1. Reverse Migration and Rural Roots: Akila Surendran
Location: Uthangarai, Tamil Nadu
Year: 2020
Formerly based in Bangalore, Akila Surendran returned to her ancestral village—a bold act of reverse migration. Akila, an interior designer, spearheaded the creation of their 3,070 sq. ft. traditional TamilNadu cortyard home using adobe bricks, bamboo, and reclaimed wood. With an eye for traditional aesthetics and functionality, their home includes two bedrooms, a kitchen, seed storage, and a pooja room. Built after a Thannal workshop, this INR 24 lakh project is a lived declaration of ecological living and cultural continuity.
2. A Chettinad Reimagining: Kanchana Rajendran
Location: Mangalam, Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
Years: August 2021–April 2025
In a region known for its palatial Chettinad mansions, Kanchana Rajendran’s owner-built 4,500 sq. ft. home is revolutionary. It is entirely zero-cement, shaped by her own hands post a Thannal workshop. Using Chettinad lime plasters, Tedelakt lime plasters, Terracotta tiles, Madras terrace Roof and open courtyards, Kanchana bridges heritage with ecological stewardship. Her house is a living archive and a contemporary prototype.
3. From City Chaos to Earthen Calm: Manisha Thakur
Location: Delhi
Year: 2020
In the bustling neighborhood of Khan Market, New Delhi, Manisha Thakur carved out an oasis of calm. Her 960 sq. ft. adobe-brick home, built on a 1,500 sq. ft. plot, stands as a testimony to urban resilience and ecological thinking. Constructed at just INR 9 lakhs (INR 937/sq. ft.), her home uses adobe and burnt bricks, combining affordability with environmental responsibility. Manisha’s story challenges the notion that sustainable living is only for rural retreats.
4. Artistry in Earth: Shipra Singhania
Location: Alwar, Rajasthan
Years: 2019–2020
An alumna of Thannal’s natural building workshop, Shipra Singhania brought her design sensibility into practice at Golghar, Alwar. Through her studio, she integrated age-old techniques in her 300 sq. ft. project—featuring stone masonry, earthbag walls, thatch and lime roofs, and mud plasters. Costing INR 2.25 lakhs, Shipra’s work revives Rajasthani craftsmanship, proving that ecological design is also deeply aesthetic.
5. Tradition Meets Determination: Anita Saravanan
Location: Kolli Hills, Tamil Nadu
Year: 2020
In the forests of Tamil Nadu’s Kolli Hills, Anita Saravanan, an engineering educator, crafted a 1000 sq. ft. cob home during pandemic curfews. With earthen floors and a tiled roof, her INR 8 lakh home was half the cost of a conventional house. Anita came to Thannal with just a foundation in place and emerged with a fully realized home, thanks to her training and commitment to sustainable architecture.
6. The Meditative Builder: Karen Shetty
Location: Agasthya Hills, Tamil Nadu
Years: 2018–2022
Karen Shetty brings a deeply introspective and spiritual perspective to natural building. In interviews, she speaks about Madras terrace roofing and traditional Thappi lime plaster—not merely as techniques but as inherited rhythms of craftsmanship. For Karen, building with earth is meditative; each layer of mud, each thatch, each brushstroke of lime becomes a prayer. Her voice bridges the technical and the transcendental, grounding her work in both skill and soul. In her words, the natural builder must learn not only to shape a house, but to be reshaped by the process.
7. Finally, Dr. Sonali Yadav
Location: Himachal Pradesh
Year: 2022
Dr. Sonali Yadav transformed her learnings from a Thannal workshop into a humble but powerful structure: a mud oven. Built with nothing more than local soil and available materials, the oven is a symbol of self-reliance and the limitless forms natural building can take. Her project reminds us that mud is not merely for walls—it is a medium of making, nourishment, and daily use. She stands as a testament that natural building begins not always with a home, but with the hands-on rediscovery of earth itself.
Get to know more about the simple craft which transformed cooking.
Earth as Equalizer
Across Delhi’s urban blocks, Tamil Nadu’s forests, Rajasthan’s sands, and Himachal’s hills, these women are laying bricks not just to shelter their families, but to reclaim agency. They learn, they build, and they teach. Each project is a blueprint—not only for natural homes but for a future where India’s women in natural building reclaim craft, construction, and cultural knowledge.
Natural building is not just about walls and roofs. It is about reweaving the stories of land and life—and women, long written out of construction narratives, are now scripting their own in mud, lime, and love.
My mother gave me strength,
To carry life within.
I shall seek the truth,
And make a home to live in.
Oh! My mother Earth!
Start Your Journey
If these stories have inspired you to learn natural building in India, here are the best ways to begin:
- Join a Combo Workshop: Experience hands-on training in traditional techniques of natural construction, including our Self-Paced Online Course—accessible for a lifetime.
- Explore Our Self-Paced Online Course: Learn virtually from wherever you are. Understand materials, methods, and the ethos behind building with earth.
- Build Your Natural Home with Us: If you can’t build your own home, now Thannal can build it for you. Whether you seek guidance or wish to entrust the process to us, we offer complete natural home construction—designed and built with traditional wisdom, local materials, and soulful craftsmanship.
- Read More: Explore The Cost of Natural Building—an article that explains the real costs of making a home, and the difference between attending a workshop, taking an online course, or hiring professionals.
Visit thannal.com to access resources, register for workshops, and be part of a growing movement of soil-rooted creators.
These are just a few voices in a growing chorus. More stories are rising from the soil, waiting to be told.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is natural building?
Natural building means creating homes from the earth itself—using just five primary materials: mud or stone, bamboo or wood, lime, pozzolanic additives, and plant-based admixtures. These elements form the core of India’s traditional architecture, allowing for strong, breathable, and sustainable structures from huts to palaces.
Learn how these materials are used in our 35-minute introductory documentation—a beautifully narrated overview of the natural building philosophy in India.
Watch now: Introduction to Natural Building (India) – Free Course
How to access: Log in with your Gmail ID and click “Get for Free” to start watching instantly.
Link: https://course.thannal.com/courses/introduction-to-natural-building-india-639959fce4b024e1d0d5fb2b
Can Thannal build a natural home for me?
Yes, Thannal offers design, consultation, and complete construction services for natural homes using traditional Indian techniques and materials through Build a Natural home Program.
What's the best way to learn natural building in India?
You can join Thannal’s Combo Workshop, which includes hands-on training and lifetime access to a self-paced online course. This empowers you to build confidently on your own.
Is an online natural building course effective for beginners?
Absolutely. Our self-paced online Natural Building course is structured for beginners and covers foundational knowledge on materials, techniques, and sustainable design philosophy.
What is the cost of building a natural home in India?
Costs vary depending on scale, materials, and location. Read our article The Cost of Natural Building to understand the breakdown, including comparisons for DIY, workshops, and professional builds.
Dharan Ashok
This article is by Natural builder and Architect Dharan Ashok. This article is a part of the Thannal Homes series - Owner’s Build
2 thoughts on “Natural Buildings by India’s Wonder Women”
Namaste ahmedabad,
Thank you for such a powerful and articulate comment. It means the world to us when our readers connect so deeply with the “why” behind these stories.
“What’s possible when passion meets purpose and the earth” – you’ve said it perfectly. That’s the heart of this entire movement. Comments like yours are a wonderful reminder of why we do this work and share these journeys. Thank you for being a part of this community
This was such an inspiring read! It’s incredible to see how these women are redefining not just natural building, but also the very idea of home and sustainability in India. Each story shows how traditional techniques and modern living can coexist beautifully—whether in a bustling city like Delhi or a rural village in Tamil Nadu. The fact that many of them started after attending workshops proves how accessible and empowering this path can be. Thank you for highlighting these powerful voices and showing what’s possible when passion meets purpose and the earth.