The founders of Praangana Earthen Architecture were waiting for the opportunity to implement the use of natural resources to make a home and reduce the carbon footprint of construction. The opportunity came to them in 2017 when their friend presented them with a project. “My friend expressed that his father, B V Rao, was looking to construct a traditional house at his native, Udupi,” says Nithin.
More than half of the materials used in the construction are repurposed materials and wood from jackfruit, African tulip trees, and old torn-down buildings. The wood was also used to prepare a traditional flat roof, locally known as ‘mucchige’ (roof enclosure) in Kannada.
“The cashew oil works as a binding agent while fermented black jaggery works for its stickiness and quick hardening of the mixture,” he adds. The lime-plastered walls remain cool even in the hottest of summer months, the architect informs. Additionally, to keep the home cool, the house has multiple small windows instead of large ones for active and passive ventilation.
“The house does not have columns or beams as observed in conventional housing, which reduces the use of concrete,” he says, adding, “Arches and corbelled arches have been extensively used to achieve a very stable load-bearing structure.”