Green homes: Iterate, localise

A septuagenarian from Kerala is adapting the wisdom of ancient construction practices to build sustainable homes, writes Barkha Kumari

Hamza's 3,300 sft house in Pattambi is made with compressed stabilised interlocking blocks from laterite soil and has a 50,000-litre underground water tank.

Hamza's 3,300 sft house in Pattambi is made with compressed stabilised interlocking blocks from laterite soil and has a 50,000-litre underground water tank.

(Mug shot) K Madhavan Namboodiri

K Madhavan Namboodiri

K Madhavan Namboodiri

Hamza's 3,300 sft house in Pattambi is made with compressed stabilised interlocking blocks from laterite soil and has a 50,000-litre underground water tank.

Hamza's 3,300 sft house in Pattambi is made with compressed stabilised interlocking blocks from laterite soil and has a 50,000-litre underground water tank.

Madhavan added two bedrooms on top of a concrete house owned by Jose Master in Pattikkad, making it from laterite soil. 

Madhavan added two bedrooms on top of an existing concrete house owned by Jose Master in Pattikkad, building it from laterite soil. 

Deck floors and roof truss were made using coconut timber.

These deck floors and roof truss are made using coconut timber.

(From left) Hamza’s house in Pattambi has a 50,000-litre water tank, and is made with compressed stabilised interlocking blocks of laterite soil recovered from the site. 

Sustainable homes differ from place to place in how they are built and what they are built with, as the core idea is to use local and durable resources, which optimise the use of energy and water.

K Madhavan Namboodiri, a 75-year-old man from Kerala, is on to such experiments with his non-profit organisation Susthira Bhavanam Foundation, which he started in 2019. He has so far built two homes in Kerala using coconut timber, laterite interlock blocks and bamboo ply, and integrated them with grey water recycling, rainwater harvesting and passive cooling.

He is currently developing organic alternatives for termite-proofing and water-proofing.

Methodology

Madhavan is a water management expert by profession and an experimentalist at heart. He is not an architect, so he has devised his own approach to sustainable housing.

It involves interactive action and creative solution-finding. The process includes trial and error to figure out the local materials and ancient practices that can be used or improvised upon once they are vetted to be non-polluting, socially acceptable and low-cost. He uses soil from the site of construction.

He isn’t against the use of concrete as long as one doesn’t over-exploit nature (such as mining rivers for sand) at a pace it can’t replenish. “The trick is to be in dynamic equilibrium with nature,” he explains.

He asks every family member to make a drawing of the home they want to live in and customises accordingly. He also encourages people to maximise open spaces to spend time outdoors.

The process may look time-consuming and costly but he says that’s not the case.

Case files

Madhavan maybe just two projects old but he has already got almost 100 enquiries from Himachal, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and places like Bengaluru, Sakleshpur, Kodagu and Ballari in Karnataka, to build eco-friendly homes for them.

DHonSaturday zooms in on his sustainable habitat interventions in Kerala.

On the outskirts of Thrissur, in Pattikkad, he added two bedrooms on top of a concrete house. Laterite soil from a neighbouring well was dug up to make 7,000 units of compressed stabilised interlocking blocks, enough for the 700 plus sqft space. He plastered the inside walls with lime wash and maida and added a varnish for light water resistance, both thin coats to ensure mud walls can breathe and keep the house cool. Deck floors and roof truss were made using coconut timber, available aplenty in the locality. At the owner’s request, he designed a false ceiling with bamboo ply. All this work took around four months and Rs 11 lakh to be done.

Over 30 km away, in Pattambi, he built a house with a 50,000-litre underground water tank to beat water woes in the area. The labourers dug up a pit, lined the insides with Ferro-cement (a composite material made up of mortar and light wire steel mesh) to stabilise the structure. The dug-up mud was converted into compressed stabilised interlocking blocks. The project cost Rs 50 lakh but was beset by delays because of lockdowns and flooding.

Mud houses

Madhavan is baffled every time people tell him that concrete is stronger than mud and resistant to floods and earthquakes. “Why do concrete buildings fall down like a pack of cards? They last for 50 years whereas so many mud houses are still standing after 100 years,” he says and adds that this mindset is the biggest challenge in his current line of work.

However, any house-made on floodplains cannot withstand the fury of nature, he warns.

About mud houses, he says, “The stabilised compressed interlock blocks of mud are much more water-resistant. They can absorb up to 8% of moisture, which is permissible. We call it breathability and it is this technique that keeps the mud houses cool.”

These blocks are low-cost, resistant to fire and offer better soundproofing. They add an earthy aesthetic to the house, he adds.

Coconut timber

This is a good option where coconut trees grow aplenty. Madhavan says the structural strength and durability of the outer shells of fully matured coconuts are quite high. “Polished coconut planks lend a better floor finish and come cheaper than conventional floor tiles. Likewise, they are cheaper than reinforced concrete cement slabs and require a shorter curing time,” he adds.

The price of Madhavan’s projects vary depending on the location and the cost of material and labour there. To know more, contact him at 94470 84578.

Watch the latest DH Videos here: