Architecture is a medium of creating circular communities and culture.
Long description
Gandhi told Laurie Baker that the ideal house should be built with materials found within a five-mile radius of the house.
Today materials are shipped across countries, contributing to an alarmingly exploitative industry generating 40% of the world carbon footprint across it’s sectors. Ancient vernacular architecture has been non-extractive, resourceful and circular.
This nascent practice attempts to revive building a circular culture in communities through architecture. Building therefore is seen as a medium, not an end or a product in itself. Success measured by its cultural, environmental and social impact. This allows us to integrate expertise within the community of intervention, tap into innovations around.
I attempt to convey values and experiments through our first project. A toilet block for school children of Nachiar Vidyalayam, which is nearing completion. Here material from the dying industry of Mangalore Tiles close by, was reused at transport cost. A masonry repurposing construction technique developed by a local, that we refined.
Some questions I encountered in the process. How can we challenge and expand cultural notions? How can we scale this up?
https://architexturez.net/file/bm-mangalore-tile-factories-essay-img-82-jpg
Imagine decentralized circular economies tied in mutually beneficial relationships. Across industries and communities, through architecture.
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