“What do you imply it’s now not a reproduction of Hagrid’s area?” I ask Raghav Kumar (30), one part of the brother duo that has conceptualised a 600-sq toes attractiveness within the heartland of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. As fanatics of the seven-part fable collection ‘Harry Potter’ will right away wager, I’m relating to the eight-foot-tall massive Rubeus Hagrid’s cabin at the fringe of The Forbidden Wooded area — an ominous picket full of wizarding creatures.
Comfortable fires, larger-than-life teacups, and a drooling boarhound Fang crammed maximum evenings that Harry and his buddies spent at Hagrid’s. I incessantly discovered myself yearning to be there.
My want may simply were replied.
Raghav and Ansh’s ‘Tiny Farm Citadel’ is harking back to Hagrid’s home. Developing the 15-ft doppelganger homestay, the brothers say, wasn’t the purpose that subsidized their transition from their town lifestyles in Delhi to the mountains in 2021. As an alternative, it used to be a result of it.
Each architects, Raghav and Ansh (27) had been thinking about residing an “intentional lifestyles nearer to nature” — a dream they felt couldn’t be accomplished by means of being part of trendy company architectural tasks that prized call for over sustainability.
“There used to be a disconnect between the architect and the labour interested by those tasks. There used to be numerous greenwashing,” Raghav notes. Previous to 2021, the Delhi-based boys had their week lower out for them — weekdays spent running lengthy hours and weekends trekking to North India.
The seed for Tiny Farm Citadel used to be sown when, after one explicit trek to Rishikesh in December 2020, Raghav and Ansh discovered themselves wishing they may keep again within the mountains and now not go back to the monotonous hustle. And so they made up our minds to do exactly that.
As soon as utterly bewildered by means of subjects of gardening and a rural way of life, the adventure of establishing Tiny Farm Citadel has stretched their working out in those regards.
As of late, they invite us into their domestic.
Knock on sustainability
Somebody who handed by means of Dhunar Gaon in Rishikesh in 2021, used to be met with an ordinary sight. Albanian people songs reverberated throughout the air, interrupted simplest by means of the beats of Jap rock tune, German techno, and Daler Mehndi’s ‘Tunak Tunak Tun’.
And grooving to those full of life tempos had been a gaggle of 90 people. A better have a look at them would expose their brilliant origins — Brazil, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Slovenia — 18 nationalities, to be exact, Ansh states. Their rhythms despite the fact that unchoreographed, would appear nearly synced to an onlooker.
However don’t be distracted by means of their strikes, Ansh urges, glance beneath their ft as a substitute.
Elaborating at the subject matter the gang spent months dancing upon, he says, “Cob is a mix of clay, sand, soil, straw and water. We chopped wheat and rice straw, put it on a tarp, after which invited the gang to bop on it till it shaped a burrito-shaped dough. As soon as solid, the dough does now not smash and can be utilized as a construction subject matter.”
Explaining how they introduced in overseas palms for the undertaking, Raghav laughs and says, “It wasn’t deliberate. We put out a request at the web page ‘Workaway’, asking other people inquisitive about sustainable construction to sign up for us. Throughout the months, we were given many that had been willing in this.”
He provides that those had been individuals who didn’t specifically make a go back and forth to bop at the cob. “They had been already heading to Rishikesh for a holiday. However their hobby in herbal construction attracted them to our web page. We arrange a dorm for them within the village Umrisen, the place we had been tenting out right through the development.”
Aishwarya Lakhani, an inside fashion designer from Mumbai, who used to be part of this neighborhood effort, says she had all the time been that means to get into aware design. “After I got here throughout this undertaking, I noticed a possibility. I were in need of to visit Tiny Farm Lab for months and because it used to be coinciding with my Rishikesh commute dates, I made up our minds to move there. Proper from day one, it used to be a heat revel in staying with the villagers. Raghav and Ansh took excellent care people.”
She echoes the ideas of the others when she says, “We had been in awe that any such factor might be accomplished in a far off location. Having practised with reusable fabrics and herbal plasters myself, it [this project] gave me hope and inspiration realizing that the sky’s the prohibit when the use of cob for constructed environments. Operating with cob grounds you. Dancing at the dust is an emotion.”
Bharat Rolaniya, an architect, seconds Lakhani. “Operating with dust, in particular cob used to be very intuitive to me. Being a herbal construction building practitioner, I loved running with cob. It’s nearly like discovering your self. In structure, one has a tendency to really feel like they’re reworking a construction, however running with dust and cob displays you that it is going each tactics — they turn out to be you in flip,” he says.
It took the brother duo 3 years to construct Tiny Farm Citadel. They recall the adventure as revelationary in some ways.
“For 2 town youngsters who didn’t know a lot, we learnt so much,” says Ansh. “Travelling from the final motorable level in Phoolchatti to the Umrisen village concerned crossing a wood bridge throughout a tributary Heval after which mountaineering for 1.5 km. Every time we needed to get groceries, we needed to make a 20 km trek.” However the effort used to be profitable.
As of late, Tiny Farm Citadel is a masterpiece. “And a piece of many palms,” issues out Raghav. “We used to spend nearly six to 8 hours construction the house and not took a time without work. Whether or not it used to be scorching solar with temperatures crossing 44 levels Celsius, raining, and even darkish and chilly in iciness — not anything stopped us.”
So as to add to it, it wasn’t simple being outsiders in a village. However as a substitute of resisting steerage, Raghav says, “We let the villagers take over.” And because the brothers quickly realised, there used to be numerous knowledge to be gleaned.
“We allow them to educate us farming, how one can use gear for building, how to select up rocks, smash them, after which construct a frugal trolley to move those rocks, bamboo and wood logs backward and forward. We learnt how one can make rotis (Indian flatbread) the use of a chula (earthen range),” he provides.
In spite of everything, in 2024, Tiny Farm Citadel used to be able to host its first visitors.
When you’re making plans to make a go back and forth right here, complete disclosure: attaining the homestay from Heval comes to a 30-minute trek, with some wallet posing a steep climb. However the attractiveness compensates for it.
As you place foot into Tiny Farm Citadel, deja vu will creep up on you, making all the ones fairy stories appear plausible in the end. In each sense, Tiny Farm Citadel impersonates a goblin’s den, and you may nearly be expecting to peer one putting round right through your keep.
The homestay is cradled by means of a mountain woodland and perched top on a ridge such that it overlooks an expanse of emerald — the waters of the river Ganges.
A coolness engulfs the house within the summers, whilst an ambient temperature is maintained right through the winters — free of charge the 19-inch thick dust partitions. As Raghav and Ansh iterate, the house used to be designed with an open plan in thoughts with a snug loft mattress and a cave-like bed room (which comprises two other people each and every), a kitchenette with pots and pans, an outside fish fry, a woodfire pizza oven — made utterly from dust — a rooftop lawn, and a sensory rest room.
The satan is in the main points. From a desk made the use of discarded slate from an previous domestic’s roof and a chandelier crafted from driftwood from the river Ganges, each and every piece of decor is a sustainable rendition.
The meals served is exclusive too — a easy meal of aloo sabzi (potato vegetable), roti, and dal (a dish fabricated from lentils). Whilst you aren’t feasting (your mouth) at the home-made fiestas and (your eyes) at the view, you’ll be able to participate in a rafting consultation at the river Ganges; or cross fowl observing to identify the White-crested Himalayan Wooded area Guffawing Thrush or the Pink-billed Blue Magpie; or discover ways to brew kombucha (a fizzy fermented drink); or cross foraging for mushrooms.
Somedays, the elements may play spoilsport, however darkish skies aren’t any deterrent to the temper at Tiny Farm Citadel. Candlelit dinners and torches come to the rescue. Applaud Raghav and Ansh for this murals they usually say it’s the subject matter ‘cob’ that’s the actual hero. When pitted in opposition to different sustainable fabrics, cob emerges a winner for its sturdiness and attractiveness, all tied into one.
And the Tiny Farm Lab is the place those concepts are born.
An area the place artistry meets sustainability
A round design, analysis, construct, and innovation studio within the woods in Rishikesh, Tiny Farm Lab is making an attempt to reinstill other people’s ideals in fabrics that had been used centuries in the past.
“Particularly fabrics whose desirability has long past down,” Ansh provides. With a focal point on biobased fabrics, equivalent to mycelium (a root-like construction of a fungus), seaweed bioplastic and dirt, the studio is an ode to how the most productive structure is born out of the most straightforward concepts. “We would have liked to show off that during an international the place the whole thing is rapid — rapid meals, rapid deliveries, velocity courting — we will construct one thing sluggish,” Raghav stocks.
For example, take dust.
As soon as pushed aside as kaccha (uncooked), dust houses are actually beginning to see an upswing in structure. “Dust used to be referred to as a subject matter that might live on the take a look at of time. However then instances started rising the place the basis wasn’t sturdy and water started getting into the construction. Slowly, the fabric misplaced reputation and cement got here in.”
Raghav does now not have a bone to select with the fabric in itself, however fairly with the way it has transform a standing image. “Cement is incessantly known as masala by means of Indian labourers — pointing to how its use will have to be moderated,” Raghav notes. “An overuse may also be poisonous. It makes the construction non-breathable.”
When it got here to Tiny Farm Citadel, the brothers made up our minds to make use of cob as the fabric. Whilst vetting its feasibility, they trusted an previous English pronouncing: A cob area which has a excellent boot (excellent basis) and excellent hat (roof with massive overhangs) will live on 100 years.
To this finish, the strategic location of the homestay proves a boon. “Tiny Farm Citadel is perched on a hill and will get excellent daylight. In instances of heavy rainfall, the water runs down the valley,” says Raghav.
No longer simply its external, however even the interiors in the house are reflective of sustainable design. For this, the brothers credit score the gang that chipped in to assist them construct the homestay. “They weren’t artists, however cob is any such forgiving subject matter to paintings with that the method nearly turns into intuitive,” provides Ansh.
As of late their creations and sculptures — elephants, mushrooms, coral lifestyles — continue to exist the cabinets of Tiny Farm Citadel. Ansh provides, “We see this area as a museum the place we showcase merchandise and fabrics of various designers running with waste or biodegradable biomaterials.” You’ll have a look when you find yourself right here.
With attractiveness in each and every corner and crevice, Tiny Farm Citadel is a respiring fairytale. Knock as soon as. Who is aware of, Goldilocks may open the door.
Edited by means of Pranita Bhat