When requested about our dream area, maximum people would have a traditional solution: a area with minimalist interiors and fashionable structure. Alternatively, Kiran Amati had a completely other concept of a dream area.
Dwelling within the high-rise flats of Mumbai, Kiran yearned to steer a easy lifestyles. “The 2 issues I’ve at all times been enthusiastic about had been sustainable dwelling and track. Running a company process, I had at all times sought after to pursue my passions,” he says.
Kiran’s time in any case got here in 2020 when his daughter was once born. He made up our minds to develop into a stay-at-home dad and pursue his track profession. Concurrently, he resolved to construct his dream domestic along with his father on a half-acre farm, 60 km from the town.
The daddy-son duo selected an unconventional trail, opting to build their domestic the use of dust, straw, clay, native soil, stone, cow dung, and lime. A labour of affection, the duo hand-built their domestic with the help of volunteers and the collaboration of Lakhichand Jain, a countrywide award-winning visible artist, clothier, and pupil.
In a dialog with The Higher India, Kiran defined the incentive, inspiration, and the method considering making a dust domestic.
A full-time musician, stay-at-home dad and nature fanatic
Kiran’s father, Prakash, may be a nature fanatic and has at all times dreamt of proudly owning farm animals on his farm.
“We used to contemplate so much on the type of area we needed that will accommodate each our needs. Whilst we had been sure that our domestic would have area for my father to have a minimum of two cows, we had been not sure concerning the construction,” he says.
“It was once handiest after he retired and I made up our minds to be a stay-at-home dad that we began in search of solutions,” he says.
With Kiran’s spouse additionally on maternity depart, he controlled to search out time to talk over with villages and know about their way of living.
“In the meantime, my father found out Dr Malik in Rajasthan, who conducts a four-day workshop the place contributors learn how to make adobe bricks the use of cow dung, lime, and dust. Since we had been fascinated with being as nature-friendly as conceivable, my father made up our minds to take the direction,” he says.
On the identical workshop, Prakash met Shagun Singh, the founding father of Geeli Mitti Centre of Excellence, a Uttarakhand-based organisation that makes dust properties.
“I seemed them up and located one of the most sustainable properties that they had made and was once satisfied that this was once what I sought after to do,” he says.
The duo made up our minds to take a month-long direction to grasp what it takes to make a dust area.
“By means of the top of the direction, I imagine we had a transparent concept of the dimensions of the home we would have liked, how the rooms can be divided, and a elementary construction design in thoughts,” he remembers.
Shagun additionally supplied architectural recommendation to the duo for development their dream area.
“We achieved the entire plan ourselves and didn’t rent any contractors. Conventional contractors would do not know how the fabrics utilised in our area’s building are used,” he says.
“We simply enlisted 4 labourers from the within sight village and began development. All of it simply got here in combination. We additionally shared the mission main points on Fb and WhatsApp, and any person considering finding out and volunteering may just sign up for,” he says.
The duo had about 80 volunteers during the development of the home. In 2022, they began their six-month-long adventure of affection and labour and named their domestic — Om Niwas.
Father-son’s labour of affection
The round domestic, with a diameter of 16 ft, is a studio-style area with bedrooms, a kitchen at the flooring flooring and a meditation area at the first flooring.
“There aren’t any walls in all of the area. Now we have a settee in the lounge and a mattress within the bed room, all fabricated from dust,” he informs, including that the primary flooring is most commonly empty area with artwork made by means of award-winning artist, Lakhichand Jain. The partitions have stunning Mandana artwork with tantra motifs.
The flooring of the home are fabricated from an enchanting aggregate of wooden and straw. “So there have been a large number of felled bushes within the village. We made up our minds to cut the wooden up and lay it at the flooring. For the distance that is still in between, we crammed it with sawdust and Fevicol, a kind of mortar, after which we simply sanded it on best and put polish,” he explains.
For the partitions, the duo used dust. He says, “The root is completely fabricated from stones, built with none mortar, making it a dry stone basis. The plinth is composed of stones with lime, at the side of Suruki mortar. Suruki is very similar to brick powder, serving as an combination for the mortar. The partitions are built completely from dust, offering a natural dust composition.”
Along with being made with sustainable fabrics, the home additionally makes use of a singular way for its waste control.
“I feel the septic tank is value bringing up. It’s a dry septic tank, now not the standard type the place all sewage and kitchen waste overflow. We created a mix the use of dry leaves accrued from falling bushes, at the side of a bit of of lime and sawdust. We blended those 3 elements outdoor and dumped the combination into the septic tank, filling a minimum of 70% of the tank with this mix,” he explains.
Over the time of four to five years, the waste helps to keep getting decomposed prior to you need to replenish the combination.
Speaking about some hurdles he confronted all the way through the development of the home, he says, “We couldn’t safe the fitting manpower, and the ones we did to find had been unfamiliar with the fabrics required. It changed into an experimental procedure, the place we examined the proportions of sand, clay, and lime a couple of days prior to utility. The effects had been unpredictable, and when disasters took place at the partitions, we needed to scrap all of the phase and get started over.”
“Alternatively, redoing and brainstorming with volunteers made the entire procedure in reality a laugh. It’s not like the traditional houses the place there will likely be one contractor who will come and oversee issues whilst a gadget mixes the mortar. We in reality were given to get our fingers grimy,” he says.
Whilst within the preliminary phases, the home were given many vital evaluations, the home is lately a landmark within the village. “They’d say Mumbai rains closely, and it’s onerous to consider a dust area maintaining for greater than two or 3 years right here. In spite of the consistent chatter from self-proclaimed mavens within the village, providing their valuable recommendation on how issues must be performed, we merely disregarded it,” he says.
“Now it’s identified during the village. So each time an auto motive force wishes instructions to the village, locals information them by means of regarding our dust area. Many of us from the village have visited us, making it a recognisable landmark for the neighborhood,” he says.
(Edited by means of Padmashree Pande)