State Commendation Award at the 18th Architect of the Year
Awards 2008 for Indian State Architecture Awards (ISAA)

Architects - Auroville, Pondicherry, India

Growing Towards, Pillaichavady, Pondicherry 2004/6

Architect : Pino Marchese & Sheril Castelino
Construction : Auronirmatha
Area : 150 + 50 + 40 sqm
Cost : Rs.30 lacs
Period: 2004/2006

This house is the result of extensive research and experimentation in three main areas: eco-friendly building materials and technology alternatives to the current building trends, energy efficiency and climate responsive building language. Further the quest was aimed at replicability in urban as well as rural areas. This exploration led beyond the building itself to include also eco-friendly infrastructure in the management of water, waste and energy aspects.

Linear in plan, the house is oriented to the south-east for optimum air circulation. The house is organised within a single rectangular block with the various activities arranged in a row & a long vaulted space covering a lotus pond is contained perpendicularly within two blocks of the building. These blocks are placed such that each activity can spill over on the north east side in the form of the long linear verandah that runs along the entire length of the house. This way the design of the house ensures that the activities are cocooned into private secure spaces, while the spill over in the living areas are large and open to the nature. The house is simple with clearly defined lines and masses and the play in the volumes lends the distinct architectural character of the building.

The exposed brick facades are scaled down due to the use of local ancient brick proportions, 18cm x 10cm x 2.5 cms. The use of these achikal bricks are revived and are set in lime mortar with raked joints. 10% of cement addition in the lime mortar allowed for initial setting strength. The walls are of 30, 20 or 10 cm thickness with specially designed bonds as they don’t follow the 1:2 proportion.

A catenary vault using hollow clay tubes have been used for climatic insulation as well as to reduce the unnecessary use of steel as in R.C.C. roofs. The flat terraced roof has been built using hollow burnt clay trapezoidal extruded modules over part pre-cast beams as in a jack arch, that were specially manufactured onsite for the purpose of finding insulated roofing solutions to flat roofs as well as providing employment for the local artisans. This has been topped by comfort tile which further minimizes heat gain. The reduced energy demands of the whole house are further reduced by using solar water heater as well as solar pump for water pumping.

The rain water is harvested and stored in an underground storage tank to meet the irrigation needs of the garden.