Ar. Malaksingh Gill


community house for van wadi



Vare village, Karjat



​More than 60 acres of the site being a natural forest, the adivasi family of Madhu bua,

Ambi bai and their son Daulat with his family stay here all year round taking care of this

vast forested area.

With no electricity or modern conveniences, the house was built with local knowledge and skills,

for the adivasi family as well as enthusiastic people of all age groups drawn towards such austere lifestyle.

With unanimous decisions taken on site and many hands to contribute

in its making, this community house truly sits well in its setting!


Area: 1225 sq.ft.



external view of the house



internal view of VERANDA



view of under roof



The wood used is from the site forest, itself. Whole bamboo and split were

as common rafters and battens, respectively.



BUILT-IN STORAGE



Location



​Van wadi,

near Vare village,

Karjat, Maharashtra.



Macro Climate



Hot and humid summers

Cool winters

​Heavy monsons



Site context



The site is nestled in a forested area, managed by the adivasi family.

It is approached by a winding pathway leading to the house from east, with vegetable beds to its north and the house overlooking a stream and well to its south.



Micro climate



High wind speeds

​Heavy rain and wind from West and South during monsoons


Vanwadi was as unique a project in its implementation, as it is unique in its concept and function. The entire house was built by voluntary efforts of people from varied age groups and fields.

The design process was an inclusive one, with the adivasi family who were the users contributing with ideas at every stage. For construction, a workshop was held to propagate the eco-friendly technology used. With the expertise of Ar. Malaksingh, and along with a small team of masons, the participants erected the walls. The carpenters prepared the wood from the same land and made the roof.

It was, thus, a "green house" in the truest sense of the word.



features



STRUCTURAL SYSTEM: BRICK PIERS AND COB INFILL



A unique structural system was used. T-shaped brick piers were constructed at regular intervals and the spaces between them were filled with cob. This led to a folded / corrugated shape of the walls; which allowed us to do a cob wall of just 9" thickness. Achieving this is perhaps a first in the use of cob!



lintels for openings



The kadappa stone is strong enough to act as lintels for openings.

A sandwiched kadappa slab behaves well with openings and distributes the load equally on either sides, when placed correctly.

Here, a single kadappa stone slab is used as the cill for the window as well as for storage purpose on the blank 9" thick brick and cob walls.



STORAGE SHELVES



For an adivasi dwelling and a community living centre, an important part of the brief was to provide as much storage as we can. This was achieved by putting horizontal Kadappa stone shelves at different heights throughout the structure. While catering to the function of providing storage, they also strengthened the structure by tying all brick piers and adding to the corrugated effect of the walls.



inclusive design and planning



The process of designing is multidisciplinary. The decisions were jointly made by the family of Madhu bua, the organisation members who have helped protect the land of Van Wadi, the local masons and the enthusiastic volunteers, who learned to build along this process!



preparation of mud mortar and cob



Going the traditional way, our volunteers stomped into the pits with bare feet to prepare the mud mixture for cob and mortar. This technique is known as pugging.

This method is leastdamaging to the environment as it involves no processing of the mixture, nor does it involve outsourcing of the materials as the mud was readily available within the site limits.



laying the foundation



The volunteers were exposed to learning how to lay the foundation in random rubble stone with mud mortar. The plinth is a continuation of this foundation wall and plays a key factor in a contoured site like this.

With the site gradually sloping towards the south side, the plinth wall helped in retaining the soil and using it for building the structure.



Malaksingh Gill | Architect



04-Ground Floor, Mahim House Building, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Marg, New Moghul lane, Mahim (W), Mumbai - 400016 | Tel: 9820442390 | architectmalaksingh@gmail.com