VERVEMAGAZINE.IN 21THE AUROMA GROUPand completed it in 2014. It is perhaps one of India’s
largest earthen roofs constructed without any
support underneath. If the same were to be built
with the ordinary bricks available in the market, the
thickness would have been more than 60 inches.
Following the technique which architect Antoni
Gaudí used for building the Sagrada Familia in
Barcelona, I brought down the thickness to a mere
4 inches. Additionally, the entire 5,000 square-foot
vault was handcrafted with unfired bricks, and the
material used to hold them together is soil. Only
a pinch of cement has been used. A vault which
would have otherwise consumed over 10,000 bags
of cement was built using only 33 bags. It is made
of one of the heaviest materials — earth — and yet
looks paper-thin. I’ve personally trained over a
hundred workers in this technology.
On evolving traditions
On a hot summer day in July 2008, we were to
begin making the handcrafted giant vault at
Sharanam. I called all the workers and started
explaining how we were to construct this roof
without any support, using earth bricks and soil
mortar. Among the mostly semi-skilled workers
was a highly skilled man named Muthulingam. He
walked up to me with a big swagger and said with
characteristic arrogance, ‘You are very young in the
construction trade. My grandfather was a mason.
My father is a mason. I am a mason. We have been
putting bricks together for the last 37 years. We
have always used 15 millimetres of cement mortar
on fired bricks. And you are trying to tell me that
you are going to make us construct this giant roof
with 1 millimetre of mortar and that too with soil?”
I asked him to do what he had always done.
Muthulingam picked up an earthen brick, confidently
slapped on 15 millimetres of cement mortar on it and
stuck it on the arch in front of him. And the brick fell.
Every time he tried it, the brick fell. He was totally
confused and slightly embarrassed.
We can infuse scientific knowledge into traditional
wisdom. I explained to him the reasoning behind my
process. After that day, Muthulingam became the
foreman on the site. And instead of taking over six
months to build this giant roof, they completed it in
just nine weeks. This building was later chosen by
the United Nations Environment Programme as a
model for sustainable development in India.Technology in her personal space
Generally, when we say ‘technology’, one pictures a
gadget with buttons. I would call them convenience-
driven, gadget-oriented technologies. These have
been reduced to the essentials in my personal life.
There is another category which I call life-oriented
technologies. Taking regular forest walks, going
to a silent retreat in the mountains, learning total
immersion swimming — these make my personal
space highly technology-driven!