Cob is a mixture of sandy-sub soil, clay and straw. It is mixed by crushing the particles together by either dancing on it or using the head of a digger. Historically cob might have been mixed by farm animals who would walk up and down on the sand, clay and straw.… READ MORE...
Lime Plastering the pits
Hello readers, The last article we have showed you how strategically we placed the new pits in the center of the courtyard for producing cob loaves to both projects on site, one of it being the 3 house prototype and the other one love house of new comer.… READ MORE...
The Cob Pits – ready to roll
After the success of the first Build Free day, the volunteers and the interns of SacredGroves became quite positive about the cob work. The idea of “EVERYONE CAN BUILD” had to be brought up at a large scale. Moreover, the sudden shortage of funds made it impractical to continue with the concreting going on for the 3 houses of the SacredGroves project.… READ MORE...
Bringing the Cob back !
Cob is available in abundance on most parts of the world , it is fun and quite an easy way to mix and build with cob. It has a life span of over 100 years if constructed with care and maintained periodically.… READ MORE...
Humble Peter and his PVC Dome
Architects in Auroville believe in working together and encourage each and every idea to make the place better. Peter Matthias Anderschitz, an architect from Berlin who has been in Auroville since 1971 needed some help from the SacredGroves volunteers. A group of eight volunteers from SacredGroves were present at the Savitri Bhavan campus to help him to lift and align an 8 meters in diameter geodesic dome made up of PVC pipes.… READ MORE...
A Good Shelter Needs a Good Roof
Roof of a house is the most crucial structural element of the entire building. As a person needs a cap to protect himself from sun and rain, even a building needs a roof structure to protect its constituents from harsh Glary sun in the afternoons and heavy unpredictable rains in the monsoons.… READ MORE...
The Living Wall
What is the fastest way to build a wall with no skilled masons or labourers?
As is the case with most solutions at SacredGroves, this was also done by foraging through piles of demolition rubble for materials ideal to build a wall quickly.… READ MORE...
Bamboo From The Forest!
The new toilet complex here, at SacredGroves, needed a permanent roof. It was designed to be a sloping roof in the form of a half pyramid to cover the toilet cubicles, leaving the shower area open to sky. A sloping roof aids efficient water run-off.… READ MORE...
Shower Makeover!
The existing shower was a temporary one made of bamboo supports and bamboo mats. Gradual termite infestation over a period of 3 months led to its needing renovation. In a span of three days, the following repairwork was done.
Replacement of the Structural Frame
The columns of the frame were replaced with new bamboo and small tree trunks.… READ MORE...
Shells For Roofs!
For a cluster of three houses at Sacred Groves, a series of 9 organically shaped water tanks have been proposed. The shell design for their roofs is unique. The challenge of the shell roof construction lies in the organic shape and finding the resourceful waste materials to implement this construction technique.… READ MORE...