by Anamika Mohanty https://instagram.com/anamikamohanty_?igshid=1ja1us1ehh0wl
An Artist is remembered by his paintings , a dancer by her moves . What makes a singer so popular ? His soulful voice calming hearts and mind of people in this chaotic daily life . Similarly , since the birth of the term Architecture the thing that has been forever related to it is the culture of the place. Every building , behind its magnificent elements has culture within eclipsed . We as architects when design for a client , not only just listen to the verbal requirements but also study the cultural identity of the users . If we dive into the ocean of architectural history , there has been several examples reminding of the Egyptian civilization where we were taught how their belief in the life after death concept , the soul returning to statue every night , building dark rooms to stop God from taking away the soul , and long stairway heading to king’s burial chamber, resulted in the form of mortuary temples and great pyramids . Moreover the diversified religion of Ancient Rome , making it a polytheistic religion as they believed in many Gods and worshiped them, was expressed meticulously in Pantheon. Heard of the massive Colosseum ? The large amphitheaters, built during the Flavian Empress as a gift to the Roman people, hosted events such as Gladiatorial games, which used to accommodate 65,000 people. In a nutshell, culture and architecture are two sides of the same coin . With modernization and technological advancement taking place in every nook and corner of the world, the relation between a building and the culture is becoming narrower day by day . Throwing spotlight on the main term of this piece of writing – that is, natural home. What makes a building natural ? If its sustainable ? And how’s that done ? Well, it focuses using the materials which are minimally processed, renewable resources and most importantly it focuses on human labor more than technology thus leaving less impact on environment preserving aesthetics as well as comfort. Who are we ? Residents of this beautiful planet or just Architects or rather should be the designers fulfilling needs of other residents and as well as dutifully handling the ecological footprint? The spinal cord of such buildings are clay and sand. When water , clay , sand , straw / fiber a mixture is formed known as cob or adobe ( clay blocks ) earth bag , timber frame , skin , bamboo and stones are also used along with a variety of reused or recycled non – toxic materials . Cob is one of the most versatile material , which can be shaped into any material . It was used first in the 13th Century in England, falling later, out of favour, after World War I. Still thousands of cob structures have been lasting till date (20,000 in Devon , England alone) . In fact One third to one half of World’s population lives in earthen dwellings today . In middle east countries , it has been used in apartment buildings of eight storeys and more . Let's explore a city, Jodhpur, from the Land of Kings, just in our minds , popularly known as the Blue City because of the appearance of the entire settlement is so uniform and similar . The culture of unity is reflected very accurately in these residences . This place is prone to natural calamities such as earthquake for which the concept of a common foundation was developed in minds, over a vast stretch to withstand the force . Moreover, the close proximity of buildings acts as a climate responsive structure thus creating thermal conditions to mutual shading. Coming to the south part , Badami the habitat for early chalukyans , have imprinted their culture in the form of bas reliefs and carvings on the old red rocks . Later on the work in the caves became a trademark to recognize the cultural patterns prevailing over the area. Even during the Indus Valley Civilization, the largest building found was a Granary , 150 feet in length, 75 feet in width and 15 feet in height . It was divided into 27 compartments and well ventilated – this was clearly an indication of a highly developed agricultural civilization . Indus Valley stands out to be one of the most remarkable cooperative culture without the rule of kings and the primary building material were baked bricks . In the lush tropical jungle of the North-east , the most important building materials are bamboo and cane , and the vernacular construction techniques have been proved to be so strong , that they can tolerate raging torrents . It’s not about just India but as culture varies with geographical area . Natural homes design vary . Being the residents of earth , our foremost culture is living comfortably without destroying earth’s property . In Poland , Paulina Wojciechowska's , Author at Earth Hands and Houses, home was built from earth, quite literally as the walls are made from sand, water, clay & straw and the roof is held up with wooden beams . Homes like such are beyond green standards . Thus , many such homes have been built all across the world , with environmentally beneficial materials, never deviating from culture adapting and merging layers of abstraction. At last but not the least, go natural and build natural.
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