http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/may/84498.htm
Mumbai's first eco-friendly house
May 30, 2004
“This is my tribute to Laurie Baker,” says Anil Sekhri, the proud owner
of the city’s first eco-friendly bungalow in Malad, referring to the British
architect known for his low-cost housing.- The two-storied bungalow, aptly named Avtaar,
has an exposed brick effect, a carpet area of 2,400 square feet and cost Rs
50 lakh to build.
Not a single tree was cut during the
construction of Sekhri’s bungalow, which is also devoid of synthetic materials
like paint and plaster.- The entire weight of the bungalow rests on the walls and the construction
does not have concrete pillars for support.
- The construction has some striking
features like beer bottles embedded in the walls, railway wooden sleepers
serving as doors to the cupboards and frames to doors and windows.
- Refurbished antiques serve as
furniture. Barring the switches, there is no trace of plastic and aluminum
in the house.
- Says Sekhri, an Andheri resident,
“I wanted something different from the usual humdrum, monotonous works of
architecture. I personally selected every piece of furniture and hunted in
all the scrapyards and railway yards to give this house such a unique look.”
- A team of 100 workers, two young
architects, nine months of labour and Avtaar was finally born in January
this year.
- Sekhri’s decision to hire
architects Malak Singh Gill and Tanya Mahajan to design his dream house paid
off. Gill, a Mumbai-based architect and Baker’s protégé says,
“This was our first independent project. This house is built using environmental
and economic planning. We took some amount of risk and a lot of experimentation,
but the end result looks great.”
- Mahajan, who has worked on construction
of low cost houses for quake-afflicted in Gujarat says, “It was a great learning
experience.”
- Some of the eco-friendly and cost
cutting techniques Gill and Mahajan employed include using cement and lime
as the binding material and excluding plaster.
- Lime makes the structure stronger
and also gives it elasticity, thus making it earthquake resistant. Instead
of paint, they whitewashed the interior and the exterior with lime. The roof
has embedded terra cotta tiles, which gives a cooling effect to the house.
- An ardent fan of M F Husain, Sekhri
has reserved a wall for the artist to paint on in his living room.
- “This house has been special for
everyone as it triggers some old memories. That has been the greatest compliment,”
smiles Sekhri.