“Metropolitan cities are probably the most unlikely locations for a sustainable house.” 

In case you are somebody of this ideology, we beckon you to rethink it. Within the current previous, the landscapes of metropolitans have discovered themselves dotted with eco-friendly properties in residences that after solely boasted excessive rises. 

We’ve put collectively 10 fascinating properties throughout India — made with plastic, transport containers, recycled wooden and what-not! If 2024 is the yr you need to step right into a sustainable plot, right here’s some inspiration for you.

1. Home O

Mumbai’s bustling city jungle and cross air flow are a duo that’s extraordinary. You’ll almost certainly agree with this. However, meet the architect duo that’s muting the parable with their sustainable ‘Home O’ within the Kandivali suburbs of the town. Harsh Soneji and Pratha Bhagat are the brains behind Studio MAT Architects, a agency that prides itself on inexperienced design philosophies. 

“In fact, a zero carbon footprint is hard to realize,” notes Soneji. However, he’s fast so as to add, “There are methods to minimise the development’s load on the setting.” Different properties within the neighbourhood pale compared earlier than Home O with its bamboo facade, photo voltaic panels, inside lime plaster finishes, and rainwater harvesting. 

Sharing the design philosophy, Soneji says, “We aimed to permit in as a lot mild as doable so our shoppers might simply go away the home windows open. We additionally added a bamboo display screen with creepers that may cool the air getting into into the home.” 

Further cooling is supplied by the lime plaster coat on the partitions that renders them thermosensitive. 

2. Breathe 

You aren’t a stranger to excessive rises the place flats pile on prime of one another, resembling a card deck. The founders of Betweenlines, Deepa Suriyaprakash and Guruprasanna C, an architect duo weren’t both. Their firm is an award-winning city, architectural, and inside design agency which was based in 2003.

So, when approached by a pair to create a sustainable house design, the duo was elated to trend a house that might ‘breathe’. 

As you unravel the various sustainable options of this 8,000 sq ft property, you’ll perceive the metaphor in depth. The house has a pure brick end free of charge CSEB (Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks) which additionally makes it immune to mould development. The muse is made with tyres which have rammed earth crammed in them and supply stability to the construction. Including to its magnificence are the Athangudi tiles, a backyard that’s full of natural produce, decor made out of upcycled wooden and a greywater system to finish it.  

3. The LGSF house

Would you prefer to pack your property over the weekend and transfer to an unique locale? This distant dream of Kerala-based Dr Jayakumar and his household was fulfilled by engineer Majid TK, who elaborates on the idea of the Gentle Gauge Metal Body (LGSF) expertise. 

The hero factor is cold-formed metal. Apart from the fascinating light-weight high quality that makes it moveable, the expertise provides the house a excessive strength-to-weight ratio, guaranteeing it’s resilient within the face of disasters. 

The metal construction sections are fabricated utilizing superior equipment after which fitted with cladding that features fibre cement, calcium silicate boards, and Ferro cement. The additional insulation materials within the cavities helps to decrease the temperature of the house in summer time.  

4. The transport container house

Hyderabad-based M V Ramachandrudu’s 2,700 sq. toes plot of land holds not simply an natural backyard — the place he cultivates 40 sorts of bushes — but in addition a hand-crafted out of recycled supplies like cycle rims, outdated glass doorways, and transport containers sourced from cargo corporations. 

Not simply the house, however even the shed is a murals. Made out of styrofoam, the constructing course of is claimed to save lots of the topsoil layer that’s in any other case exploited throughout development. 

Elaborating on this, he shares, “We first crushed styrofoam and combined it with cement to make bricks. If the purple brick weighs 3.3 kg, the styrofoam one would weigh almost 2.5 kg. The benefit of utilizing such bricks is that near 70 p.c of the brick is constituted of scrap.” 

5. Property Plavu 

A masterpiece of Bengaluru architect George Ramapuram of the agency Earthitects, the house provides a wonderful view of Wayanad, Kerala. Developing a plot in a densely forested space will not be straightforward. However Ramapuram was intent that no bushes be reduce in the course of the strategy of constructing. 

A better have a look at the house reveals the bizarre set of elements that come collectively to finish it — stones from Kalpetta (a city within the mountainous Wayanad area), clay tiles, and random rubble. The plot is a chief instance of merging trend with sustainability. A stroll via the house provides a glimpse into the eucalyptus poles within the ceiling, customised-finish granite for counters, cobblestone for pathways, logs for rafters and stone for the deck flooring.

6. Karai 

When Principal architects of RAIN Studio of Design, Vamsi Krishna M, Sriram Adhitya, and Balashanmugam had been approached with a request to trend a conventional nalukettu home (a standard kind of structure present in Kerala, characterised by an oblong form composed of 4 sections joined by an open courtyard and a sloped roof), they knew it will be a journey again to their roots. 

Karai within the coastal village of Kuvathur, 80 km from Chennai, is an ode to South Indian architectural kinds and appears to be designed utilizing the most recent supplies. However look once more and you will notice, it’s the reclaimed materials that lends it magnificence. 

“We saved upcycling as our core ideology, however there was intense analysis concerned on this. We got here up with numerous iterations and managed to make use of the reclaimed supplies to their highest potential,” says Vamsi. He refers back to the Mangalore tiles that make up 75 p.c of the house. 

“In actual fact, by repurposing the doorways and home windows, the wastage in supplies and the carbon footprint of creating new supplies has been reduce down.”

7. The Mudhouses 

Anirudh Jagannathan of Mahijaa Consultants is the brains behind this venture designed for 3 mates who had been searching for their farmhouses to face on a cliff overlooking the Bannerghatta forest in Karnataka. Whereas the trio insisted on an open-plan system with as few partitions as doable, Anirudh says this ended up complementing the pure aesthetic of the house. 

Mud is the hero factor with stone filling within the areas. The house sits on an natural farm that bears no resemblance to its once-barren look. Now, fruit-bearing bushes, chillies, tomatoes, potatoes, legumes and rice fill the land. 

8. Sunnymead 

Whereas earthquakes shake the foundations of Himachal Pradesh once in a while, a homestay ‘Sunnymead’ stays withstanding. The key lies in its basis constructed utilizing the century-old dhajji dewari type. At the moment, Sunnymead welcomes vacationers from throughout India, as Delhi-born Madhavi Bhatia bustles to make them really feel at house. 

Elaborating on how her ancestral house has been saved protected by the conventional architectural type, she says, “The home constructed with dhajji structure will not be a inflexible construction. It doesn’t have any nails. As an alternative, the wood pillars and beams have grooves the place wood slabs are inserted. There’s plaster work inside and outdoors comprising clay, cow dung and pine needles.”

The shortage of nails leaves the construction versatile to maneuver however not break.  

9. The jungle house 

In 2007, Mangal, an “entrepreneur turned ecopreneur”, was seeking to discover the nuances of an eco-friendly way of life. On this quest, he stumbled upon a spot in coastal Karnataka nestled within the Aghanashini estuary. Mangal determined to construct his house right here. 

“I needed one thing that may be in-built nature and constructed by nature,” he shares, pointing to his property that’s constructed on stilts. “Our tub place has a coconut tree within the center as we didn’t need to reduce down any bushes. The water we bathe in feeds the tree,” says Mangal.

Cane, bamboo and stone come collectively in a phenomenal mix within the house’s exteriors whereas the flooring is made of fabric that comes from recycled acacia wooden. A cover of bushes spares the house from harsh solar whereas holding the coolness out throughout winters. “The house is 2 levels Celsius cooler than different properties on the coast,” says Mangal.

10. Chuzi 

Of what use might 4,000 plastic bottles be? Within the case of this sustainable house in Tamil Nadu, these served as the inspiration. The home is a creation of architect Vinu Daniel — founding father of Wallmakers, an award-winning architectural agency that focuses on constructing sustainable areas. 

The two,122 sq-ft architectural masterpiece’s essential attraction is the swirls current within the ceiling. 

These are precast poured particles earth composite bottle beams, usual from 4,000 discarded plastic bottles. Along with this, there may be metal mesh within the development that ensures the house is cross-ventilated whereas the mud insulation ensures it stays heat in winter. 

Edited by Padmashree Pande.