Did you know that India is home to more than 4 million ragpickers? Yet, the number is not at par with the amount of waste generated in the country. 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced in India per year, so what happens to the plastic that’s not recycled? Some of it ends up in landfills, and some at the hands of co-conscious start-ups like Wallmakers, who create houses out of it! An example of it is Chuzhi, a two-bedroom residence designed with an open layout and minimalistic interiors and has floors that have been made of reclaimed wood that has been pieced together, fashioned from 4000 discarded plastic bottles designed around the three large Tamarind trees on site.
Wall-making to Wallmakers
The team behind Wallmakers believes in the cause of using mud and waste as the chief components in architecture, along with sustainable usage of conventional materials, to reduce consumption and increase the longevity of resources. Wallmakers was created in 2007, by Vinu Daniel, who had just returned from the UNDP post-tsunami construction site at Pondicherry. As the name suggests, the journey truly started from a wall construction, right after he came back to Kerala. This young group of architects at Wallmakers raises the question about the need to build more. They advocate for mindful construction, if construction is inevitable. The team believes in “understanding and using materials easily available from a site or in building with waste, which led us to research and develop techniques such as the Debris Wall and the Shuttered Debris Wall. At Wallmakers, the aim is to build sustainable spaces that are responsive to specific site contexts and conditions, while maintaining a balance between innovative, utilitarian designs and creating contextual dream-like spaces.”
Conservation along with habitation
What is unique about Chuzhi is, that the vegetation and ecosystem at the location have not been meddled with, neither the rocks at that site. By forming whirlpool- chuzhi in Malayam- like swirls with the reclaimed wood, the idea was to build a subterranean house around these elements. The architecture in minimalistic and close to nature, allowing the resident to gaze outside with its big glass doors and windows. The Wallmakers have done similar work amidst nature with the Jackfruit Garden Residence, getting its name because of the homeowner’s wish to conserve a huge jackfruit tree in the site. This place uses discarded pipes to form the grill work, bringing together comfort and sustainability in one place.
Not only does the Wallmakers team create magic in canopy covered areas, but they can add their sustainable touch to a cramped up place as well. Tease Me Café at Kottayam is an excellent example, where they make use of textile to give a roomy feeling and privacy to the people, in limited space. Biju Mathew Residence, Weekend Home, pavilion at Barbican Centre et al are various Wallmakers projects.
Also read Did you know the main carpet at Met Gala came from Kerala?
