I believe that as an architect and as a human being, it is my responsibility to the environment while constructing amidst verdant nature that my design should be minimally invasive and should be in rhythm with nature.
Nature is never absolute. Human intervention always is.
Why do walls have to be straight?
Why should the plaster be in plumb?
Why should tile joints be aligned at right angles?
Our traditional houses had hand scrubbed cow dung walls, hewn hand hammered flooring, weathered unpolished wood etc. and they constantly changed Just like nature. The patinas evolved, the weathering gave the Stones a unique look that got more textured the more it weathered.
So to recreate that essence we did a small experiment. I wanted the wall plasters to look hand weathered, natural and again reminding us of nature. So we took leaves of trees growing on the site and used them as a stamp for the wall plaster putty. Right from wild grass to large leaves all hand strewn and stamped, we used natural textures to create interesting wall textures. These had a context as they were not machine made but have evolved from the elements of the site
Here is a small demonstration in progress. Final pictures coming up soon.
And yes as always we have nature’s guests supervising our venture this time around too!
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