Rishikesh’s House of Biomaterials is a community-built hand-sculpted cob house
The HinduIn 2021, as we were gradually easing out of the pandemic-induced lockdown, 90 volunteers from over 18 countries such as Japan, and the USA, arrived at a remote mountain Sal forest in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. We had put out a call for volunteers, and they all joined in to build this house with their labour of love,” explains Ansh, adding that a majority of natural materials such as windows and slate table tops were consciously sourced within 150 metres or salvaged from old houses. “In a fast-paced world of mass production, people would see our approach of slow architecture as counter-intuitive,” says Raghav, “Building with earth, lime, wood, and bamboo has been a practical choice for centuries. The duo calls House of Biomaterials an “exhibition of bioregional circular materials” in the shape of a community-built hand-sculpted cob house. Cob construction, incorporating straw, offers an eco-friendly solution to the environmental problem of pollution from stubble burning,” says Ansh, who says by 2030, up to three billion people will need new housing and basic infrastructure.
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