0:00 - On the way to Narayan's house
0:29 - People's initial reaction to the idea
1:14 - Inspiration from South India
1:47 - About Narayan Acharya and his house
2:45 - Rammed earth building house
3:44 - Permaculture and site tour
4:18 - House tour
9:36 - Naomi's perspective regarding security
10:46 - Benefits of rammed earth house
10:52 - A home for everyone
11:57 - 'Sustainable Future', the company
How many old traditional houses do you get to see nowadays in Kathmandu? No doubt, they can be counted on fingers. And, it is no secret that the valley has already become a dense jungle of concrete. In Nepal, a sustainable design technique called ‘rammed earth’ design is gaining popularity among artisans & architecture enthusiasts, but the design is more than just an environmental fad.
Amidst this scenario, Narayan Acharya is on a mission to build eco-friendly and sustainable green buildings in the country through his startup named Sustainable Future.
Narayan Acharya is a beekeeper, organic farmer, and builder. A year ago, he purchased a plot of land in Godavari and set to work building one of Kathmandu’s most distinctive homes-constructed largely from rammed earth and bamboo.
Acharya corralled workers from Jumla, his hometown, to train Nepalis uninitiated in the architectural craft. He spent more than a year procuring the materials, testing the soil, training the labourers, and at last, building the home. But the biggest challenge was simply explaining what he was doing.
Acharya has now constructed over 50 buildings ranging from small to big within five years of operation. He uses rammed earth technology to construct the buildings. These techniques were used by his ancestors to build their houses. "We just improvised the techniques used by them for the better output that suits modern needs”, says Acharya.
Sustainable Future manages raw materials like clay, stone, soil required for the construction from the site area only. An eco-friendly house made by this startup has its own aesthetic value and nature. “This house maintains the heat, controls moisture, and offers breathability itself inside the house,” informs Acharya.
The walls of such buildings are 16 to 18 inch thick. And, the buildings are no more than two storeys. Such eco-friendly buildings are made using 20-30 per cent clay, locally available sand-mixed soil, stone chips, and 4-5 per cent cement, without using any machinery.
Acharya argues the avoidance of machinery serves two purposes: no pollution, and employment opportunities to the workers.
“But, we had to mix the cement in our construction as the building code of Nepal says so. But, we mainly follow the building code of New Zealand,” Acharya says, “… because very few things about this type of building construction are mentioned in the code here.”
Acharya, who is originally from Jumla, came to Kathmandu and worked on many environment-related projects. The man, who is 50 now, even worked on one of the projects of the United Nations in the beekeeping and resource management area in Somalia for two years.
Down to Earth is Science and Environment fortnightly published by the Society for Environmental Communication, New Delhi. We publish news and analysis on issues that deal with sustainable development, which we scan through the eyes of science and environment.