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ecological dent. Working with local with a piece of glass just above the desk
materials and artisans Didi is very washing it with a mellow reading light
conscious of the carbon footprint of throughout the day, an opening under
building. She makes every effort to the ceiling reveals the tactility of the
The Mud Architecture of Didi Contractor select building materials that consume bamboo used. Windows allow a free
the lowest possible energy in their movement of air throughout the house
A photo-essay by Joginder Singh production. even as the form of the roof induces a
natural convection.
“Isn’t a mud house rather temporary in
“Come to the end of the parking and nature?” I’d been asked before I visited Any architecture done for a client
take the pathway down to the right,” her. Tabo monastery in Spiti, Himachal originates out of a brief. How much of
Didi had mentioned. I amble down Pradesh, a complex built entirely out client vs. Didi is there in these projects?
the path through lush vegetation. The of mud has been there for the last one Is it really possible to segregate the brief
monsoon is on in full swing. A slate thousand years! Buildings designed with from the outcome? As I moved through
roofed building comes in to sight, the consideration towards climate and site these spaces I realized that it was not. Was
roof projecting quite far from the low topography when adequately detailed that because most of her clients were the
wall like a large hat. This must have been and constructed to exacting standards, kind who understood the principles that
done to protect the mud wall from the shall outlive most casual architecture in she was upholding and had, therefore,
backslash of water running down the any building material. Being based in a approached her? Will others understand
roof. The pathway soon gets paved with seismic zone Didi has also incorporated the relevance of what she was doing the sensibility I have developed from
river-rounded slates and I land up at details to ensure structural safety. with utmost sincerity, relate to the spirit everything I have absorbed. They are like
the door, having instinctively wiped my that resonates in the spaces that she has a collage of what’s there.”
feet where the paving changed texture. The spaces in Didi’s buildings resonate carved out? I asked her…
Other buildings in the compound vie with a serene silence. A conscious effort This photo-essay is an outcome of
for attention, each different in its form at designing the interaction of light in “What is useful within the architecture exploring several of her buildings to
yet tied together with the landscape. But space leads to a celebration of materials. will survive. And what is useful isn’t imbibe the essence. Captions have been
for the playful rooflines, I could have Skylights light up the entrance lobby, a original anyway. It is borrowed. There added to elaborate on the visuals. A
been in any Himachal Village. There small window is placed where a certain is very little that is original in my conversation with Didi, that follows, fills
was a certain designed order in this little view is required, a slate tile is replaced work anyhow. My designs evolve from up the gaps in the visuals.
hamlet and yet it reminded me of the
region’s vernacular.
Joginder Singh is an
architect by training
and a photographer
by inclination. He
freelances as the
latter specializing
in architectural
photography.