This Kerala house is unique and built almost entirely using mud

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: When Ravi Shankar and his wife Sindhu get inside this mud house, their mind, body, and soul feel a cooling sensation. Ravi Shankar's wish was to build a house that is close to nature at a time when concrete houses are being constructed everywhere. That's how he built a house consisting 95 percent of mud. Ravishankar Venkateswaran, a native of Palakkad who has been living in Bengaluru for 30 years, built the nature-friendly house 'The Pot Makers Cottage' on a 4.5 cents property in Chadiyara in Poojapura in his wife's name. His wife Sindhu is a native of Sreekandeswaram, Thiruvananthapuram. The housewarming of this unique house was held yesterday.

Ravi Shankar had the Larry Baker model house in mind. In a discussion with his friend, architect Abhayakumar, it was decided to apply the 'rammed earth' technology of building a house with mud. Abhayakumar's suggestion was that two or three walls can be made of mud. However, Ravi Shankar wanted it to be completely made of mud. Sneha is a project manager at IIT Chennai and their son Abhay is a Plus One student.

Five percent cement

The foundation of the house was prepared with granite and cement. The roof, bathrooms, kitchen and floor are concrete. All remaining parts are made with mud. The cement quantity is five percent of the construction. The doors and windows are made of wood scrapped from old houses. The are two bedrooms in this two-storeyed house-one downstairs and the other upstairs. The kitchen is on the ground floor. The staircase to the second floor is wooden. The grills on the balcony are Spanish-styled.

Rammed Earth Technology
Instead of brick and stone, earthen blocks are used for wall construction. Blocks made from soil using only five percent cement will have the strength and load-bearing capacity of ordinary bricks. Because of the earthen blocks, the house can be kept cool. Plastering was also done using soil. Maintenance is needed only once every five years.

The 1300 sqft house is built on 4.5 cents at a cost of Rs 30 lakhs.