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SACRED GROVES, AUROVILLE
Acute shortage of affordable housing in Auroville, which deters many good people from joining the community. The Sacred Groves project was conceived to alleviate this problem with the construction of 108 new homes for Newcomers, Aurovilians and long-term volunteers, in a manner consistent with the Mother’s vision for Auroville.
The project is designed to be a model of ecological community living using ecologically sensitive construction methods. We hope this model can be replicated in high density urban areas in India and elsewhere.
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Energy self-sufficiency using solar, wind, pumped storage and bio-mass systems. Water self-sufficiency from rainwater and grey-water harvesting.
Some food self-sufficiency from the provision of organic vegetable gardens for each house. Preservation of forest areas – the sacred groves. Thick walls and passive cooling system negate the need for A/C and even fans.
Composting toilets. Shared spaces and utilities to encourage community activities and interdependence.
Procedure Of Constraction
1. Chiselling the cob wall and placing the bamboo rafters at 600mm at the wider end.
2. Drilling a verticall hole into cob wall and fixing trated bamboo into wall through pegs.
3. Coating shell lime putty where bamboo attaches the cob wall as a futher treatment against termite attack.
4. Procuring fresh green bamboo and splitting each bamboo into 6 to 8 thin stri, retaining only the skin and a thin fiber layer.
5. Weaving the bamboo strips onto bamboo rafters, the prosses continues.
Materials Of The Roof And Their Purpose
PRIMARY BAMBOO RAFTER
Rests on the cob walls and are major structural supports for the roof.
SPLIT BAMBOO WEAVE
Acts as ditribution reinforcement and lost shuttering. Avoids sagging of slab in the centre.
COCONUT CHOIR
Cushioning layer between tensile bottom and compressive top layer.
THIN LAYER OF LIME
Buffer layer for material difference.
SPLIT BAMBOO WEAVE
Conereting layer of he slab. 2” to 4” think layer of 1 part lime and 4 parts burnt brick chunks.
