AN AMAZING WAY TO START 2016!

 

OUR JOURNEY OF EXPLORING CREATIVITY

Yess..another great opportunity for the team to gear up and get steady on the tracks..A big thanks to the year 2016!!  We, as a team decided to explore and reach out to the wonders of architecture and hence planed a visit to auroville in Pondicherry.

And…

the journey starts in the morning at 6:30..we were welcomed by a series of shops which were more indianish in nature.when i say indianish, there is a touch of Indian culture and also it highlights the typical small scale industry products-A Perfect introduction to the auroville culture)

Stepping out of the bus, a  row of greenery formed the outline of our  beautiful background,though  our eyes were fixed only on to the amazing  guest house with outdoor foyer spaces ,terrace spaces that stood right in front of us.

Led by one of the volunteer,we witnessed how nature was used to the best in a very creative but effective way.The use of earth and straw-cob architecture,aquaponics by the architecture firm sacred groves,  seemed to be very cool.one of the most surprising fact is that all these structures are structurally strong and stable even with the commercially viable technology and yes..the green roof for exterior roofing-the most obvious factor.

The name Sadhana forest drew a picture of forest in our minds and WOOO..we were pretty much excited to trek in the  woods.Well..Sadhana forest as the name suggest is not a forest but the close association,the community there have got  with nature is what makes the name apt..The volunteer who greeted us at sadhana appeared to be a funky cool dude but  his explanations about their simple life style amused us to the extend that for a moment we wished our office to be transffered as another sadhana forest though the principle of veganism and use of dry compost toilet sounded bizard. we even appreciated the effort each volunteer puts in pumping water manually, carrying it to the toilet,.. though we thought that invention of sanitary waterpipes, is one of the biggest blessings because the idea of putting so much physical energy for daily toilet routine use is a big NO…. Ok..So this is one thing that really blew our mind..simple yet smart..Have we ever thought how much water we waste for just rinsing our mouth after a pizza meal or just washing our face. Now..this dude..walks up to a pipe where a mug with a small hole,  is tied..this gave us the clear cut picture that each drop of water is measured and wisely used.But the idea of fitting a mug to our modern beautiful sanitary wares, still does not make us happy..perhaps there can be a technology which could be worked out were the industry  could design something with the same concept yet does justice to the aesthetic beauty of the these sanitary fixtures…..Again..  we are so much used to the app technology life that waiting patiently for water dripping from a small hole taking its own sweet time might not amuse us much.. but the way they had been loyal to the nature and its resources was truly an inspiration to each one of us. Our left out energy was still leading us to the man-made pool.. Our eyes were trying to scan what we could see as some  brown coloured stuff a foreigner  was using , a natural material which was too good for the skin, environmental friendly as told to us by our volunteer…for an instant, there was  silence, which was broken by someone from the group  who cried out..mannu!!(which means MUD!)yes you spelled it right..mud.

All set for the next day…after our quite decent breakfast,we got in to the town hall building where we understood the concept of planing the city. standing in  the huge corridor space, which is just a small part in the entire planing concept, you would never imagine the complexity involved in the planing process. Wouldn’t it be great if there were green walkways, connecting each space in the office or perhaps our own house, with shady green spaces and….colorful flowers that adds cherry to the cake. That was one of the highlighted awesome experience..

We all are great when it comes to building castles in the air ,think and imagine about ideas,talk a lot about it but at the end,sweating out for doing something is what it is all about..we wouldnt want to get too exhausted under the sun or would want to  put a little too much energy  to get something done as long as our computers and  technology can put it up for us..a bunch of volunteers from Africa had devoted their time, energy and dedication that had resulted in a beautiful natural structure -African meditation pavilion..the entire construction was manually done by the students making use of bamboo truss and timber..

A Few  from our group,followed by the rest of us dashed our way towards a tree which was supporting a structure at the top..yess..thats a TREE HOUSE!!how about having one in your office compound?.. a lunch area!..sounds exciting right? ..so after having some fun photoshoot session at the tree house,we walked our way towards the solar kitchen..we walked up to the roof to understand the process of solar panels..the volunteer explained about the 11,000 panels that worked together generating the heat from the sun.the electric motor which drives the pendulum..the mechanics of the entire process was too interesting that we hardly realised  our bare legs touching the hot-hot concrete floor which was heated by the mid-day sun.

The last visit was the international house..the colorful bottles formed a pattern in the walls even admitting light to the interiors..sometimes things that seems to be useless or which even messes up your space, turns  out to be beautiful and useful, provided our minds work creative.The combination of concrete and timber was marvelously done in international house..the exclusive use of timber in spaces like staircases,roof  inside was jaw dropping. most of us involuntarily said a wowww!! under our breath. how better it would have been if timber was not that expensive.. the fact is …if it is a rose flower obviously, there will be thorns..

The culture here is focusing on simplicity and conservation. A creative living with a close association with nature is what we witnessed in Auroville. Every piece of creativity is the output of someone’s repetative efforts through trials and errors.

 

so ….Together with a pleasurable experience ,the trip had marked an inevitable difference in our way of thinking,learning,working and  our attitude..