Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens once said, “Sustainability is not just about adopting the latest energy-efficient technologies or turning to renewable sources of power. Sustainability is the responsibility of every individual every day.”
The essence of the above quote truly defines the values that drive Made In Earth, an architecture firm that is reforming the benchmarks of sustainable architecture. With love for the earth at the heart, the firm is the brainchild of four dynamic personalities, Shruthi Ramakrishna, Jeremie Gaudin, Agnimitra Bachi, and Ajinkya Unhale. These four pillars combine their strengths and talents in making ‘building with natural materials’ desirable, durable, and accessible.
All of these founders followed different paths during their studies, work, and volunteer experiences and then, coming together, something became noticeably clear to them and we quote “There is nothing else than Sustainable Architecture for us.”
As for the industry, the four of them believe that a sustainable approach to creating buildings is no longer just an option, but a necessity. For them, it is the joy of rendering things as meaningful and natural as possible. Instead of seeing the use of local and natural materials as a limitation to architecture, the founders look at it as an infinite realm of possibilities.
A Taste for Innovation
Made In Earth approaches design as a dialogue between natural materials. With a taste for experimentation and innovation, the firm focuses on modern expressions that are both elemental and eco-friendly. Along with a common realization through their experiences, the founders came to a conclusion, it all comes down to people.
With the belief that ‘inspiration is all around us,’ the firm feels proud to be a part of individuals and groups working towards pushing the boundaries at the forefront of their realms. It is proud to be a part of a movement that draws inspiration from the past, questions the present, and thinks for the future.
The Design Philosophy
Prior to starting any project, the team at Made In Earth asks themselves a simple yet important question – What is the most ecological way to make this happen?
The firm answers it in the form of process-design making. Firstly, it becomes friends with materials. Secondly, it gets its hands dirty i.e. with a strong understanding, they drive the adequate use of materials.
Both these directions are fed into the firm’s design process. Consequently, it consistently revises and reinterprets materials, techniques, to personalize their projects.
Moving ahead, Made In Earth has a variety of natural building techniques. It forms the assimilation of knowledge and reimagining of many traditional techniques engineered to suit the requirements of a project. The firm’s technique is dependent on many factors such as locally available market, skill feasibility in the given project, budget, appropriateness of the technique to the building, aesthetic consideration, and so on.
Taking Challenges Head-on
The firm seems excited to be in a city like Bangalore, where work keeps evolving. The team loves the challenge of bringing natural materials to people and rendering traditional techniques to newer aspirations. The challenge to mold these techniques to be both desirable and competitive, culturally, and economically for clients drives Made In Earth.
The firm also cites that alternatively engineered solutions occasionally meet with resistance. It suggests that learning from traditional techniques, building upon that knowledge to adapt it to a contemporary context will help re-build our trust with these materials. One also needs to spend more time on-site, training, and interacting with the workforce to execute a project. Herein, inevitable knowledge exchange, empowerment, and active dialogue will be a rewarding experience than a challenging one.
Another challenge is that people do talk about green and sustainable futures, however, only a few understand these words. Hence, the firm informs people about methodologies and details of earth construction through workshops and open days on their building sites, in order to build one’s capacity to understand, appreciate, and trust materials.
Made In Earth’s approach here is to have a bird’s eye view and take it as a wide and fundamental understanding. It also innovates and engineers to create a freshness to the way buildings look and function.
A Greener and Sustainable Tomorrow
At present, the firm is working on a Microbrewery in Bangalore city, where nature is at the core of the scheme. Herein, the firm has decided to build less and plant more. Further, it is working on various commercial projects such an ayurvedic retreat center, apartments, several commercial buildings, a college campus and a building experience center for a real estate developer.
As such, the firm looks forward to building more public spaces, schools, hospitals, etc. as landmarks for people to discover these alternatives as viable and desirable options for all. For the forthcoming years, Made In Earth dreams of a strong community of visionaries centered around sustainable practices.
Visit https://madeinearth.in/ to experience sustainable architecture firsthand.
