Low Carbon winner of the #GBCSAwards 2016: Kaza Eco-Community Centre (India)
In partnership with the Spiti Projects Charity, the Auroville Earth Institute has designed and built the Kaza Eco-Community Centre with key participation of villagers in Kaza and local earth craftsmen of the Spiti Valley, in India.
Building in remote high altitude regions is a constant challenge. To meet the climate and logistics challenges of this project, the designers chose to work with local resources, combining local and traditional construction techniques, materials found in the valley and modern passive building techniques, such as the trombe wall.
The building, which consists of a stonemasonry foundation, raw rammed earth walls, and compressed stabilized earthblocks, has been designed especially for the harsh winter climate of Spiti. Trombe walls have been incorporated for passive solar heating of the building during the winter, and for a fully self-sufficient building which does not rely on imported wood.
By introducing innovations into traditional building practices, the aim of the centre is to reinvigorate acceptance of these centuries old methods, and to demonstrate that the most sustainable, economical and thermally comfortable buildings in this climate already exist.
- Contractor :Spiti Projects
- Designer :Auroville Earth Institute
- Address : Himachal Pradesh, India
