Kaza Eco-Community Centre
Last modified by the author on 07/10/2016 - 15:43
New Construction
- Building Type : Other building
- Construction Year : 2013
- Delivery year : 2015
- Address 1 - street : Kaza 172114 HIMACHAL PRADESH, India
- Climate zone : [H] Highland Climate(mountainous terrain).
- Net Floor Area : 580 m2
- Construction/refurbishment cost : 155 000 €
- Number of none : 5 none
- Cost/m2 : 267.24 €/m2
-
Primary energy need
1 kWhpe/m2.year
(Calculation method : Other )
In partnership with the Spiti Projects Charity, the Auroville Earth Institute has designed and built theKaza Eco- Community Centre with key participation of villagers in Kaza and local earth craftsmen of the Spiti Valley. The centre aims to provide amenities for the community which are valuable for local cultural heritage, while providing access to certain essential facilities for health care. The following will be managed by various local cooperative groups:
- An Eye clinic for testing and treatment of severe eye disorders due to high altitude UV exposure.
- A Dental clinic with dietary specialists.
- A Library for information on traditional culture, craft and medicine.
- A Craft Centre and small shop for the traditional skill of hand-knit socks and shawls.
- A Community kitchen and meeting hall for the practice of traditional dance and folk music, meetings, celebrations and festivals in winter.
- Homestay facilities to make the community centre sustainable in the long term and to cater to the needs of local people from outlying villages who commonly walk >50 km to reach Kaza for the use of health care facilities.
Located in the remote Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh, India, 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 buildingduring the winter, and for a fully self-sufficient building which does not relyon imported wood as is commonly practiced in the valley. As the region is proneto seismic activity, extensive earthquake-resistant features have been integrated, hybridizing vernacular techniques and certain low-tech modern innovations to improve building performance.
The primary construction technique employed for the Community Centre is the traditional Spiti rammed earth technique (‘Gyang’), an ancient Tibetan building technology which is one of the truly exemplary living traditions of earthen construction still practiced in India. By introducing modest 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.
See more details about this project
http://www.spiti.org/multimedia-archive/kaza-community-centre/http://www.earth-auroville.com/kaza_en.php
http://www.construction21.org/articles/h/low-carbon-winner-of-the-gbcsawards-2016-kaza-eco-community-centre-india.html
Stakeholders
Designer
Auroville Earth Institute (AVEI)
Satprem Maïni, Swati Negi, Lara Davis, T. Ayyappan
http://www.earth-auroville.comArchitectural Design & Construction Supervision
Others
The Spiti Projects charity
Joan Pollock (founder)
http://www.spiti.org/Charity Sponsoring the Project
Contractor
The Spiti Projects
Jeet Singh (Contractor), Tash Bodh (Site Supervisor), Ramesh Lotey
Site Contractor
Construction company
n/a
Local traditional raw rammed earth builders (Pin Valley, Himachal Pradesh)
Others
n/a - The community of Kaza
Local stakeholders
Others
Contracting method
Other methods
If you had to do it again?
OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED & SOLUTIONS:
Initially, the Auroville Earth Institute made the mistake of conceiving of the rammed earth work itself along the lines of an imported European rammed earth system: steel rammers, high compaction ratio, optimal moisture content, etc. (as usually done for rammed earth). However, the first tests with the masons indicated that this would not work effectively. The formwork was designed for this special context and adapted from the traditional formwork; therefore, on a technical level, a high degree of compaction was producing flaws in the rammed earth. However, the technical difficulty opened the doors for discussion with the masons and ultimately resulted in a much more collaborative process: the masons demonstrated the local technique with comments on the benefits of this method. The Auroville Earth Institute was able to learn a great deal from the local masons and better understand how and why this technique was so well adapted for the local context. Ultimately, the community centre could be championed by the local builders as a successful model of innovation which still employs the traditional method. In competition with concrete in the market, this was a very valuable turn of events for the community of traditional builders.
Another challenge was that the construction season is so short in Spiti on account of the long, harsh winters. Construction work generally commences May/June after the snow melts on the Spiti river shelf and ends in late September when the snow begins again. Furthermore, for one month in the height of this short construction season, all masons leave for the annual pea harvest (the main income for the valley). This leaves less than 5 months for construction. Buckets of water on site often freeze overnight through June, and running water and electricity are rarely available when needed. Further, the precarious mountain roads from Manali have recently been open for only 3 months of the year, and the roads from Shimla have been fraught with severe landslides which often strand truckloads of needed material for several months at a time. The only way to manage these challenges is to plan exceedingly well, to improvise in the face of impossible material constraints (expressed by the Hindi word “jugaad”) and to work very hard.
Building users opinion
AVEI has explored a wide range of interventions to make a positive impact on the construction sector of this region, while emphasising the appropriateness of local materials and building techniques. Daily visitors to the building site, including local villagers, politicians, monks and foreign visitors, are given tours of the building in an attempt to spread awareness. Through these conversations, the building has successfully stirred up the otherwise suppressed debate about the suitability of cement in this region. Government officials have been urged to take this knowledge forward and continue to use earth for future development. The community centre has set a benchmark, showcasing the intelligence and appropriateness of vernacular knowledge in Spiti.
Energy consumption
- 1,00 kWhpe/m2.year
- 1,00 kWhpe/m2.year
Envelope performance
- 1,70 W.m-2.K-1
- 0,12
More information
This building has not yet been operational for a sufficient duration to collect data on energy performance.
Systems
- Solar thermal
- No domestic hot water system
- No cooling system
- Natural ventilation
- Solar photovoltaic
- Solar Thermal
Urban environment
- 883,00 m2
- 315,00 %
- 500,60
Product
Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks
Auroville Earth Institute
http://www.earth-auroville.comGros œuvre / Structure, maçonnerie, façade
Compressed Stabilized Earth Blocks (CSEB) are unfired earthen blocks made by combining soil with a small amount of sand/gravel and between 5 to 8 percent cement or lime stabilizer. These components are mixed and manually compressed with the Auram 3000 press. After curing for 28 days, they attain their full strength which rivals that of concrete block or fired brick with a dry compressive strength of 7.5 MPa.
As soil can be quarried directly from the construction site and the blocks produced there, the transportation cost for materials is reduced, and it provides an opportunity for local unskilled and semi-skilled labor. The lack of firing greatly reduces the pollution produced by manufacture and does not contribute to deforestation for firewood. At the end of life of the CSEB, it is ultimately biodegradable.
Within a 5 year period, CSEB technology has been successfully disseminated to the extent that all new constructions for certain local monasteries have been built with CSEB by locally initiated construction companies.
Embodied energy of CSEB 548.52 MJ/m3. Carbon emissions CSEB 49.366 kg CO2/m3.Life Cycle Analysis
Water management
Indoor Air quality
Comfort
GHG emissions
- 250,00 year(s)