Was in Pune today meeting potential contractors for a bungalow that I’m designed there. I guess I should have a page that describes the project but, for the moment, here is an outline:

It’s a single family residence where we will harvest the rain, recycle the water and have solar panels for heating. The site is located on the top of a hill in the Kondhwa area so, budget permitting, there might even be a windmill to run the pump.

High energy materials like reinforced cement concrete – RCC – are going to be avoided as far as possible. The structure will be load bearing with a foundation made from local basalt and the superstructure will be brick masonry.

The client wished the design to be done as per Vastu principles and hired a consultant to vet the drawings for conformity. All’s well at the moment. People don’t often think of Vastu and ecological or green architecture together, but there is a significant overlap of principles; not always, I have to admit, but to a very large extent.