: Couple Uses 700-YO Method to Build Unique 2-Floor Mud Home In Just Rs 4 Lakh #IndiaNEWS #Architecture When Pune-based couple, Yuga Akhare and Sagar Shirude decided to construct a sustainable farmhouse

Couple Uses 700-YO Method to Build Unique 2-Floor Mud Home In Just Rs 4 Lakh #IndiaNEWS #Architecture
When Pune-based couple, Yuga Akhare and Sagar Shirude decided to construct a sustainable farmhouse from bamboo and mud, they were advised against it. The villagers of Wagheshwar near Lonavala, Maharashtra, said it would be unwise to build such a house due to the heavy rains and high-wind speeds the village records every year.
But the couple were undeterred and gave them examples of forts that were built using mud centuries ago, which still stand tall in several parts of Maharashtra.
The architect couple went ahead and built a two-storey house using sustainable practices and this year the region experienced the devastating Taukte cyclone.
Mitti Mahal
“The wind speed was around 100 kmph but our house remained as is. There was no damage or dripping rainwater inside the house. A slab on the rooftop was underwater for three days and nothing happened to it,�? Yuga tells The Better India.
Their firm ‘Saagaa Associates’ was formed in 2014 after the duo graduated from D Y Patil college in Navi Mumbai. While they have done several projects, including institutional and residential buildings, this mud house called ‘Mitti Mahal’ (Mud Palace) was a first.
From sourcing, local materials, upcycling to growing organic food, Yuga and Sagar share how they managed to complete the project in just Rs 4 lakh.
Vocal for Local

Since this was fairly new territory for both, they started small and used soil to make the boundary wall.
“As we started to dig the soil to make the wall from stone, we wondered if we could somehow repurpose the soil instead of letting it go to waste. We took empty cement sacks and stuffed them with soil, like the ones that the army uses as bunkers. It worked, and we ended up making 3,500 sacks of bricks and built a wall 3 feet below and 4 feet above ground level,�? shares Yuga.
The storeroom was the next step. For this Sagar used mud and bamboo. He had learned this type of construction process during his internship and a 10-day workshop on mud houses in Thannal, Tamil Nadu.
“We have used locally available bamboo, red soil and grass for this house. We sourced stems of Karvy plants and bamboo mats from a nearby forest for the walls. For clay, we took an indigenous concoction of red soil, husk, jaggery and juice from the myrobalan plant. This was further mixed with neem, cow urine and cow dung. The land preparation and coating for walls were done with cow urine and cow dung,�? adds Sagar.

The roofing was done with bamboo frames that were covered with two layers — one of plastic sheets and the other with grass. This layer binding did not allow water inside the house during the monsoons.