Naomi and Narayan Residence
Godavari, Nepal
Oct 2011- 2012
Background: Naomi Saville and Narayan Acharya had always wanted to build an earth house. They had visited Auroville many years ago and were impressed by the interlocking compressed earth block. They wanted a modern house built with earth, which however, needed to withstand earthquake. With much deliberation from experts around the world, we designed the house using rammed earth and bamboo following the latest modern research and the most stringent building codes from around the world. The house is passive solar, it has build with open plan. The building is built in a modular fashion which not only makes it stronger and but also easy to build. The second story is light weight bamboo structure using colombian Baharaque technique, which has withstood the test of time including earthquakes.
The materials for the rammed earth were procured from the site and treated bamboo, bambusa balcooa, brought from 200 km. Timber is salvaged from an old building. The foundation and tie beams are made of reinforced concrete, while the bathroom area uses conventional bricks and cement mortar.
