We had our first occupants stay in our guesthouse this past weekend. Kannan Narayanswamy, his wife Uma Iyer, and their daughter Navya enjoyed several nights inside the bamboo house. The first pilot family to enjoy a nights sleep welcomed this new building material, because of it's aesthetic quality, as well their passion for sustainable building materials for India. The nights were cold, compared to the average overnight temp for this region, and problems of cold drafts, and heat loss were noticed. Several factors are still to be addressed, and as we develop the prototype house for rural Indian citizens, we will build on past trial and errors.
Our waterless toilet design has come out well, and with the
help of Kannan Narayanswamy we have created a solution to the waste water produced my modern toilet designs. This will be part of a package that will include our rural housing design. We are building on site here, and it will be used by the artisans and visiting guests.
The foundation for the waterless toilet is three feet tall, and that will give us enough volume to house the human waste that will a crew in 6 months. Our design has two chambers, and each one will be used for 6 months and when one is full the other will be used. This allows for decomposition of waste, as well as a safe way for waste to be broken down. There will not be any urine or wash water mixed in with the solid waste. This helps in decomposition and bacterial build up. Once the chambers are full, is the responsibility of the user to empty each chamber, and mix it with compost to add to the nutrients of surrounding soil. We plan on having a green roof, therefore we will be using the solid matter for compost, and urine mixed with water to keep the plants healthy.
As the diagram displays above, the person will sit ground level and defecate in the brown hole, and urinate in the yellow rectangle. The separation of urine and feces, improves breakdown of solid matter, as well decreases the use of water. There is one wash basin for the user to wash themselves after doing their business. There is also a wash room to the left.
We have started to coordinate our first discussion series here at Wondergrass to encourage people of all ages, talents, and fields to share their passion and connection to the ability to create. This gift given to all of us, has many outlets, bamboo design, music, visual arts, and so many more. We have started to distribute to local colleges these fliers to let people know that there is a place to welcome all of those outlets. If you are in the area, please contact us, and we would be most welcoming.
2 comments:
HI ALEX,
Great article. I hope the project is truly a success. I have a green roofing business, one thing you may want to be wary of is supplying the green roof plants with too many nutrients, you could have some pretty big plants quite quickly and the increase in biomass could affect the overall weight of the roof.
I don't know if you're working with a professional already, if not and you want some advice feel free to check out our website www.verticiel.ca.
Happy New Year.
-Kelven
Hi Alex!
The magic of our visit still remains.I can still vividly remember each bit of the bamboo house,the various designs used for windows, well lit,well ventilated (extremely so, one would say considering that we came in well before it was all done.)
The feeling of oneness that was there with you all-the artisans,the cook,Vaibhav,Sayali and you made the stay truly memorable.
Would have loved to have been there during the workshop especially the one on model bamboo houses.
Navya says it was a
roomy place,very comfortable,nice view from the verandah!
We are hoping to come there in the summer to experience the other extreme season.
Looking forward to seeing pictures of the completed bamboo house.
Uma
Post a Comment