Auroville Student Practicum - Architecture

www.agpworkshops.com

STUDENT PRACTICUM(Organised on request)

Custom Programmes for Architecture Students

Auroville Green Practices Student Practicum is a comprehensive learning program for architecture students with a focus on integrated sustainable solutions for human habitats. Participants will get a rich and diverse exposure to various design approaches from all over the world. Our customized programmes offer a good mix of theory and practice to sustainable building and living practices. Auroville, a growing international township near Puducherry on the Coromandel Coast in India, is an inspiring model for sustainable development. Over the years, Auroville has won international acclaim for its efforts in social and environmental sustainability. Auroville’s ongoing applied research in environmentally sound practices and its geographical compactness make it a perfect learning environment for out-of-the-box innovations.


Workshops

DEMOUNTABLE HOUSE BUILDING

The Demountable building workshop includes a series of hands-on design & build sessions with the participating students. A building will be built with a mix of modern and traditional materials using the Intermediate Technology developed at the International House by EartHauz-CSR. Stu-dents will be guided through the conceptual features behind the design and will work on the actual construction of the structure. The educa-tional paradigm of the workshop would be active exploration, exposure and learning by doing. It provides an opportunity for collective learning of design & building techniques.

Facilitator: EartHauz Architecture & Design was established in 2004 by Manu Gopalan. It is located at the Interna-tional House in Auroville. The current focus of the firm is to develop Intermediate Technology in construction using 100% natural & recycled materials, participatory design and self-help construction. EartHauz is com-mitted to the conception and construction of built environment that is essentially ecological, site specific, climatically responsive and respecting vernacular traditions.”

Facilitator: Auroville Bamboo Research Centre was established in February 2007, with the aim to merge Indian tradi-tional craft with contemporary design. It is focused on production and marketing of Bamboo craft for income generation and building stronger communities for sustainable living.

BAMBOO DESIGN

This workshop offers design & build sessions with bamboo as material for participating students. The focus of the workshop can either be on bamboo interior design or working on a small bamboo structure. Students will come up and implement their own design concept under the guidance of facilitators. The take-away is an intro-duction into bamboo as building material, treat-ment methods and a training in basic skills of working with bamboo.


WORKSHOPS

MINI WIND TURBINE INSTALLATION URBAN FURNITURE DESIGN

This is a hands-on workshop with an organization called MinVayu. The Wind Turbines produced by MinVayu are especially designed to operate efficiently in the lower wind-speed ranges. Partici-pants will learn how to assemble, install and put in operation a small wind turbine that can be used for homes and small businesses to become energy independent or grid-tied. There is no pre-vious experience necessary and all you needs is a willingness to learn about the process.

Facilitator: Jorge Ayarza is an electrical engineer with 20 years of experience in design, construction and installation of small hydro and wind systems. His professional experience includes rural electrification projects and small wind turbine distributor development in Latin America and USA. He has worked as the Technical Advisor to the American Wind Energy Association, and worked with the UNDP in the largest rural elec-trification project in the world based in China. Jorge has been living in Auroville since 2009 where he has been working on a set of solutions to crack the small wind affordability problem.

Facilitator: Auroville Bamboo Research Centre was estab-lished in February 2007, with the aim to merge Indian traditional craft with contemporary design. It is focused on production and marketing of Bamboo craft for income generation and building stronger communities for sustainable living.

This workshop will focus on the design thinking behind urban furniture and the building of simple urban furniture such as cycle sheds, bus shelters, resting places, waste collection stations, sitting and resting places. The furniture will be built with a mix of modern and traditional materials such as bamboo, ferrocement and steel. This workshops provides an opportunity to explore the impor-tance of urban furniture for urban spaces and will expose students to a high degree of team work.


WORKSHOPS


EARTH ARCHITECTURE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The course contains an introduction session about earth architecture and the diversity and universality of its global application. Participants will learn about particular earth techniques and building with arches, vaults and domes and will get hands-on experience in the production of Compressed Stabilised Earth Blocks (CSEB).

Facilitator: The Auroville Earth Institute is researching, developing, promoting and transferring earth-based technologies, which are cost and energy effective. These technolo-gies are disseminated through training courses, semi-nars, workshops, manuals and documents. The most promoted technology today is CSEB.

WORKSHOPS


SITE VISITS

SOLAR PASSIVE ARCHITECTURE

“Technology based sustainability” as solutions for the issues and problems that arise out of the fossil fuel use has serious limitation especially for devel-oping countries like India with its fast growing population and depleted ecological services. “Solar passive” or “passive design” is a “design based sustainability” that works within the natural systems of the place. From watershed and contour-based site planning to intelligent enve-lope design for climatic comfort saving on the operational energy inputs. It is also a system of adaptive design with active participation from the end user including life style changes to work towards reducing the negative impact of urban development on nature.

Facilitator: Suhasini Ayer-Guigan has over 20 years of experience in sustainable design, green building practices and planning. She is the founder and principal architect of the Auroville Design Consultants. She is co-recipient of the Hassan Fathy Award for ‘Architecture for the Poor’ in 1992 and recipient of the Design Share Award for educational buildings in 2003 and 2005.

CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE LUMINOSITY

Luminosity is a rectangular block containing twelve apartments and eleven office-studios. It is a collective project, which incorporates new ideas and technologies. The acoustic, climatic and environmental aspects of the project have strongly influenced its design.

Facilitator: David Nightingale studied architecture at Newcastle University (UK) and the TU Darmstadt (Ger- many). He arrived in Auroville in 1997 and since then has been involved in various architecture and planning projects within Auroville including a learning centre, performing arts centre, a school and an apartment complex. He is a core group member of The Dream-catchers, a forum for envisioning and participatory city planning, and he is in the process of founding Auroville Architectural Service Unit, a collective for architects to work together in Auroville.


SITE VISITS

VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE EARTH ARCHITECTURE

Vernacular Architecture uses locally available re- sources and building traditions that are suited for the local climate conditions, and are culturally and environmentally appropriate. Structures rely on simple and low-tech methods resulting in build-ings that are perfectly adapted to the building’s users and the building’s locale.

Facilitator: Sreevatsa is the founder of Tapasya Design and is currently engaged in several projects incorporating green practices. In his architectural projects Sreevatsa is using locally available materials like earth, clay and Palmira wood.

The basis for this apartment complex for about 50 people is an extensive use of environmentally sound materials, appropriate building technolo-gies, (earth and ferrocement), and ecological water management (watershed harvesting and biological wastewater treatment).

Facilitator: The Auroville Earth Institute is researching, develop-ing, promoting and transferring earth-based technolo-gies, which are cost and energy effective. These tech-nologies are disseminated through training courses, seminars, workshops, manuals and documents. The most promoted technology today is CSEB.


DECENTRALISED WASTE WATER SYSTEMS

SUSTAINABLE LIVING VERITE COMMUNITY

Integrated Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems are based on several natural physical treatment techniques, put together in different combinations according to the needs and the financial budgets of users. Natural effluent treat-ment processes are achieved through methods that make use of physical principles combined with biological activities of microorganisms. These systems do not use any chemical treat-ment process and can be beautifully integrated into landscapes.

Vérité Community is an intentional community within the Auroville project. This is a community established in 1985 with the aim of integrating environment and ecology in daily living. As a result, the whole community of 8 acres is fully powered by solar energy integrating a windmill, sustainable building techniques, biological wastewater treatment, rainwater harvesting and organic farming.

SITE VISITS

Facilitator: Centre for Scientific Research (CSR) was founded in 1984 with the aim to explore and develop sustainable technologies. CSR’s main work areas include renew-able energy systems, appropriate architecture & build-ing technologies, water and wastewater management.


GROWING PEOPLE SADHANA FOREST

ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PICHANDIKULAM FOREST

Sadhana Forest started its ecological revival and sustainable living work on December 19th 2003. The vision of its founders, Yorit and Aviram Rozin, is to transform 70 acres of severely eroded, arid land on the outskirts of Auroville into a vibrant, indigenous Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest (TDEF). In a spirit of human unity, the community attempts to introduce a growing number of people to sus-tainable living. The main aim of this ecological project is to support the local rural villages. By retaining water and filling the aquifer, Sadhana Forest allows the villagers to cultivate their food and prevents exodus towards nearby city slums.

Ecological restoration is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been de- graded, damaged, or destroyed. It includes a wide scope of projects including erosion control, reforestation, the uses of local native species and re-vegetation of disturbed areas. Pichandikulam is dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest. It was estab-lished in 1973 as one of the pioneering Auroville green belt communities engaged in the initial reforestation work that was necessary on the bare eroded township site. Since then the 70 acre site has been transformed into a complete ecosystem with more than 800 species of plants.

Facilitator: Aviram Rozin; After arriving from Israel, Aviram together with his wife Yorit and daughter Osher initiated the Sadhana Forest project in 2003 and settled on the land to build a community dedicated to planting of trees. In a short period, Sadhana has devel-oped into a bustling eco-friendly settlement with thatched houses, wind pumps, solar powered LED lighting, compost toilets and vegan kitchen with energy efficient stoves.

Facilitator: Joss grew up in the Australian state of Tasmania, a place full of wild natural beauty. He came to Auroville in 1970 after living in Europe and Africa. He joined the early pioneering efforts in land restoration at Auroville and founded the Pichandikulam community. He also founded Pichandikulam Forest Consultants, a busi-ness unit to provide environmental restoration services and is currently directing the restoration bio-diversity at Adayar Ponga in Chennai.

SITE VISITS


Monday08:30 - 09:00 09:30 - 10:3010:30 - 12:00

12:30 - 13:3014:00 - 15:00

15:30 - 16:3017:00 - 20:00

Wednesday08:00 - 08:30

09:00 – 12:00

12:30 – 1:3014:00 – 17:30

19:00

Tuesday7:30 - 8:15

08:30 - 12:00

12:30 - 13:3014:00 - 17:00

19:00

Thursday7:30 - 8:15

08:30 - 12:00

12:30 - 13:3014:00 - 17:00

19:00

BreakfastIntroduction to AurovillePresentation: Auroville Building TechnologiesLunchSite Visit: Center for Scientific ResearchSite Visit: Verite CommunitySite visit and Dinner: Sadhana Forest – Ecological Restoration

BreakfastGroup AIntroduction to Earth ArchitectureLunchIntroduction to Earth ArchitectureDinner

BreakfastGroup ADemountable House workshopLunchDemountable House workshopDinner

Group BWorkshop: Urban Furniture Design

Workshop: Urban Furniture Design

SCHEDULE

Group BWorkshop: Urban Furniture Design Workshop: Urban Furniture Design

BreakfastGroup ADemountable House workshopLunchDemountable House workshopDinner

Group BWorkshop: Urban Furniture Design Workshop: Urban Furniture Design

Friday08:00 - 08:30

09:00 – 12:00

12:30 – 1:3014:00 – 17:30

18:00 – 19:0019:00

BreakfastGroup ADemountable House workshopLunchDemountable House workshopClosing SessionDinner

Group BIntroduction to Earth architecture

Introduction to Earth architecture

CONTACTMartin Scherfler,Auroville Green Practices/Auroville ConsultingSaraCon Campus, Kottakarai Plaza, Irumbai Post, Auroville 605111,Tamil Nadu.

Tel: 0413 2622571

Programmes will be designed and priced according to duration and learning objectives of the group. We recommend a tentative 5-day programme which will include: boarding and lodging, transport within Auroville, workshops, site visits, presentations and facilitation for all activities, and all taxes. All meals are vegetarian. Alcohol is not permitted in Auroville guest houses.

BOOKING A PROGRAMME

Workshops


“Auroville wants to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realise human unity.”Auroville is an international community with over 2000 people from around 40 different countries. Founded in 1968, Auroville is based on the vision of The Mother and is endorsed by UNESCO and the Government of India as an ongoing experiment in human unity.Aurovillians are constantly experimenting with new ideas and solutions in areas of education, arts & crafts, community building, new economy and sustainability. One of the unique aspects of research in Auroville is the fact that many ideas are put into practice. Over the years, Auroville has won international acclaim for its efforts in social and environmental sustainability.Auroville is located 8km from Pondicherry, 3 hours drive from Chennai city/airport (150km) along the scenic East Coast Road (ECR) and 8 hours by an AC sleeper bus from Bangalore (350km).

ABOUT AUROVILLE

For more details visit: www.auroville.org

Auroville Student Practicum - Architecture

Education

Transcript of Auroville Student Practicum - Architecture