Design Earth:Expectations

It's been two weeks into this course and already I feel like I've learnt so much. Whether it be Terrapin or BMS we always manage to have fun and also work simultaneously. At the end of these two weeks we have a lot of people and things to appreciate and thank, whether it may be the whole class effort, Jackson and Arnab or Bala and team and of course our hosts, everyone has been extraordinary.

My expectations from this course were literally to get my hands dirty and get some hands on experience and really learn how to 'build' like literally and till now it has lived up to all of these. As designers we often just think of the conceptual part of things and when it comes to executing, often than not we leave it up to the craftsmen and artisans etc. to do our work. Or else if we start on our own we aren't able to carry it out properly. Design Earth gives us the prerequisite skills to do so. It has really honed so many of my skills and taught me more that I wouldn't have otherwise. As designers we should be prepared for anything, so in the future if we have to do something on our own,because of this course we will be able to do it.

Also I wanted to get out of the class room atmosphere for a bit and  have connected with nature thoroughly. A little mud, or even a lot of it doesn't bother me. Walking on the roads with people staring doesn't affect me any more. Some people even stop us and ask us whether we are in Jackson's course, which is pretty cool since it seems like we have like a stamp on us.

Second year also means that you start working with seniors. We were all adamant at first but that has changed now and we are like this one big awesome sauce Design Earth Crew.
Also I'm not sure what field I want to go in and right now I just don't care. I'm going to experiment and find my own niche. And even if I knew what to do, I would still have taken this course, because you just can't leave Srishi without taking it once.

Till now this journey has been brilliant and we have a long way ahead of us so looking forward to it. I'm sure more expectations will emerge along the way and I hope most of them get fulfilled the way they have till now. Sometimes you experience something you weren't expecting and it turns out to be absolutely wonderful because it catches you by surprise. Design Earth has exactly these moments. So right now, I'm loving it.

BMS College:Final Day

Our last day at BMS finished much before I thought it would. We finished weaving mud onto our structure. Then we cut out bubbles and windows on the sides. Further we also carved out a door by the side for easy entry into the structure. With the leftover clay from the BMS students' installation we made a bench inside with a brick support.

Now this structure needs to dry completely for plastering and all the finishing touches. Sadly though it was our last day at BMS, so won't be able to finish the installation ourselves as we need to go to Terrapin again next week and return to tending to our chicken customers. So it will be finished by the Green Chakra team. If we can, we will try and come back to help.

Our first successful installation!Yay! 

BMS College:Second Day Reflections

Four times. That's how many times we mixed clay today.So by the end of it, we were all nursing our aching limbs. But it makes for good exercise so chuck it.

We finally started putting the clay onto the bamboo structure. It may seem easy to watch, but is quite complicated to execute. We had to put clay from the outside and inside, simultaneously preferably. After putting the mud, we made holes on the top of each layer, so that the next layer could fit properly. We scraped off any excess mud with our fingers so the whole thing has a cool pattern going on now. Though we didn't have to cover the whole thing, still it took a lot of time since we kept running out of clay and had to make new batches. Then rolling them into balls and making a human chain to pass them on. Also the place where we are building doesn't have a constant supply of water so that amounted into another gigantic effort of passing water across a long line a couple of times. So after all this labour, we were almost done by the end of the day.

Also this day showed us incredible back flips and jumps onto the mud pile by us and Arnab as well.

Looking forward to an equally long and tedious day ahead as we need to finish this by tomorrow, it being our last day at BMS.

BMS College:First Day Reflections

After a week we meet again.

This time it was at BMS College of Architecture and Engineering. Jackson had been working with the architecture students for the past week and they had already created quite a lot. So we started with some mingling with our BMS counterparts and jointly mixed a lot of soil, fiber and water into clay. After making mud balls we proceeded towards the BMS students' installation. They had created a sitting area inside the building. It was quite good and we were free to help, we were informed.

Now BMS has a huge campus, so we went past the huge basketball, right now in a dilapidated condition due to the of unearthing soil around it. So we had to create an installation for the college and got to the site for it. We started weaving bamboos across each other and got quite an enormous structure. We secured the joints with nylon zip locks. We experimented with the different shapes and structures that could be made out of it. We were basically learning the tensile strength of the structure by bending it to an extent that gives it tension but also makes it very strong.In the end we settled for an S shaped structure which was closed off from one side, so it looked like a cylinder with a curved tail.

After lunch, we got back to work. We started cross weaving to fill in the gaps, so that it would be easy to put on the clay. Wherever necessary we secured the structure with nylon zip locks and string. After we were sure that the structure was well weaved, we cut it in an uneven shape,which gave a wave like look to it. We secured the cut ends, filled in whatever gaps we could find and put bricks along the ends, both from inside and outside to keep it upright. We also put some thick wood pieces on the inside to give it extra support.

That was all for the day. We gave each other some good back massages and went back home, tired and as always muddy. 

Day 2

Day 2 of our project was a slow one. We waited around for buses for what seemed like hours and finally reached Terrapin around 11. We got into it directly and presented our designs as a crew. We are called the Hatch'ets. After listening to other people's designs we saw that some of them were similar tor to ours but listening to some feedback we were able to alter our designs a bit accordingly.
 Our two major designs included one with a bamboo basket symbolic of a nest with a dome shaped egg inside. The egg would be hollow and would have a direct entry from outside. The entire structure would be movable so that it would be easy to clean. Also it can be kept anywhere. We can also attached it to a tripod stand and build a ramp for the chickens to climb in inside. So if it rains, because of the elevation it wouldn't get wet.Also the space left in the nest would be filled with straw, leaves and fibers, so that hen could pick whatever she wants and take it inside to make it more comfy for herself. We still have to think of a protection for it from overhead so that it doesn't accumulate water when it rains.
The second structure is shaped like a mushroom with an opening in front and a ramp as well. It can also have a support of vertical bamboos place side by side in a circular form. We can use beer bottles for aesthetic value in both these designs. They can serve the purpose of bringing in a bit of light and also heat the structure up by absorbing light, as they are of a dark colour.
After that we learned a few more easier techniques of cutting bamboo and also learnt how to bend it by firing it. After a nice hot lunch we got to prototyping. We focused on the basket design and started building a small dome and a basket. The problem with the dome was that we could not decide whether to build it straight away or make a bamboo skeleton first. We divided ourselves into two groups, one making the dome and one making the basket. I was in the one making the basket. We managed to make a basket of sorts, but the problems that we faced was that the bamboo strips weren't thin and wide enough. Also when making bamboo baskets, the thin strips are made to soak in water for sometime, only then are they soft enough for weaving. We obviously didn't have time to do that, so we made it with whatever thin strips we could find. Though we ended up with the basket, the disadvantage was that it was weak and the strips kept popping open at the joints. So we had to tie a lot of the ends with string. Also after we finished we realized that the egg was  much bigger than the basket and couldn't possibly fit into it.Our team mates had gone with the idea of making the bamboo skeleton first, so the structure was pretty immovable. But in the end even though we faced some tough challenges, we came up with some sort of prototypes. It gave us an understanding of the materials and what problems we might face and how to counteract them in the future.
So this day was a day of experimentation and getting our hands dirty. A precursor of what is to come.

Design Earth:First Day Reflections

The very first day of the course coveted by many (if the evil glares mean anything) was an interesting one. We changed buses thrice and just when it seemed like we had reached our destination, we walked another kilometer. Just a precursor of the hard labor that was to come.
Trudging along the well worn pathway to Yohaan and Priya's farm, Terappin as it is called, we saw a couple of schools, one a branch of my Alma Martyr and another called Akshara which was built on Yohaan's land.
Somewhere along the way we were greeted by Yohaan, waiting for us patiently, a little startled by our large number. After getting a briefing about not petting Doobey, their 15 year old Doberman,  we entered Terappin. When you think of the word 'farm', it certainly encompassed it all. Buffaloes grazed to one side, shyly eyeing the new visitors. Some chickens which had managed to escape their cage, roamed freely as if it was their own territory, pecking mindlessly at whatever they found remotely interesting. Little did we know that they were our new clients. Some of Jackson's and Srishti students' projects could easily be discerned among the greenery of the farm. We strolled around a bit, taking in the aura of the place. After introducing ourselves to each other and a few team building exercises later, we were told about our project. Making shelters for the hens to lay eggs in.
As ridiculous as having a hen as your customer sounds as you can't possibly expect them to give you any sort of feedback ,we set out to observe them for the next hour. How they walked, what they did, how they did it, why they did it, how they interacted with their surroundings as well as others ( which included a huge male turkey who seemed to bully everyone), we analysed each aspect of these animals. After taking some notes and drawing a few sketches we sat in a group discussing our ideas and revelations. Some interesting ideas came up, such as leaving it up to the hens themselves to figure out their shelter by designing it in such a way so that they feel as if they did it all. Also keeping their surroundings as natural as possible and at the same time making the life of the people handling the chickens much easier.
After a long discussion in which some the questions needed to be taken to the owners, we proceeded for lunch. Over organic red rice and fresh veggies probably grown on the farm, we talked to Yohaan and his wife. Along with tales about his snake catching( one of his many interests) we got to know that he had turned this land lush green in 20 years from a barren and bare one. Having grown up with a mini zoo in my backyard myself, I've always been familiar to chickens and during my conversation with Yohaan, I found several techniques similar between what him and my father.
This part of Bangalore also faces water problems, so for a course like Design Earth this can get tricky. So anyway after a hearty meal and washing our dishes we chilled for a bit. After that Jackson brought out his tools and we saw and learned with a little hands on experience how to work with bamboo, one of the main materials in this course. We cut and shaved and sharpened it for our little project for the afternoon. We proceeded to plough up some earth and after separating whatever grass we could find and breaking it down, we started adding water. Along with coconut fibers and a lot of hands and feet involved we managed to mash the clay up. Separating it into tiny balls and with a game of passing the parcel (which obviously led to other things) we were left, now how do I put it, a little.....soiled. And as it seems, the heavens poured down upon us then and there. Anyway we set to work, making a dome structure, with the inner skeleton made of bamboo and the outer surface covered with clay, all the while trying the scrape the dried mud off our clothes and washing ourselves in dirty puddles.
Several complicated and frustrating minutes later our tiny structure was done. Now it may not have looked all that pretty, but it made all of us pretty proud of ourselves on our first day.
Washing ourselves somewhat clean under the tiny droplets dripping from the eaves of  the roof, we had ginger tea in cups made by Priya which was like a life saver, after what seemed like day of hard labor.
Finally giving the place a last look around, which now looked like a baby squeaky clean after a bath, with the promise of coming back we bade it farewell and walked back the same mud trail that now had turned gooey and wet. This time when we caught a bus, we didn't change it even once. Some relief after an exhausting and absolutely brilliant day.Oh and I had to tell my parents about this serendipity of course. All those years waking up to the crowing of that rooster kind of paid off. Waiting for what is to come!