“What do you imply it’s not a reproduction of Hagrid’s home?” I ask Raghav Kumar (30), one half of the brother duo that has conceptualised a 600-sq ft magnificence within the heartland of Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. As followers of the seven-part fantasy collection ‘Harry Potter’ will instantly guess, I’m referring to the eight-foot-tall big Rubeus Hagrid’s cabin on the sting of The Forbidden Forest — an ominous wooden crammed with wizarding creatures.
Cosy fires, larger-than-life teacups, and a drooling boarhound Fang stuffed most evenings that Harry and his associates spent at Hagrid’s. I usually discovered myself craving to be there.
My want may simply have been answered.
Raghav and Ansh’s ‘Tiny Farm Fort’ is paying homage to Hagrid’s abode. Creating the 15-ft doppelganger homestay, the brothers say, wasn’t the aim that backed their transition from their metropolis life in Delhi to the mountains in 2021. As a substitute, it was a consequence of it.
Each architects, Raghav and Ansh (27) had been eager on dwelling an “intentional life nearer to nature” — a dream they felt couldn’t be achieved by being part of fashionable company architectural tasks that prized demand over sustainability.
“There was a disconnect between the architect and the labour concerned in these tasks. There was quite a lot of greenwashing,” Raghav notes. Previous to 2021, the Delhi-based boys had their week lower out for them — weekdays spent working lengthy hours and weekends trekking to North India.
The seed for Tiny Farm Fort was sown when, after one specific trek to Rishikesh in December 2020, Raghav and Ansh discovered themselves wishing they may keep again within the mountains and never return to the monotonous hustle. They usually determined to do exactly that.
As soon as utterly bewildered by subjects of gardening and a rural life-style, the journey of constructing Tiny Farm Fort has stretched their understanding in these regards.
At this time, they invite us into their residence.
Knock on sustainability
Anybody who handed by Dhunar Gaon in Rishikesh in 2021, was met with an uncommon sight. Albanian people songs reverberated by way of the air, interrupted solely by the beats of Japanese rock music, German techno, and Daler Mehndi’s ‘Tunak Tunak Tun’.
And grooving to those vigorous tempos had been a gaggle of 90 people. A better have a look at them would reveal their vivid origins — Brazil, Australia, Germany, France, Canada, Slovenia — 18 nationalities, to be exact, Ansh states. Their rhythms although unchoreographed, would appear virtually synced to an onlooker.
However don’t be distracted by their strikes, Ansh urges, look beneath their ft as a substitute.
Elaborating on the fabric the group spent months dancing upon, he says, “Cob is a combination of clay, sand, soil, straw and water. We chopped wheat and rice straw, put it on a tarp, after which invited the group to bop on it till it fashioned a burrito-shaped dough. As soon as secure, the dough doesn’t break and can be utilized as a constructing materials.”
Explaining how they introduced in overseas palms for the undertaking, Raghav laughs and says, “It wasn’t deliberate. We put out a request on the web site ‘Workaway’, asking individuals thinking about sustainable constructing to affix us. By the months, we received many who had been eager on this.”
He provides that these had been individuals who didn’t specifically make a visit to bop on the cob. “They had been already heading to Rishikesh for a trip. However their curiosity in pure constructing attracted them to our website. We arrange a dorm for them within the village Umrisen, the place we had been tenting out throughout the building.”
Aishwarya Lakhani, an inside designer from Mumbai, who was part of this neighborhood effort, says she had at all times been which means to get into aware design. “After I got here throughout this undertaking, I noticed a chance. I had been eager to go to Tiny Farm Lab for months and because it was coinciding with my Rishikesh journey dates, I made a decision to go there. Proper from day one, it was a heat expertise staying with the villagers. Raghav and Ansh took excellent care of us.”
She echoes the ideas of the others when she says, “We had been in awe that such a factor could possibly be achieved in a distant location. Having practised with reusable supplies and pure plasters myself, it [this project] gave me hope and inspiration realizing that the sky is the restrict when utilizing cob for constructed environments. Working with cob grounds you. Dancing on the mud is an emotion.”
Bharat Rolaniya, an architect, seconds Lakhani. “Working with mud, particularly cob was very intuitive to me. Being a pure constructing building practitioner, I loved working with cob. It’s virtually like discovering your self. In structure, one tends to really feel like they’re remodeling a constructing, however working with mud and cob exhibits you that it goes each methods — they rework you in flip,” he says.
It took the brother duo three years to construct Tiny Farm Fort. They recall the journey as revelationary in some ways.
“For 2 metropolis children who didn’t know a lot, we learnt quite a bit,” says Ansh. “Travelling from the final motorable level in Phoolchatti to the Umrisen village concerned crossing a picket bridge throughout a tributary Heval after which mountain climbing for 1.5 km. Every time we needed to get groceries, we needed to make a 20 km trek.” However the effort was worthwhile.
At this time, Tiny Farm Fort is a masterpiece. “And a piece of many palms,” factors out Raghav. “We used to spend virtually six to eight hours constructing the house and by no means took a break day. Whether or not it was sizzling solar with temperatures crossing 44 levels Celsius, raining, and even darkish and chilly in winter — nothing stopped us.”
So as to add to it, it wasn’t simple being outsiders in a village. However as a substitute of resisting steering, Raghav says, “We let the villagers take over.” And because the brothers quickly realised, there was quite a lot of knowledge to be gleaned.
“We allow them to train us farming, how one can use instruments for building, how one can choose up rocks, break them, after which construct a frugal trolley to move these rocks, bamboo and picket logs backwards and forwards. We learnt how one can make rotis (Indian flatbread) utilizing a chula (earthen range),” he provides.
Lastly, in 2024, Tiny Farm Fort was able to host its first friends.
When you’re planning to make a visit right here, full disclosure: reaching the homestay from Heval entails a 30-minute trek, with some pockets posing a steep climb. However the magnificence compensates for it.
As you set foot into Tiny Farm Fort, deja vu will creep up on you, making all these fairy tales appear plausible in the end. In each sense, Tiny Farm Fort impersonates a goblin’s den, and also you may virtually count on to see one hanging round throughout your keep.
The homestay is cradled by a mountain forest and perched excessive on a ridge such that it overlooks an expanse of emerald — the waters of the river Ganges.
A coolness engulfs the house within the summers, whereas an ambient temperature is maintained throughout the winters — free of charge the 19-inch thick mud partitions. As Raghav and Ansh iterate, the house was designed with an open plan in thoughts with a comfy loft mattress and a cave-like bed room (which accommodates two individuals every), a kitchenette with pots and pans, an outside barbeque, a woodfire pizza oven — made utterly from mud — a rooftop backyard, and a sensory toilet.
The satan is within the particulars. From a desk made utilizing discarded slate from an previous residence’s roof and a chandelier crafted from driftwood from the river Ganges, each bit of decor is a sustainable rendition.
The meals served is exclusive too — a easy meal of aloo sabzi (potato vegetable), roti, and dal (a dish manufactured from lentils). If you aren’t feasting (your mouth) on the home-made fiestas and (your eyes) on the view, you may participate in a rafting session on the river Ganges; or go chicken watching to identify the White-crested Himalayan Forest Laughing Thrush or the Pink-billed Blue Magpie; or be taught to brew kombucha (a fizzy fermented drink); or go foraging for mushrooms.
Somedays, the climate may play spoilsport, however darkish skies are not any deterrent to the temper at Tiny Farm Fort. Candlelit dinners and torches come to the rescue. Applaud Raghav and Ansh for this murals they usually say it’s the materials ‘cob’ that’s the actual hero. When pitted in opposition to different sustainable supplies, cob emerges a winner for its sturdiness and sweetness, all tied into one.
And the Tiny Farm Lab is the place these concepts are born.
An area the place artistry meets sustainability
A round design, analysis, construct, and innovation studio within the woods in Rishikesh, Tiny Farm Lab is trying to reinstill individuals’s beliefs in supplies that had been used centuries in the past.
“Particularly supplies whose desirability has gone down,” Ansh provides. With a give attention to biobased supplies, corresponding to mycelium (a root-like construction of a fungus), seaweed bioplastic and dirt, the studio is an ode to how the perfect structure is born out of the only concepts. “We needed to showcase that in a world the place every part is quick — quick meals, quick deliveries, pace courting — we will construct one thing sluggish,” Raghav shares.
For example, take mud.
As soon as dismissed as kaccha (uncooked), mud properties at the moment are beginning to see an upswing in structure. “Mud was generally known as a cloth that would survive the check of time. However then instances started rising the place the inspiration wasn’t robust and water started getting into the construction. Slowly, the fabric misplaced reputation and cement got here in.”
Raghav doesn’t have a bone to select with the fabric in itself, however relatively with the way it has turn out to be a standing image. “Cement is sometimes called masala by Indian labourers — pointing to how its use must be moderated,” Raghav notes. “An overuse could be poisonous. It makes the construction non-breathable.”
When it got here to Tiny Farm Fort, the brothers determined to make use of cob as the fabric. Whereas vetting its feasibility, they relied on an previous English saying: A cob home which has a very good boot (good basis) and good hat (roof with giant overhangs) will survive 100 years.
To this finish, the strategic location of the homestay proves a boon. “Tiny Farm Fort is perched on a hill and will get good daylight. In instances of heavy rainfall, the water runs down the valley,” says Raghav.
Not simply its exterior, however even the interiors within the residence are reflective of sustainable design. For this, the brothers credit score the group that chipped in to assist them construct the homestay. “They weren’t artists, however cob is such a forgiving materials to work with that the method virtually turns into intuitive,” provides Ansh.
At this time their creations and sculptures — elephants, mushrooms, coral life — reside on the cabinets of Tiny Farm Fort. Ansh provides, “We see this home as a museum the place we exhibit merchandise and supplies of various designers working with waste or biodegradable biomaterials.” You possibly can have a look when you’re right here.
With magnificence in every nook and crevice, Tiny Farm Fort is a respiration fairytale. Knock as soon as. Who is aware of, Goldilocks may open the door.
Edited by Pranita Bhat
