In a country as chaotic as ours, it's always a distinct pleasure to witness architectural feats that lean towards sustainability. This is exactly the ethos that Rahul Mehrotra's project 'Haathigaon' embodied and, thankfully, even received admiration for. In fact, this government-organised project that saw them create a housing project for 100 elephants and their Mahouts (care-takers) actually won the urbanist/ architect/ educator's firm RMA win a gold medal for sustainable architecture which is annually organised by the Italian university of Ferrara. The mahout conducts the elephant and tourist up through the palace’s entrance arch. a ride costs ca. $20, but the mahouts must give most of it to the elephants’ owners. image © designboom
the elephants are housed in garage-like rooms with exits on the outer, non-courtyard-facing, sides of the buildings.families cook and eat meals outside, and children can play away from the elephants. image courtesy - RMA
Visitors commonly reach amber fort, a sixteenth-century hilltop palace outside the city of jaipur, in rajasthan state, by car, foot, or elephant. image © designboom
Comparative before and after images of the landscape (march, 2007 and september, 2010) - image courtesy RMA.
‘Our country certainly should not unthinkingly adopt western ideals when it comes to an architecture competition and instead look for local solutions. we don’t need your glass buildings and your eco-labels in india.’ - Rahul Mehrotra
"This was a humbling experience, as clearly the lives of the inhabitants, and what was crucial for their needs, were privileged in the budgets with the investment in architecture being minimal. The intent in the design was to leave room for the inhabitants (both in terms of basic spatial configurations thorough employing open sky private spaces and the minimal finishes) to transform their own homes incrementally and appropriate them through visual transformations over time."
