Sharanam, Construction as Development

masons building earth vaults at sharanam pondicherry

The Sharanam Process:

Construction as Social Development

Pondicherry, India

The context is disturbing. Across the road from the Sharanam site, several hundred acres of village land has been illegally appropriated and quarried. Into the ravaged landscape, municipal waste is dumped and burnt smothering adjacent villages with noxious fumes.

The villages are chronically impoverished. Poverty, violence and alcoholism are deeply entrenched.

Generational skills have been disregarded and lost. Secure jobs are scarce and employable skills near absent.

Meanwhile, the regional construction industry continues apace - frenzied and unchecked. Fertile farmlands are sold-off and filled, seemingly overnight, with substandard concrete framed buildings built by poorly paid migrant workers, including women and children, who are expected to live in squalor on the construction site. Corruption is rife and the exploitation of land, resources and workers for profit is rampant.

rural tropical landscape destroyed by illegal quarrying and filled with burnt waste

The Environmental Condition: hundreds of acres ravaged by illegal quarrying and the dumping and burning of municipal waste

drunk man sitting on steps surrounded by trash in south india

The Societal Condition: chronic impoverishment and alcoholism

women in sarees covered in dust loading bricks

The Construction Condition: poor quality bricks in an industry rampant with the exploitation of land, resources and workers

woman in sari carrying naked child on a construction site in india

The Typical Condition: Standardised poor quality construction built by low-skilled migrant labour often involving women and children

Faced with these alarming conditions, the construction of the Sharanam Centre for Rural Development was set up by the architect as a social development project in its own right to address the severe environmental degradation, poverty and skills shortage impacting local communities. The aim was to build a modern, cost-effective building using sustainable materials and techniques with local village workers in an ethical way.

construction workers standing in front of stacks of earth bricks at sharanam pondicherry

The entire construction was set-up to employ and upgrade the skills of local village workers

thousands of precise earth blocks made by village workers at sharanam pondicherry

Local village workers trained in the precision manufacturing of over 200,000 compressed earth blocks from the red soil of the site

rammed earth foundations at the sharanam pondicherry construction site

The massive superstructure is built off rammed earth foundations avoiding the need for expensive reinforcement concrete

earth vaults and rammed earth floor under construction at sharanam pondicherry

The Sharanam construction site - a contrast to the typical condition

Deliberately there was no contractor. Under Jateen Lad’s guidance the project directly employed and trained local workers on-the-job in a range of skills including blockmaking, rammed earth foundations, innovative masonry, precasting, carpentry, metalwork, stonework and finishing techniques. Daily supervision, step-by-step instructions and the procurement of all materials by the architect’s team ensured quality, financial accountability and transparent payments to workers - many of whom learned to write their names for the first time. Throughout, the workers established their own wages, working hours and holidays.

construction workers balancing on scaffolding taking measurements at sharanam pondicherry

Using water levels to set a 3mm camber on the steel truss rods prior to casting the 45 metre vault springer beams

masons laying earth bricks building large vaults at sharanam pondicherry

Laying the first course of the thin masonry vaults. The thickness is 24cm at the springer beam tapering to only 9cm at the keystone.

young mason levelling earth bricks with water pipe and spirit level at sharanam pondicherry

Training young masons in precision masonry

mason in white turban smoothening curved cement mould in forest at sharanam pondicherry

Preparing an exact mould to cast the thin curved ferrocement roofing channels

New techniques were continuously developed in collaboration with more skilled workers further refining details. From the precise, high quality compressed earth blocks, masonry details and castings to the hundreds of interlocking granite slabs and teakwood sections, the project encouraged each worker to fulfill their potential. Workers photographing their daily accomplishments on mobile phones became a common sight conveying a confidence, pride and identity with the work.

three masons polishing earth plaster wall at sharanam pondicherry

Hand trowelled earth plaster wall with a cool-to-touch reflective finish.

carpentry workshop under large earth vaults inside sharanam pondicherry

The main hall as a carpentry workshop

stonemason checking granite wall construction at sharanam pondicherry

Constructing the stage pond with precisely interlocking sheets of granite

man applying yellow pigment floor finish at sharanam pondicherry

Applying the naturally pigmented flooring finish to the offices

hand laying small pebbles into a floor at sharanam pondicherry

Zero-waste construction: 7 tonnes of pebbles sieved out during blockmaking at the beginning were hand-laid as a flooring finish at the end of the project

Between 2007-2014 Sharanam employed over 300 workers enabling at least 50% of construction costs to be directly invested into the villages through wages. Furthermore, the increased skill levels helped improve livelihoods. Workers who possessed no skills are today employed as masons, metalworkers and painters. Those previously dismissed as illiterate can today read technical drawings. Masons habituated to infilling walls now understand the science of masonry and are empowered to establish themselves as independent contractors. Specialist tradesmen such as carpenters and stoneworkers are now undertaking lucrative, professional contracts.

This ethical and developmental approach to construction regularly attracted numerous visitors including the United Nations Environment Programme (who consider Sharanam to be one of the top five green buildings of India), the World Bank, government agencies, corporate houses undertaking CSR projects, local NGOs as well as international architects, engineers and student groups.

architect jateen lad talking to a group of american students at sharanam pondicherry

Project: Sharanam Centre for Rural Development
Location: Pondicherry, India
Client: SARVAM, Sri Aurobindo Society
Funding Partner: Cadburys Schweppes Asia Pacific

Status: Completed
Size: 5 acres (20,200 sqm)

Architecture, Project Management & Construction Management: Jateen Lad
Project Assistants: Trupti Doshi, Chandranath Sinha
Head Masons: Bhaktawatchalam, Palani, Velmurugan