Kachra Mane（垃圾屋）丨印度班加罗尔

Kachra Mane

Frugal use of materials and space, makes total design sense

Cover Story, Recoup, reuse, survive, iDecorama magazine

To be Featured in OMG Yeh Mera India, History Channel

Living in Trash, Jayanthi Madhukar, Bangalore Mirror

Bangalore’s Greenest Homes, : Kachra Mane, House of Scrap

‘Kachra Mane’, The Bangalore Home Built Entirely Out of Trash

Kachra Mane

Type

Residential

City

Banglore, India

Built Up Area

1700 sq. Ft

Site

The Kachra Mane is an addition to an existing older house. Das, the owner of the house proudly calls it the Kachra Mane or Scrap house. The new addition sits lightly on the existing building and uses reused packaging pine wood to make the structure of the new house. The exterior ‘walls’ are of pinewood and glass which let in the light and air and make the outside come indoors. The roof structure follows this route and is lightweight [no concrete] wooden frame with corrugated bamboo matt board. The glass, much of the pinewood, furniture, lights, toilet fixtures are all salvaged material.

A home is a space that houses emotions and objects of its residents. The envelope has to a be a simple setting for all these but retain a gentle beauty and elegance. Whether the materials are new or old does not matter as much as how it is all put together to achieve the right setting. Aesthetics are just an elegant way of putting the building, space and things together to make the home. Reused materials have a story to tell, even if they look the same or a bit older. The window glass used may have been a part of a musicians 30 year old house, the chair may have come from a postman's home or maybe the wood came from volvo machine packing crates. Reused material has this story to tell. The new materials one used can tell a story in the future if they are recyclable or reuseable. This is the fourth dimension of architecture - mark of time. Clever design can make a recycled house more efficient, effective and elegant.

In such a place it is only natural to think of conduits as bringing the electricity from the sun [solar power] into our house. And the water that moves in the plumbing can be one that is recovered from the rain, toilets and kitchen. Harvesting rainwater, treating the kitchen sink, wash basin and tap water with a simple natural recycling system is now almost critical if we want to live in our cities. These are all easy to implement with a little planning and commitment.