India is the second-largest producer of cement in the world. As of 2020, the country produces 509 million tones of cement annually. A total of 210 large-scale cement plants and 350 small-scale cement plants collectively produce this massive volume. Limestone, coal, and various earth minerals are extracted from nature to fuel this production. Machines are constantly digging up the soil, loading it into heavy vehicles and sending it to the cement plants. As a non-recyclable construction material, cement is a threat to nature and life on earth today in this situation…
“A house should be a place not only for humans but also for birds, wasps and many other harmless creatures that take shelter around it. I never felt that humaneness in the concrete buildings of the metropolis. The mud houses built by the common people in the villages bear that character. A building becomes a home when it is inhabited not only by man but also by other living beings…”
This is how architect Varun Thautam, describes his field of love. He completed his Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from IIT, Roorkee, Uttarakhand and his Master’s degree in ‘Rural Construction and Housing’ from McGill University in Canada. A wanderer around the world, he has designed earthen structures that are environmentally friendly, non-degrading, and blend seamlessly into various landscapes with utmost elegance.
For Varun Thautam, working with earth has been a deeply spiritual process. He finds no distinction between art, work, meditation and education while working with the earth. He loves travelling, learning, building, and teaching. He seeks to create opportunities for people to develop and build for themselves meaningfully. He is exploring approaches to abstract and integrate the teachings of preserved traditional cultures within a local context. By learning and synthesizing in a manner where a genuine, fresh and sustainable design can be achieved, he believes comfortable, cost-effective environments can be made that are in tune with the rhythms, shapes, processes and cycles of nature.
During the training camp for constructing the dome building at Cuckoo Forest School, architecture students from various parts of India stayed at the Forest School for ten days and received training under his guidance. Many young people who have been trained in this way are today building eco-friendly buildings in different parts of the world. In today’s environment where various data related to alternative architecture are analyzed and discussed, he acts as a master who quietly approaches architecture with its earth-based philosophy and spirituality.
On 22.04.20, at 9:00 AM, in Cuckoo Conversations Live Chat, architect Varun Thautam joined the discussion, showcasing how working with the earth can be an act of spirituality. Arvind Manokaran and Meenakshi Chandra, both passionately active in their careers, shared how a single meeting with him inspired them to pursue their chosen fields more enthusiastically. The session was an inspiring and insightful exchange, leaving participants motivated to find their own paths of meaningful work.