Making a house out of thermocol

This is a thermocol house, it has braved three monsoons and still stands unaffected," says a proud Manubhai, one of the three developers of the thermocol house.

"In 2002, we were inundated with a pile of styrofoam (thermocol) blocks from some sewing machines that we had bought. We decided to experiment with them," he adds.

"The idea was to make a prototype," says Anand Sarabhai of the Sarabhai Foundation in Ahmedabad under whom the three set out to work.

"We wanted to experiment with the blocks and look for people who could take the idea further and replicate it in newer locales," he says.

"We were amazed to see the result "" it was a 12-foot and 6-inches long; 9-foot and 9-inches wide; and 10-foot and 9-inches high room," say Mansukhbhai and Ramdas, the other partners.

"We placed blocks randomly in the form of a rectangle and started stacking one on to the other. There was a hole in all the blocks at the same place. We put iron rods through them and reinforced with cement," they say in unison.

A thin layer of plaster completed the walls though a triangular cut-out was deliberately left out to show that it was made up of waste packing material and not bricks or stone.

The completed room now stands out as a unit that has two doors and two windows, with two chunks of Jaisalmer stone as the floor. The ceiling is made of wooden logs that have been used as rafters and beams to give it both strength and beauty.

Sarabhai feels such experiments will suit earthquake prone areas well because even if houses break, the damage to people and property would be less. "The other major advantage is that because of its light weight, thermocol can be used to construct second-floor structures," he says.

Sarabhai is now talking to architects and designers to explore further possibilities of using piles of waste to produce economically viable and cheaper housing systems.

CSE/Down to Earth Feature Service