On receiving messages from many people seeking the plan of my house, I promised to share it at the earliest. But six months have gone by since then. There are many reasons for the delay. The foremost is that I had to get it re-drawn. I did not have a copy of the plan with me, after having submitted the original to the panchayat. The house was designed by Sudhir. He is an artist, and we have been working together for the past 25 years. My aesthetic sense is not a highly developed one but Sudhir’s is. Although he has not undergone formal training in architecture, he has studied the subject on his own in an in-depth manner, and can design houses and manage issues related to it. That was the reason why I sought his services.
Another person has also helped me hugely. He is Madhu, my co-worker. By training, he is a mason. But when he tried to become a building contractor, he suffered financial losses. So, at one point of time, he was on the look-out for a job, and I was in need of someone who could help me with farming. He took my job offer, and has been with me through all my farming experiments and attempts at Miyawaki afforestation contributing greatly with his understanding of the land, aesthetic sense and practical thinking. Putting up a house here, in the middle of the Miyawaki forest, was actually his idea.
The plan was to have a low-cost house, built on a small scale. That was when Sudhir stepped in. His artistic sensibility is really commendable. He had done many cover designs for us, and has won several awards for his work. Alongside the utility value of the house, he was concerned about its aesthetics too. The appearance of the house was not an issue that bothered me much.
At the time of construction, the site was on an incline. Each of the corners sloped at different angles. Behind where I’m seated now, at that corner, the land sits 12 feet below the road. From that level, the area slopes further down 20-25 feet at the other end. All the corners are at varying heights. Therefore, a small portion had to be cut and levelled in order to construct this house. Sudhir’s plan was to minimize the levelling. So he carved out a portion from the front part of the site – where you see the plants grow – and removed the earth from there. The land behind the house was a very low lying area, dipping nearly eight feet. So the foundation of the house is two-and-a-half feet high at one end. These two sides have two-and-a-half foot tall foundation, and on this side, we built a taller foundation, which made it 10.5 feet in height. In this manner, we prepared a level ground, raising the height of the ground at one end and retaining the same level at the other. So Sudhir planned the site by inflicting minimum damage to the area.
However, one of the regrets he has is that in raising the ground level on this side, we overlooked the possibility of having a cellar, as many old houses have. Here, instead of stepping down into the cellar, actually speaking, with the house standing at this height, we could have fixed a door from outside, and just walked into the cellar. So we lost a space that could have been used profitably.
Of the total floor area of 1,000 sq. ft, 450 sq. ft is used for rooms and 550 sq. ft for the veranda. There are only two rooms inside, besides a kitchen, a dining space, a bathroom and a toilet. The bathroom and the toilet are separate and not attached to any room. The benefit is that when one person occupies the toilet, another can use the bathroom. We had not planned this dining space originally. Later, in order to create some additional space, we had to design a projection like a bay window, jutting out from the house, and accommodate a bench there. The upper portion lies vacant, with a net and grille fixed there. Now, regarding the height of the house. We have used portions of an old house in this construction. But as they were not tall enough – only eight feet in height – Sudhir built a three-foot wall below it. In fact, there is a three-foot half-wall all around the house, over which these wooden panels have been mounted. So the rooms are eleven feet high. We have used windows of an old house in this construction. The doors of the old house were small. That meant we had to bow our heads while crossing the threshold. So we fixed tall doors.
The bedroom size is 16 x 13 feet. The living room is 12.8 x 8.4 feet. The kitchen space is 9.6 x 5 feet. That was convenient but after we started using it, we felt it could have been more convenient with an extra 2 feet, that is 9.6 x 7 feet. If the room behind it had been made smaller, that would have given us room for shelves inside the kitchen, on the wall opposite the countertop. These are the general details of the plan of the house. In addition to this floor area, we have a two-foot deep and two-foot wide trough running all around the house. That takes up 350 sq. ft in area. It serves as a pool. The steps leading to the house have been so designed as not to be in contact with the house. This will prevent small creatures, like millipedes, from crawling inside. There is provision for letting out excess water – during the rains – from the pool.
There was one point where our choices did not coincide. We fixed the rain gutters using rectangular pipes. This was done when Sudhir was away. As it was raining, we chose the rectangular pipes and fixed them in a hurry. He wanted spherical rain gutters because they would be more aesthetically appealing.
One challenge we faced while constructing the house was regarding the pillars. We got them at competitive rates – Rs 2,500 per pillar. It usually doesn’t come so cheap. The problem we faced was that they were not tall enough. They were only six or seven feet tall. So we had to provide a three-foot base for each of them, using bricks. In the house that we had built earlier, we made concrete pillars and painted them so that they looked wooden. Readymade precast pillars are available in shops that sell building materials. So, if wooden pillars are not available, go for prefabricated concrete pillars. It was on my demand that this house was built with a single bedroom. Sudhir says it can be expanded to accommodate two bedrooms within the available 450 sq. ft space. We shall show you that design too. You may opt for it if you so wish.
However, what I wish to say is that before you construct a house, you must consult a person who has a very clear idea about house construction and designing. If you do, you will profit from the guidance given to you with regard to the financial aspect of the construction and the appearance of the house.