Green architecture is invariably associated with local and natural materials, right orientation to facilitate abundant natural light and ventilation and design-tuned to address local climatic conditions. But, how about a resort built totally from discarded materials and salvaged waste? Sounds improbable? Perhaps not For, the Adithi Home Stay resort in the city of Belgaum has not only been built totally out of salvaged waste materials but has also come up in an abandoned stone quarry - the deep abyss left after mining of black stone filled by hundreds of truckloads of construction debris.

The eight-room resort resembles an enchanting oasis, with a thick set of trees, sprawling lawns and a large lagoon surrounded by picturesque rocks. According to Sanjay Kulkarni, the man behind this oasis, the eight acre of wasteland seemed a perfect place to create a resort with the expansive rock walls as a backdrop. And, it seemed fit to use only salvaged materials.

Thus emerged the rooms built from tiles, some of which were even broken, old discarded windows, doors, wooden planks, stones, bricks and whatever else that could be salvaged from demolition sites. Even the cafeteria and conference halls are built from waste, each designed to be in tune with nature.

Interestingly, with the buildings being carved out of waste, each reflects a different design and style based on what waste materials were used, the only common strain being their totally green structure. Thus, the room on the banks of the lagoon reflects a step back in time, the design emulating Kashmiri boat houses, with quaint windows, inclined wooden walls, tiled roofs and rugged wooden staircases.

BRINGING NATURE INSIDE

Yet another, built-to-access, 20-ft surface water well, which emerged from the water seeping from rocks on the site, reflects a totally different design. Again, housing waste materials in its structure, a picturesque room with its stunning patio overlooking the well has tailor birds incessantly building nests over the water body on the trees grown out of the flanking boulders. An antique set of seating built from discarded doors and windows adds to this picturesque charm, the serenity broken only by the endless chatter of birds.

The cafeteria is yet another stunning piece of innovative use of waste materials. While cement floors and a bamboo thatched roof mark the interiors, the open kitchen has an old world chula and chimney made from discarded bricks. The seating reveals the use of chipped tiles, while the tables have been fashioned out of discarded wooden logs, planks, doors and door frames.

Crowning all this is a quaint tree-house fashioned from discarded planks of wood, overlooking the serene teakwood tree-clustered meditation centre as well as the water body meandering its way through the resort.

While the buildings were built sans an architect, “with merely creativity and innovation resulting in the end product” as Kulkarni would like to state, even the enchanting lagoon is salvaged from the water seeping constantly from the rocks. The continuous seepage of water from the rocks around the site was channelled and made into a stream, with the natural swimming pool, too, filled with the filtered and treated water from the same source.

The resort not only appears totally in sync with nature in its rustic uncorrupted state, it also stands as an epitome of how waste can be salvaged and utilised in an arresting manner in tune with the aesthetics of the surroundings.

Source: The Hindu