: This Unique Mud Hotel Harvests Rain, Has No ACs Runs on the Sun #IndiaNEWS #Architecture Welcome to the 21st year of the 21st century, where many businesses and individuals are focusing on operating

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This Unique Mud Hotel Harvests Rain, Has No ACs Runs on the Sun #IndiaNEWS #Architecture
Welcome to the 21st year of the 21st century, where many businesses and individuals are focusing on operating buildings in an eco-friendly manner by using solar energy or reducing water usage through Rainwater Harvesting (RWH) systems. However, only a few are focused on following sustainable construction practices. According to reports, construction amounts to 30 per cent of air pollution in India
But, an eight-month-old Chikmagalur-based Sunyata Hotel is a building that has both — sustainable construction while its residents also use eco-friendly practices.
Spread across 16,000 square feet, the hotel was built using eco-friendly bricks made from scratch with minimal cement and concrete. They have installed solar panels to provide electricity, RWH systems to supply water, and earth tunnels to keep their premises cool.
“Most of the construction materials were sourced locally. The bricks for the structure were made on the site using mud sourced on our property, and from other places within a 15-mile radius. We also ensured that not one drop of water used on the premises went to waste,� says Lokesh Gunjanur (43), the owner of the hotel in an interview with The Better India.
Starting from scratch
Several years ago, Lokesh purchased an empty land in Chikmagalur, the town where he grew up, as an investment. Until 2017, he did not have a plan on what to do with it. But after learning about the town’s tourism booming, he decided to start a resort.
Lokesh Gunjanur, the founder of Sunyata hotel
“I wanted my hotel to be unique and in favour of the environment — not only in terms of the way it operated but also in terms of construction. I wanted to use materials that were not harmful to the environment. In the future, even if the building is being demolished, I wanted to ensure that the materials would become one with the earth again,� says Lokesh, who is a software engineer based in Miami, USA.
To do this, he approached Design Kutcheri, an architecture firm in Bengaluru and a young civil engineer named Punit Y, who was trained in Auroville. With their help, Lokesh was able to execute his dream project. The team designed the hotel and gave him suggestions on what would work on his site.
At first, the team began with making the bricks for the structure. This involved using the soil that was removed to level the ground, as well as gathering soil from locations within a 15-mile radius of his property.
“This was mixed along with less than 5 per cent each of limestone and cement, which was later baked into bricks. All the work was done on the property itself. To power the mixer and other equipment, we had solar panels installed to generate electricity.

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