Master Plan Home APPENDIX Back to Auroville C.U.R.
 

1.8     HOUSING

 
     

     




1.8.1    The present housing in Auroville consists of individual dwellings, community housing, apartments and youth hostels. Community housing provides for individual and family living spaces with common kitchen and other collective facilities. The average household size is around 2 persons but in reality there are many single person households. At present there are 767 dwelling units of various sizes. Types of houses based on construction materials indicate that the majority of the houses have used local materials as well as innovative building materials such as ferrocement roofs and panels made locally. The housing characteristics are shown in Table 7.



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Table 7 : Housing Characteristics
Housing
Construction
Material
Area of Unit (sqm)
Total

30 - 70
80 - 150
160 and above

Local material
111
59
31
201
Ferro - cement
122
165
69
356
Tiles
56
70
20
146
Concrete
11
27
26
64

All types
300
321
146
767
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1.8.2    Since Auroville is experimenting with appropriate construction elements, wall materials vary widely from adobe, stabilised earth blocks and rammed earth to fired bricks. Auroville has even experimented with the 'fire bricks house' technique, where the entire structure is built in earth and fired like a kiln, producing a innovatively constructed house. The architecture here reflects the practice of innovative design and alternative building materials. The experiments made in building technology in Auroville will have far-reaching implications in terms of design and materials, of reduction in energy consumption, and adoption of eco-friendly practices.

 

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Earth - block construction

 

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