THE MATERIAL MATTERS
SHAHVEER IRANI 32 and AREEN ATTARI 31 Co-founders, Put Your Hands Together (PYHT), Mumbai www.pyht.org
It was in 2005 while studying at the Rizvi College of Architecture at Bandra, Mumbai, that Shahveer Irani and Areen Attari became friends. Their passion to work with alternative materials brought them toghether and Put Your Hands Together (PYHT), a bio-architecture firm that believes in designing with locally available natural materials was born in 2011. Their projects include homes, eco and agro resorts and public toilets for women. They talk about their work, inspiration and how to design sustainably.
THE IDEA BEHIND PYHT
Shahveer Irani (SI) We started by doing our own experiments over the weekends, building really small interventions. For example, we constructed a small gate using bamboo for my grandmother’s cottage in Dahanu, a coastal town in Palgarh district of Maharashtra.
BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE HOME
Areen Attari (AA) Use products that are made from natural materials, aren’t mass produced, but handmade by a local artisan. Different techniques of earth and lime plasters such as tadelakt are now becoming popular. Or use natural flooring such as rammed earth floors or terracotta tiles.
MATERIALS YOU WORK WITH
SI We work with materials that are available in and around the site. But in most cases, we use earth as a building material with techniques such as rammed earth, compressed stabilised earth blocks, wattle and daub and adobes to name a few. The other material we love is bamboo. It grows faster than it can be consumed.
PRICE on request (project-based)