Mitti Lab, Karanjkhop (2026)

09/02/2023

Refurbishment of Uberdentellerand’s Kitchen hub in Linz, Austria.

[Part 1] Multi-purpose dias. Swipe to the end to see the ‘before’ of the facility.

Three weeks, a thousand euros and we, fourteen (averagely skilled by now) woodworkers (as students of ), were presented with a challenge of refurbishing the woodwork of an existing run-down ‘Kitchen hub’ facility for an NGO called ‘Über den Tellerrand.’

Über den Tellerrand is a German based nonprofit organization that enables, engages and works towards the integration of refugees in the society through food. The main focus of the organization is to have citizens and refugees live, work and cook together side by side, bringing together people from across the globe, through the exchange of varied cuisines and cultures.

The project was completely hands-on and the scope of design was organized into three main areas; design and building of a multi-purpose dias, a reading space and an open kitchen.

With limited resources of money, material and skilled manpower, we restructured the ‘design-build flow’ to respond to the constraints of the project. We would design as we kept building as a parallel process, constantly responding to the available materials and needs of the site.

It is not always, as makers, we are given a clean slate to begin with and sometimes, (we believe as in this context) it turned out to be in our favour. The project being low-cost, most of the material was sourced and repurposed from the existing furniture in the facility. The wood used in the construction of the ‘multi-purpose dias’ were taken down from old furniture and benches and was reorganized to suit the needs of the design.

In the pictures above, ‘multi-purpose dias’ functions as a performance space while also transforms into a table, creating a space for people to gather around.

Team alongside- Adrian, Juan and Alex.

08/02/2023

The design of the rural retreat 'Under the Coconut Tree' takes its roots from the traditional village architecture of Karanjkhop. Carefully blurring the line between private and public, clusters of cottages for guests are designed reminiscent of the shared spaces of community life in a rural area. Exterior spaces at the entrance of each cottage are manifested in the form of verandahs or porches, creating opportunities for encounters with one’s neighbors over evening tea. The production and the recycling unit is the cornerstone for the development of the concept of circularity within the site. It serves as a revenue generator, required to sustain partial needs of the retreat while also generating an income for the local villagers. Courtyards inspired from the vernacular houses of the village, serve as a space for training the locals for making natural soaps, toiletries and other products from the by-products produced by the coconut trees on site.

02/02/2023

Set in a small agricultural village of Karanjkhop in Maharashtra, ‘Under the coconut tree’ is a rural retreat conceptualized amidst a coconut grove. The project focuses on environmental and socio-cultural aspects of implementing an ecological design to complement the needs of the site while also generating employment and enriching the locals to be self-reliant to build their own houses with natural resources that are readily available.

The design takes its roots from the traditional village architecture of Karanjkhop. One enters through the reception area combined with a library that takes the form of a semi-open verandah space reflecting the character of spill out spaces in a typical village home. The herb garden allows all the visitors to cross paths with each other while having the chance to touch, smell and pick local herbs or spices; facilitating conversations to learn more about each other’s food and culture. An open community kitchen where one can cook together and also enjoy the local delicacies prepared by the local chef. On occasions, the open kitchen can host visitors for a ‘Horda’ party, a local festival that celebrates harvesting of jowar from the fields around. Carefully blurring the line between private and public, clusters of cottages for guests are designed reminiscent of the shared spaces of community life in a rural area. A production and recycling unit which is the cornerstone of the concept of circularity within the site, serves as a revenue generator, required to sustain partial needs of the retreat while generating an income for the local villagers.

04/01/2023

Listening, while the hands do the talking.

Conversations || Under the coconut tree

01/05/2021

| Labour Day |
It is our duty as architects to safeguard their rights.
It is our duty to voice our opinion when they are mistreated.
It is our duty to treat them right.
It is our duty to not allow for any kind of exploitation.
It is our duty to ensure a safe environment for them. Nothing that we imagine or draw can be manifested without their energy.

It’s not possible for them to work from home, please look out for their safety.

15/04/2021

Construction waste contributes largely to the overall landfill volumes. Using earth as one of the building materials not only reduces that load on the environment but also makes it a great recyclable resource.

One man’s waste can become another man’s resource which keeps the loop closed.

While doing resource study for our project, we came across this 800 year old mud structure being demolished.

These images were captured at the village of Karanjkhop in Satara where earth buildings, seen as ‘kuchha’ houses, are slowly dying. Most are being demolished to be rebuilt as a ‘pucca’ house.

The demolition waste comprised of the adobe mix and some fired bricks used in the recent years to repair small parts of the house.

How would we reuse it?
The idea would be to segregate the adobe mix from the rest and reuse it in our eco-resort.

22/03/2021

Set in a small agricultural village of Karanjkhop in Maharashtra, ‘Under the coconut tree’ is an eco-resort project comprising of twelve cottages, to be developed amidst a coconut grove.

Laying a strong emphasis on concepts of natural building and social sustainability, the project focuses on environmental and socio-cultural aspects of implementing an ecological design to complement the needs of the site while also generating employment and enriching the locals to be self-reliant to build their own houses with natural resources that are readily available.

Through this project we would be exploring two main questions:

1. What is the role of natural building practices in designs driven by a circular economy system in the specific case of Karanjkhop?

2. What would be the role and responsibility of us architects, in empowering and shaping the perception of the locals towards building sustainably with local and natural materials?

08/03/2021

Celebrating and breaking gender stereotypes with some of the glorious women we met from around the world during our journey. Together, we can push boundaries and become more resilient.

Happy International Women’s Day ✨

Tell us in the comments below, do you feel acknowledged or have you faced/been witness to any gender discrimination in the construction industry?👇

07/03/2021

𝘈𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥 ‘&𝘈𝘭𝘵’.

Our first design intervention together, this project embodies spaces that enable community empowerment through craft.

The facility aims to provide for the production of functional and ethical articles handcrafted by the disadvantaged communities of rural Tamil Nadu. It will serve as a place for training and empowering disabled and economically weaker individuals by uplifting them through employment generation.

03/03/2021

Exactly a year ago, the seeds were sown to pursue our vision together.
We had an opportunity to work on various projects through the Postgraduate Degree at in .
Anna’s () clay storming module, helped us discover a way to communicate through the material and our common aspirations and goals started to emerge. This convergence manifested into the beginning of

20/02/2021

A creative dialogue between two guts.

While designing a space for an Inclusive Craft Facility, we explored the medium of ‘Clay storming.’ The process allowed for freedom, believing our intuition and materialising ideas without judgements. The journey was a break-away from the rigid, conventional, rational methodologies of designing.
As a team of two, you would expect hours of discussions. However, to our surprise, we did communicate, a lot in fact, but only through our hands in complete absence of words.
We were presented with multiple possibilities and opportunities to explore as we allowed ourselves to surrender into trusting the process, the material and the self.

This, for us, was the biggest take away from this process of clay storming to take it forward into our practice.

Mitti Lab

09/02/2023

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02/02/2023

04/01/2023

01/05/2021

15/04/2021

22/03/2021

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20/02/2021

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