Trike - Vijay builds an indegenious Trike n Bangalore

Vijay, my long time friend has a passion for machines, to understand how machines work, to actually building some of the machines on his own.
His recent interest is 'Trike', basically a three wheeled Cycle. He has built one such trike in his workshop which now is successfully running on the roads of Bangalore.

Riding it is an experience in itself. One thing that was particularly of interest to me is the very fact that it starts to looking at the design of a peddle driven vehicles in a fresh light and new perspective.

This is essential in Indian context, where a large number of commuting is still carried out by peddle driven vehicles like Bicycles, Tricycle-rickshaws, Carts etc.

These vehicles are predominantly used by people from lower economic strata of society. Even though bicycle is perhaps most commonly used mode of transport till recently not much design work has been done on this form in India.

The same is true for Tricycle-rickshaw. Some work has been done on improvement and development of Peddle-driven Rickshaw at IIT-Delhi, IIT-Kanpur but nothing has made any dent.

Jabbarbhai, a Rickshaw-puller himself has done some very interesting work in development of design for Rickshaw, and is looking at taking the idea to lot more Rickshaw-pullers.

The work done by Vijay shows a way to address the design problem of peddle driven vehicles, this will probably inspire some further work by Vijay himself or others like him to do much needed work in the arena of vehicle design for peddle driven vehicles.

Mahatma - Innovation personified

Mahatma Gandhi - Spirit of Innovation personified
I always wonder what makes mahatma gandhi talked about, discussed, followed, abused (only privately) and admired across the nation, across continents and across cultural bounderies.
One thing which strikes me personaly about mahatma gandhi is his unquenching quest for fresh perspective and innovation in thinking for everything he encountered and sought to answer.

It can be issue of cast in India, idea of 'Swaraj' and 'Suraj', idea of principled resistance he could develop a take which was innovative in its content. It always brought in a fresh perspective on the issue and many times it could bring in multi-dimensional view points.

He probably is one leader changed the way people thought about politics, about the resistance and about many more things that touch our lives every day in-and-out.

To believe that he did no mistakes or did not fail on his various missions, which ranged from starting a vegetarian club in London to experiments in naturotherapy or therapy using only mud, is prepostorous to say the least.

What probably distinguished him from a lot many others of the same ilk, is his openness to innovate in the face of the situation and translate it into the action.

His strength lies not in thinking innovatively but to be able translate it into action which brought change.

The attempt on our blog from today onwards probably is to collate and collect many such instances from day-to-day lives of scores of many who are innovating and developing solutions which defy conventional wisdom and brings joy for those to whom it touches.

I invite you all to write about people, instances, situations and circumstances which gives insight into the sense of innovation and spirit of joy that resides within us all.

Independance Day reflections

15th August marks a very special day in the history of Modern India.

As for every other nation, now we as a nation too have a Birth-day and date to look forward to. It is important as far as its function in the national perspective is concerned. It helps us identify and relate with what is largely an intangible idea, the nation and the state.

With its history going as far back as 5000 BC, the recorded one, it would have been difficult otherwise to locate and place the India in the definition of 'Nation state' as is understood today by intellectuals, historians etc.

India is now largely been accepted as the nation which is not a result or a function of physical boundary, a belief in certain faith or political-ideological system, but an ephemeral, subconscious and intangible idea of interconnectedness at social-cultural and human plane.

Sometimes its very difficult to try and capture the very idea of India. Some of giants in intellectual and spiritual spheres who walked the land in late Nineteenth century and early Twentieth century like Vivekananda, Aurobindo and Gandhi provided the insights about the subconscious which flows through all of us and we call it 'Indian'.

Shri. Aurobindo who shares his Birthday with that of the birthday of modern India, provide us with a powerful insights and directions in which the India as a nation can lead in his views, writings and musings.

I take liberty in penning down the thoughts from Aurobindo's writings on 'A Call to the Youth of India',

"We must resume India's great interrupted endeavor; we must take up boldly and execute thoroughly in the individual and in the society, in the spiritual and in the mundane life, in philosophy and in religion, in art and literature, in thought, in political and economic and social formulations the full and unlimited sense of her highest spirit and knowledge. ............... only we need to work out thoroughly in life what we have always known in the spirit. There and nowhere else lies the secret of the needed harmony between the essential meaning of our past culture and the environmental requirements of our future."

A Call to the Youth of India, Shri. Aurobindo

Center for Crafts in Architecture

The idea which is being passionately developed and promoted with KB Jinan at the helm is gaining movementum.

I have had the opportunity to participate in one of the meetings that discussed various aspects of the concept and proposal in some detail, at chennai.
For me as a person and Wonder Grass as an organization there would be lot to learn from and understand tha broader context of 'Work', the craft and the artisan as part of india's socio-cultural-economic fabric.
The attempt 'Center for crafts in architecture' is probably an initiative that strives to reinvent the role artisan and craft had in the melieu of Indian social-fabric.
The number of individuals who are interested and want this initiative to take-off is slwly growing and it is adding momentum to the whole process. The first such center is proposed to be started near Visakapattanam, AP.

Bamboo-Building Workshop at Peth
Developments and Future Plans

As Wonder Grass is growing in last few months, it was time for us expand the available infrastructure at our workshop at Peth, Nagpur.

There has been growing interest amongst various segments and prospective clients to use bamboo and bamboo based building systems for their future building-proposals. in the wake of which we need to build-up on our capacity in terms of Human resource and infrastructure to meet the demands.

In the last month we have added three structures to our existing workshop facility.

1. Storage shed for Raw-bamboo - 12' X 24' Semicovered shed
The expansion includes new storage shed for raw-bamboo. We now cae up-to 1000 raw-bamboo poles almost 24 feet long.



2. Kitchen and dining - 16' X 8'
The shed was added on the southern side of existing structure to be used as kitchen and dining place.

3. Semi-open working space: 14' X 24'
We extended the workshop in front in the form of semi-covered area which is like a veranada.

4. Storage shed for Treated bamboo: 15' X 20'
We have also started building a seperate building for storing treated bamboo and also to store completed Ready-to-assemble kits. The work is underway.

The center ar Peth is evolving and growing a bit organically. we are working on what the center at peth should eventually evolve as.

On of the idea is to develop it as a Recourse Center for Bamboo.

If someone has any ideas as to how this center should be, what all it should include, offer etc, do write in.

10 Years and 1000 bamboo saplings............
(11th June, 1998 to 11th June 2008)
Today we fondly remember our Baba Vinoo Kaley, as his soul departed from his body on 11th June 1998.

So for the man who loved bamboo and worked tirelessly for bamboo-artisan community, what else could bring a joy and a child-like smile but a 'Sankalp', a small gesture to plant and grow 1000 bamboo clumps. Our team at Wonder Grass and artisans have started the plantation from yesterday marking the 10th anniversary. Artisans Prashanth, Naresh bhau and Vasantha (farmer) have taken on the mantle to make sure that clumps will grow, and we shall spread the plantation of bamboo year-on-year. On this day, one more 'sankalpa' on our behalf is to get the 2nd print of 'Venu Bharati; A comprehensive Volume on Bamboo' out by Year-end. This is relatively a tougher challenge for us, but we will see how we can make this possible. probably all we need is a monitory funding or some investment. We need something like Rs. 5,00,000/- (Rs. Five Lakh). We are sure that we will be able to generate enough support and financial input to make this possible. If anyone is interested in, do get in touch with us. To mark the day, what else could summerize what bamboo meant for Vinoo, but KT's lines

”Some how Vinoo Kaley was much like his favorite bamboo, with great tensile strength in his inner fiber and at once delicate, supple and responsive to nature. Vinoo was the breath in bamboo without which it does not sing. The task is to keep that flute singing.”
Prof KT Ravindran, A+D, November 1998.

Design and Development of a Prefabricated Modular structural system

The month of April and May saw hectic work schedules, we were neck-dip in implementing three projects simultaniously located in three different locations.

As we approach May-end we are quite well placed in the sense that we have completed all the three projects, namely

1. Addition of Roof structure for a farm-house at Jain farms, Bagluru. The structure has come out very interesting and we have been able to achieve a consistent quality.

2. Terrace Top extension at Pent-house near Whitefield, Bangalore.

Interesting outcome of this project has been the details we could develop in terms joinary and junctions. we have evolved it as a building system. Most of the components were prefab and assembled on site with the help of these systems.

The project at T-Zed has given us the take-off pint to develop a prefab system that we were working on for a long time. This project in a way has become testing ground to see what problems of assembly we face when system is sent on site.

As a follow on from here, we are working on a complete module of a self-standing unit of 8' X 12', which can be repeated in one direction.

Bamboo and its applications in Building industry

A lot has been written, speculated and now being experimented on for using bamboo for construction and structural applications.

At Wonder Grass, we are convinced that bamboo indeed has a potential to emerge as one of the key building materials in the near future. The conviction sure has brought us a long way, what we need is to make the best of the opportunities we find ourselves in.

This conviction needs to be corroborated in terms of number. Numbers which will talk of the requirements of buildings and structures for various types and kind across the sector. Numbers alone will help us understand the nature and scale of demand in present and for future.

These will substantiate our belief and help us make our case strong.

The task now is to collect, document and compile data that will help us correctly gauge the requirement in building industry and start developing solutions and services that would fulfill the existing gap in supply-demand scenario of building industry.

Making a claim that conceret, steel or brick should be replaced by bamboo, is not practical nor desirable. Every material resource has its role to play and should be used to its optimum potential.

Somehow bamboo missed the train of modern-contemporary explorations as building systems. It has been relegated into the margins of building industry, rather it never entered into the mainstream of modern building industry.

With the global environmental crisis becoming a serious threat to continued ecological existance, it is but natural for us to turn our focus to materials and resources which are sustainable in nature.

Bamboo, is an amazing gift for Indian subcontinent. It is fastest regenerating plant, available in ready-to-use timber form, At Wonder Grass our efforts are to come out with solutions which can at the best compliment the wonder that bamboo is.

Current projects at Wonder Grass:
1. Full-Bamboo screen at Anand Niketan school, Ahmedabad.
client: Anand Niketan school, Architect: Ar. Surya Kakani and associates
Site: ahmedabad
project cost:
Phase I: 2.15 lakhs
Phase II: 1.35 lakhs

Brief: First phase of the project to erect bamboo screens on the south-west wall of the school building complleted in February. The second phase to complete the remianing part of th wall is under progress.

2. Supply of treated and seasoned bamboo for a Resort under construction at Coorg.
client: BCIL, Bangalore Architect: Design Cell, BCIL (Bangalore)
Site: Village Kopatti, Madikeri,
Project cost: approx. 2500 bamboo's at Rs. 6.5 Lakhs

Brief: We are supplying treated and seasoned bamboo for a construction or Eco-resort under construction in rain-forest patch of coorg. First batch of 600 bamboo's have been delivered and the second batch of 800 bamboo would be delivered in the next two weeks.

3. Farm house renovation for shri. NS Raghavan,
client: shri. NS Rahgavan Architect: Ar. Nilay Pataliya
site: Jain famrs, Bagaluru (nr. Hosur)
project value: Rs. 5 lakh.

Brief: To design and implement a roofing structure for a farm-house at Jain farms, Bagluru. The purpose pf the bamboo roof which will be erected above existing roof is to cut-down on excessive light and heat that comes through the existing polycarbonate roof over Living area and Dining area.

current status: The work on panels for started. Design and detailing for large span beams underway.

Road ahead:
1. We are working on the design and development of a 'Ready-to-assemble' structure which would be ideal as makeshift or temporary dwelling units, for various applications.

Workshop with students of Holon Institute of Technology, Tel-Aviv

It was a wonderful experience working together with the participants of the workshop organized by Holon Institute of Technology, Holon, Israel.

It was my honour to be invited by the institute to conduct the workshop and introduce bamboo, as a material for sustainable future for designers, coming from three different streams mainsly Product design, Industrial design and Interior design.

The workshop was a 7-day long event and i think it was a good idea to make this workshop a week-long event, this gives participants time to understand the materials and explore its potential.

Participants, which included students of the 3rd and 4th year also had some faculty members working along with the students.

Participants did come up with some really interesting ideas, considering it was probably for the first time most of them had a chance to really work with the bamboo.

Somre more pictures shall follow soon.