Construction to Combat Climate Change

Dear friends,

To follow up last week’s report:

1. BITS DESIGN UNIVERSITY STUDENT BLOGS
   
   I had mentioned that the students from BITS Design University in Mumbai were required to write blogs on their experience of their “Community Project” or volunteering experience.  Here are the links to what each of them wrote about their experience and insights gained from their three weeks spent with us at the Auroville Language Lab.
   
   Riddhi: https://medium.com/@rsonekar12/listening-beyond-words-786751ac4bfd
   
   Srividhya: https://medium.com/@srividhyas1312/built-from-the-ground-up-dc79d686978d
   
   Aarushi: https://medium.com/@aarushipranavi29/higher-frequencies-3cafc923f50c
   
   Kayna: https://medium.com/@addesaikayna/between-light-language-and-learning-a-walkthrough-81c9d2efb292
   
   
   
2. THE BUILDING DATA MONITORING PROJECT
   
   There have been two studies already on the temperature and humidity performance data of our building.  One was done in 2019 with students from a German company called Transolar.  (Linked in earlier reports). Another was done concomitantly, and its results were published in Elsevier’s Building and Environment magazine:
   
   Doctor-Pingel, M., Vardhan, V., Manu, S., Brager, G., & Rawal, R. (2019). A study of indoor thermal parameters for naturally ventilated occupied buildings in the warm-humid climate of southern India. Building and Environment. Elsevier.
   
   https://adk.elsevierpure.com/files/61400314/AMPS_Proceedings_9_Living_and_Sustainability_1_1_.pdf
   
   It’s been six years since then, so we wanted to do another study to see what the data throws up now.
   
   We borrowed 11 Hobo Data Loggers from the Centre for Scientific Research (CSR), Auroville, and revived our own 6 Elitech sensors, which we had acquired in 2019.  A young volunteer, Ambar Banerjee, from Calcutta, helped Mano to set these up. We followed the same placement map as before.  Mano trained Ambar in how to download the data (since our building is free of wireless signal, this has to be done manually), and we have started monitoring again. Ramesh from our team also worked on the visual presentation of the data and even wrote an app that has many possibilities for data analysis. Attached is the first visual comparing the surface temperature outside our mediatheque and inside.
   

   What this shows is a comparison between the Surface temperature outside the building on the outside wall of the Mediatheque, and the surface temperature on the wall inside the Mediatheque.  The orange line shows the temperature of the outside wall.

   What you can see is that at night the temperature outside falls, and then it rises to a peak when the sunlight hitting it is at a peak.  So you see these enormous fluctuations in the temperature. Whereas, on the inside of the building, the blue line shows a constant temperature.

   The inside temperature shows a constant temperature staying between 29 and 30 degrees centigrade, whereas the outside surface temperature is going up to 38, 39, and almost 40 degrees! (Yes, 30 is high, but remember that we have not finished our cooling towers, and many of our inlet air shafts and the majority of our outlet shafts. It’s actually a very good result given that fact.
   
   

3. CALL FOR SUPPORT
   

   It would be great to get some support specifically for the building monitoring project as we go along. It’s time-consuming on top of our daily work and needs a dedicated person to do it.

   We also need support for another person focused on the building book knowledge-share. One person has been dedicated to this, but meeting these additional costs through our regular activities, is really very tough.

   It would also be great to have an admin person who could help with documentation, report writing, fundraising, and project management.

   So please do consider making another donation to the project on GlobalGiving’s Bonus Day, July 16th (9am Eastern US time to midnight). (Do make sure to find the equivalent time in your time zone). All donations made on that day will be eligible for Incentive Funds from GlobalGiving, so that you can extend your impact.

   In case it is at all possible to make a recurring donation, that would be fabulous. Please spread our link and the word to your friends, family, colleagues etc.
   
   https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/construction-to-combat-climate-change/

   We would be so grateful and would put it to excellent use, and this time we promise to write more often!

   11th July 2025

   
   
   

Links:

• The Building Page on our Website
• Video on our building (28 mins)

Here's a report of several months.

1. Our building works!  
   Even at 38 degrees (feels like 42) Celsius, we're fine inside with just fans.  No AC. 
   (Except in the Server room. There we need to run the AC more than we are doing).
   
   
2. Kushboo's back after her long maternity leave!  
   We are goo-goo gaa-gaa over the little bundle of joy. It’s so wonderful to have a one-year old around. She sits and plays in the Tomatis Children’s room and is starting to walk.  And she’s already making her presence felt with the kids!
   
   
3. Two more outlet air shafts with extractors finished!  And they look gorgeous!  
   They remove hot air from the building mechanically, without any additional electrical load.   The first two were on the East Side, and the second two are on the West, which necessitated implementing design changes. The way the extractors fit on the shafts, and the metal used for the shafts was changed.  We tried to improve the design details while reducing the costs.  (See attached comparison document in Indian Rupees).
   
   We also bought the polycarbonate sheets and hot air extractors/wind ventilators for making two more air outlet shafts, as well as the parapet reinforcement for the entire west side, to make the west-side shafts cyclone-resistant.
   
   
4. Our building team is fantastic!
   They are part of our core staff with all benefits. Tapas directs every single aspect of the building work in addition to overseeing our Tomatis work and the direction of the project as a whole.  As a result, the building work is done with a lot of care, consciousness, listening, and respect. Tapas involves the workers and creates buy-in and involvement. (See photo of her explaining the cooling tower design).
   
   
5. Roof Repair and Probiotics used
   There’s been a long-standing issue dating from the construction of our first floor roof, which means that our roof needed repair.  The shaft work necessitated the speeding up of the roof repair and the laying of the cool-roof tiles (see next point).  We used a special probiotics powder along with a water-based, waterproofing agent. If water seeps in, the bacteria in the probiotics mix activate and produce lime, which seals the cracks.  This is the same principle at the Biocrete or “Self-Healing concrete” from the Netherlands.
   - https://www.tudelft.nl/en/innovation-impact/pioneering-tech/articles/the-enormous-potential-of-self-healing-bio-concrete
   - https://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/14/tech/bioconcrete-delft-jonkers/
   
6. Cool-Roof Tiles
   We managed to lay 2750 square feet of these special white, locally produced tiles, which are an excellent sealing and insulation layer.  An equivalent amount still remains to be done (we have a huge roof!).  It’s remarkable; now we can walk barefeet on these tiles even at noon.
   
   
7. Goods Lift
   Having received some unexpected donations, after a lot of market research, we identified and installed a goods lift for a great price.  It’s a huge labour-saver for the workers who otherwise had to work really hard with a pulley system to raise construction materials to the roof.  This really helped for the tile-laying and also transporting the assembled shafts.  It’s also opened out the first floor to anyone in a wheelchair. Work on protecting it is almost over, and that includes a safety parapet to exit the building in emergencies
8. Repairing with Jute
   Monetarily, it’s practically nothing, but what an incredible tool! Bee Rowan, the President of the UK Straw Bale Association and a good friend, had shown us how to use jute as a reinforcement for jointing lime.  So Selvam and Kadhir of the building team have been doing that to repair the damage caused by lifting construction materials to the top using the pulley, and some other place where the lime needed repair.
   
   
9. Preparing the future Cafeteria
   Any university/college has a cafeteria, and our building has been designed with one.  It’s one of the unfinished parts. Preparation for the cafeteria started, with Tapas mulling over the interior design and purchase of a machine for wood work which will enable us to use all the old wood we managed to save when our house was demolished.
   
   
10. Cooling Tower Preparation starts
    The key element of our system of cooling-without-AC are three cooling towers, two on the south side and one on the east.  Tapas started to detail the actual manifestation of the architect’s drawings. As you saw in the Shaft preparation video (previous reports), every new step of construction involves a lot of details. In what might be a first for construction in these parts, she used our main classroom to project the tower drawings and explain to the building workers team about the “pizzas” which will hold the dessicant material, and the micronisers and fans followed by the wind vents. We have been researching some related topics such as use of Wind vents in Iran, and ways to strengthen lime construction.
    
    
11. Miscellaneous Work
    We bought an energy-saving pressure-booster pump for cleaning of the solar panels, and creation of green walls with curtain plants on the north and east sides.  We also constantly take care of the building and do sundry repair and maintenance works throughout. It is already eight years since we have been using it!
    
    
12. BITS Design University Mumbai Students for Community Project
    We were very happy to receive four women students – Riddhi, Srividhya, Aarushi and Kayna - from an excellent university in Mumbai for 3 weeks in end-May and early June for their community project.  All had an excellent experience and it was lovely to have them. We miss them! Each of them was touched enough to want to continue to volunteer from afar and continue projects they started with the Lab.  We’ll share their work with you soon.
    
    
13. Nice Comments on the Building 

• David Gillcrist : Retired Executive Director of Project FIND, a charity in NYC.  He watched our building film and said it was “extraordinary.” He also said that we are “blazing trails by integrating holistically so many different architectural and environmental strands.”
• Naomi Darling : Five College Associate Professor of Sustainable Architecture, Mount Holyoke College // University of Massachusetts, Amherst
  "What an amazing project!"And “I think an online event this coming year with our students would be wonderful."
• Lea Celestial, Affordable Housing+Equity Manager, Living Future Institute
  “Your project in Auroville is really impressive, and in many ways it is well-aligned with the regenerative principles we try to promote at Living Future. We'd love to invite you to submit a proposal for our annual Living Future Conference, which will be held in the spring of 2026.”

A Final Note

How is it even possible that we’re not just surviving but thriving in our building — without any air-conditioning — in 100.4°F (feels like 107.6°F) heat?

 Please stop and think about that.

 In the U.S., this level of heat would trigger health warnings. In parts of France, it was 102.2°F just yesterday. And yet, we’re cool and comfortable inside our building, thanks to passive design and our (partially complete) cooling-without-AC system.

Maybe it’s time the Global North looked to the Global South — and to projects like ours — for smart, climate-resilient ways to stay comfortable without burning huge amounts of energy. We’re showing it’s possible to keep people cool without heating up the planet.

Building operations alone are responsible for a staggering 26–28% of global CO emissions. If we’re serious about climate action, this is where real change begins.

Thank you for being part of that change.

Because of you, we’ve built more than just walls and roofs. We’ve built a living example — one that offers a real, replicable alternative for the world.

We’re deeply grateful.

Mita and Tapas, and the Auroville Language Lab Team.

P.S.: Pictures will follow in a few days!

Please spread the word — share our GlobalGiving page widely with anyone who cares about climate, equity, and innovation. And please consider giving again on July 16th, a GlobalGiving Bonus Day. Donations between $100 and $1,000 will receive bonus funds, letting your gift go even further.

Links:

• Building Page on our new website
• Videos and Images

• Photo Collage June 2025 (PDF)
  
• Final Shaft Cost Comparison June 2025 (PDF)