Project Report
| Jul 4, 2025
Cooling without AC
Here's a report of several months.
- 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).
- 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!
- 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.
- 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).
- 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/
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- 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.
- 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.
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