Caring for Cured Creating a Place in the Sun
Chitradeep Sengupta

Introduction

In society, leprosy is dreaded and the people with the affliction are generally shunned.  Leprosy is completely curable, but the cured may undergo some mutiliation of flesh during the period of suffering and is considered to be a burnt out case and carries a stigma on him. They live mostly in organised colonies and are shut out from giving of the best of many of their productive years.  But, some progressive, humanitarian organisations exist as conscience keepers who strive to provide a clean living and work place for people to lead a fruitful life in pursuit of a vocation.  One such organisation is Sarthak Manav Kushtashram, Jaipur.

A decade ago, some members of Club Nomades, a charity in France visited SMK at Jaipur and wanted to extend support to a good cause by building a rehabilitation centre for the leprosy patients.

After Club Nomades managed to raise funds for this rehabilitation project, Dominique P. Amiel, one of the vice presidents of Club Nomades, and an architect working in France, worked and created the design concept for this institution.

Dominique was aware of the cost effective mud blocks made by Development Alternatives and the Auroville Building Centre.

It was he who suggested that SMK could approach D.A. on this matter of constructing the centre using mud blocks which were both cost-effective and natural materials.

Objectives of the Project

This rehabilitation cum training centre for Leprosy Patients was to function as a place, to live in, work and learn. The patients were to come here and get trained in the skills of making incense sticks, corrugated boxes and operate flour mills.

Space Plan

It was proposed to have the following spaces:

Location

This project site was located between the scenic Ramgarh lake and Jaipur, approx. 12 Km from the Jaipur-Delhi Highway on the road to Ramgarh.

Tara Nirman Kendra’s Role

TNK was inducted into this project for provision of complementary drawings to the contractor on the basis of sketches and drawings sent by the Architect and to function as project managers for the site work.

TNK was especially selected because of the knowledge and experience in the field of appropriate technologies.

The association of the TNK was also predicated by Architects especially wanting vaulted structures and the compressed earth blocks.

TNK’s Stake in the Project

The design concept was unorthodox. It sought to create 32 vaults with CEBs instead of RCC for roofing.  Rat-trap bond walls in place of brick masonry appeared to be for rediscovery of traditions and implementation of current alternative building methodology.  The other spin-off from this project was enhancement of management capacity and documentation of learning experiences.

Project Partners

Layout & Design: Dominique P. Amiel,

Fund raising : Club Nomades, France

Local NGO : Sarthak Manav Kushtashram

Project Manager : Tara Nirman Kendra
 

Layout

Layout of the buildings was (except two workshops) symmetrically  placed on both sides of the main access road and pathway called the ‘Hope Alley’.

The workshops are placed first to provide space for work cum training area to start with.Next is the Guest House complex which houses the office of the complex, and the restaurant and shops on the ground floor. The Guest house itself is on the first floor which also has the accommodation for the Manager of the complex.

The vaulted corridor connecting the twin blocks of the Guest House is one of the first curved roofed structure that is seen as one enters the site. This is the Hope Gate. This is the gate to ‘Hope’ and it is a transition from the work areas in the front to the accommodation area at the back.

The 8 clusters of accommodation are placed around two rectangular gardens on both sides of the Hope Alley.

The Community blocks are adjusted within two of these clusters.

Technology Options for Construction

Unfortunately for the project, soil tests reported that the soil was silty-fine sand soil with a very minor proportion of clay. Due to this the use of SCEBs (Stabilised Compressed Earth Blocks) was abandoned.

However, the masonry structures still were to be built, now with burnt bricks. These masonry structures like Rat-trap Bond Walls, and Vaulted Roofing are climatologically effective in the sense that they keep the rooms cool in the hot Rajasthan summers.

At a later stage, when the design was being frozen and finalised, it was mutually agreed between TNK and SMK to provide domes of about 5.62m diameter to two clusters of buildings, viz, the Community Kitchen and Dining Hall and the multi-purpose Community Hall.  TNK agreed to provide training to the masons on this highly specialised technique.

As is the case with any project of long term  nature, some changes were required by the clients. This resulted in an increase in the floor area of construction from  approximately 1000sqm to 1500 sqm. With increase in the consultancy work by us as well as the types of works to be done by the contractor additional cost of construction was inevitable.
 

Construction of Vaults

TNK’s target was to train the contractor’s masons in order to construct vaults approx. 7.5m x 3.5m, i.e., 630 sqm of vault construction

Bricks used were better than those used for walls. These were better in terms of sizes, strength as well as porosity.

The mortar mix was varied from 1:4 to1:1½ C:S.

Speed of construction was 1m per mould per day which meant that an optimum length of the farma or the form work for the vaults would be 1m and the actual length of vaults constructed would depend upon the total no. of vaults. Since the site had 2 farmas, the speed of construction was approximately 2m per day.

Constant presence of TNK representatives helped in maintaining the quality of construction

The problem of the plaster cracking on the top surface of the vaults showed up. The solution was found in reinforcing the plastering using chicken mesh or any such material and doing the whole surface in one go.
 

Construction of Domes for Community Halls

TNK’s target was to train the contractor’s masons in order to construct 2 domes of centre line dia of 5.62m  each, each covering an area of 24.82 sqm.  The best quality bricks were used for the domes.

The mortar mix was varied from 1:4 to 1:1 C:S as compared to 1:1.5 for vaults.

The domes were however by far the most climatologically comfortable brick masonry item, even though they were relatively expensive.

Being a totally phanti dependent item which has to be laid carefully brick by brick, this takes  quite some time. After a period of 1 month, two domes 5.62m in dia (c/c) containing 23.65 cum of brick work were completed.

The continuous presence of TNK staff at the site, ensured that the dome construction by the masons was found to be by far the best work executed.

The other factor was that the skilled masons who had already worked on the vaulted roofing were used for this intricate work.
 

Conclusions Drawn and Lessons Learnt by the TNK Team 

The institutional learning for TNK is:

Conclusion 

For the TNK team, observing and supervising the successful construction of 32 vaults and domes was culmination of experiments that commenced months before the vaults and domes were actually constructed at site.  The participation in a process that is to give a meaning to life and creating ‘HOPE’ for the disadvantaged and almost discarded section of society was a cathartic experience.  It is not the ‘Hope Gate’ alone that stands symbolically, the vaults and domes too resonate strong echoes and vibrations spelling ‘HOPE’.  q

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