Tales from the construction site... and beyond... I

Client during the pooja

Before evert new construction starts, the owners and contractors usually perform a little Bhoomi Pooja. So on one such construction site of a project I am designing for, I clicked some photos of the client performing it. One of the rituals is cracking open a coconut on a stone or pavement. The Roofing contractor had two coconuts to crack: one for the machinery and another for the construction material. The client cracked the coconut for the machinery, and I was asked to do the same for the material stock. 

I clicked some photos of the client cracking open the coconut in one go... And the contractor clicked some of mine, while I was having a go at the other coconut.

As I showed these photos to my folks individually, all of them had the same question to ask me:

"Did you manage to break open the coconut?"

All three of them... it was crazy!

I managed to crack the coconut open with the second blow... 

Up and Coming!

Recent photos from an ongoing residential project at Sonala village in Wada, Thane District.

The site is located within the Warli heartlands. It's a load bearing structure with a foundation and retaining wall in black trap stone and superstructure using local brick. The structure will be kept exposed from outside with recessed pointing for the brick and stone masonry.

The ridge level of the sloping steel roof is at 18' from the floor. As warm air rises up from the ground level, it flows out from the brick ventilators above the windows, thus ensuring constant air circulation from the windows at lower level.

These beams are cantilevered on the other side for a wooden deck facing a splendid view of fields and the Sonala village beyond.

The roof is being made using structural steel tubes and traditional Mangalore clay tiles.