Eugene Pandala

" It has been a great experience for me and my family to live in Bodhi, the house we
built in 1996. Bodhi is the space where I unwind after a tiresome trip or long day
at work. It was in 1995 that we decided to build a house for us. At that time, I was
working with the rural development sector. All these years I had seen poverty
and deprivation in the rural Kerala. Over a period of time, I kind of developed a
genuine dislike for all forms of extravagances. That prompted me to decide
against excessive spending on housing. What I had in mind was a carbon foot
minimizing house. Keeping this in mind I searched for an architect who adopts
technologies for building cost effective and energy efficient buildings. I learnt that
Eugene Pandala was adept at creating beautiful spaces that conform to principles
of ecological sustainability. My wife and I met Mr. Pandala and it was he who
suggested, even egged us on, to go in for a mud construction. In order to convince
us he made a stabilized mud block and immersed it in water in a tub, for days
together.
Construction of Bodhi started in the middle of 1995.Once the construction began,
it was amazing to see how the house evolved and what a creative architect could
do with the freedom and possibilities that mud construction offers. My two sons
enjoyed the process of playing with mud, molding different shapes out of mud
and in participating in the process of construction. Construction was completed
and we occupied the house by the end of 1996.This three- bed room house of
2500 sq. feet cost me about rupees six lakh in 1996. My wife and children have
seamlessly found their niche in the free- flowing architecture of the house. Mud
walls make the house cool in summer and warm in winter. As for me, I can see
sunrise, feel dusk falling and sunset from my reading room. Bodhi is one of the
best things that happened to me in my life. "