‘Koé’ (pronounced kho-a ) is a philosophy in mud; the philosophy of a peaceful state of mind where balance exists between man and nature. Koé is an idea that was conceived by a nine-year-old, Jamie Rowland. Jamie is the son of Richard Rowland, a self-taught French architect, who is on a mission to show the world that “all that you need to build a house is to be found beneath your feet.”
‘Atelier Koé,’ the venture that Richard co-founded with young French architect Hippolyte Gilabert, in 2013, aims at crafting low cost, self-sustainable, eco-friendly mud buildings, built the old way, mainly using soil and water, which are obtained from the construction site itself, thus evoking the philosophy of Koé.
In 2008, Richard and his wife, Ellen, along with the then four-year-old Jamie and daughter, three-year-old Sunny, decided to leave the United States (U.S.) and move to N’Gaparao, Senegal, in search of greener pastures. They wanted to try something new, something comparatively cheaper and a life that’s truly one with nature. Today they live in Keur Leah, an off-the-grid, self-sustainable, eco-friendly mud house, named after their late friend Leah ( keur , in Wolof language, means ‘home’ or ‘heart’), which was constructed with help of the local people. It uses wind turbine for power generation and has a special system for water conservation. “It has been an absolutely life-changing experience. We turned a barren piece of land into something that sustains life with the help of sun and wind,” says Richard, who was here in the city to speak about sustainable architecture at Alliance Française de Trivandrum.
For Richard, architecture is life. He’s been around construction activities from the time he was a child and sustainable architecture is now his passion. He’s been designing and building houses in France, Portugal and Caribbean since 1986. In 1997 he moved to the U.S. and that is where his obsession with mud began. After working there for several years, Richard, a connoisseur of sustainable architecture, got fed up with what he calls “extremely costly” sustainable projects that was being constructed in the U.S. “It was a philosophical dead-end for me. I wanted to prove that sustainable architecture can be cheap, simple stylish and humanistic and not high-end works meant only for the super rich,” says Richard. The thought drove him to read extensively about ancient construction practices. “I found a treasure trove of information about mud architecture in Africa and other parts of the world. I realised that we had abandoned all that wonderful knowledge in the last couple of centuries to embrace the ecologically harmful practice of cement-based construction,” he explains.
Why would humanity abandon a way of life that has served us and the planet so well for thousands of years, all to adopt an artificial one founded on concrete? That is what confuses Richard. “The longevity of concrete houses is on 70 to 80 years. But a properly maintained earthen house, can survive for hundreds of years,” he says.
Atelier Koé uses ‘rammed Earth’, an ancient construction technique. Planning, design and construction is based on several verticals such as topography, climate, sun exposure and amount of rainfall in the location. “It is not like you buy a land, build a house and start living there. You and the house are intruders in the environment. We plan the buildings in such a way that they cause minimal interference to the surroundings. We try to do our work in tune with nature. This helps us to create harmony even in most hostile of conditions,” explains Richard.
He cites the example of their Al Hamra project in Senegal. It is a chic, spacious house designed for open hospitality, with 12 metre wind towers circulating fresh air all year round. Clément Dagneaux, the other partner of the firm, explains further. “Somewhere along the way, the simplicity that was part of our architecture and construction got lost. We want to bring that aspect back through Atelier Koé. We also want to share this information and make people aware of this type of architecture.”
Atelier Koé is already training workers who are part of their projects, in the different methods involved in the construction and thus hopes to develop a community that can build their own shelters sans outside help.
Back to basics in the city
Richard, along with his family, and Clément were in India for a vacation-cum-site visit. Mahesh Nair, who runs a company in Technopark, has employed Atelier Koé to construct a house in the city. “The amount and quality of soil that you have here is great. We also try and incorporate local crafts and vegetation too into the design. The diversity you have here is incredible. It is similar to Senegal but much better,” says Richard. If all goes well, ‘Atelier Koé’ hopes to begin the work of Mahesh’s project after this year’s monsoon.
