About
KumaonBuild is an initiative focused on bringing the Kumaoni village into the 21st century without imperiling its heritage, drawing on the strengths of its existing knowledge systems and skills.
KumaonBuild seeks to work with rural communities
Building to support local building craft by building a network of patronage that uses ‘outsiders’; to conserve the region’s built heritage in a relevant and meaningful manner;
Sustainable to build climate resilience and undertake environmentally sensitive interventions; and,
Livelihoods to empower families by supplementing the household income.
The projects under the KumaonBuild umbrella too, seek to create self sufficient, closed-loop cycles that weave together building, sustainability and livelihood to ultimately create strong rural communities and resilient habitats.
An Initiative Of
SpaceMatters is working to promote sustainable building strategies aimed at strengthening the assets of rural mountain communities in the Kumaon region of the Uttarakhand Himalayas. Known as the ‘DevBhoomi’ or the 'Abode of Gods', this region is blessed with rare beauty and natural resources, and is also home to unique cultural traditions that attracts people from the world over. In recent years, traditional building skills have been rapidly disappearing, leading to loss of cultural resources and livelihoods. Moreover, the newer construction practices overwhelmingly pose environmental and physical threats in these disaster prone areas. Our projects aim at intersecting settlement planning and built practices with access to livelihood, promotion of cultural heritage and innovation in low cost, scalable and sustainable building practices. Architects, product designers, infrastructure planners, social entrepreneurs and professionals from other related disciplines are welcome to partner in our efforts.
Our team of architects is based in New Delhi.
Collaborators
Aarohi is a not-for-profit grassroots organization, involved in integrated rural development in the Central Himalayan region of Uttarakhand. Their mission is to create opportunities for development of rural Himalayan communities through quality health care and education, promote enterprise, sustainable use of natural resource, and the revival of traditional culture.
Alaap is a social enterprise working towards a future where nature and people thrive in harmony. Embedded within the communities and forests of Uttarakhand’s Kumaon region, Alaap works on native forest creation through enterprise and community leadership.