On the Record — A House in Six Days

What’s the idea behind Full Fill Homes?

Full Fill Homes are low-cost housing units made from prefabricated ferro cement hollow block units. The voids inside the blocks can be used as storage or as furniture, and can even be tinted with a range of pigments. Doors, windows and roofs, too, can be done with ferro cement, doing away with the need for complex machinery. The idea was to empower local communities; these can be made in the backyards of masons’ homes. The material is quite versatile, and is stackable because it’s lightweight.

How does the Easy WC work?

The Easy WC combines a shower cubicle and toilet on either side of a covered platform with a washbasin. The structure consists of six ferro cement elements that can be built on-site in a day or two. It can be plugged onto a freestanding septic tank, a dry pit, or over a drainage system, depending on soil conditions.

Who can use them, and how much will it cost?

It’s not meant only for the poor, it can provide instant shelter in disaster areas, and can also be effective as guest houses or students hostels in environmentally sensitive locations. The house can be built within Rs 4 lakh. In fact, these prototypes were tested in student workshops.

How do they tie up to the environment and economy?

Affordable housing is a growing concern. The tug of war between environment and development, and spatial exclusion and social segregation is a universal one. This design helps achieve more with less. It’s about the use of “inner” resources (intelligence, knowledge and time) to prevent depletion of “outer” resources. And the key to building an affordable future is education, not in the formal sense, but prioritising lifestyle issues and consumption patterns. We have to learn to discriminate between necessary and the superfluous so that cities not only thrive, but survive.