A Local Response To Climate Change

For the design of the community centre, vernacular techniques have been hybridized with low-tech innovations to improve building performance with a maximum use of local materials.

- Lara K. Davis

Architect’s Note: Kaza Eco-Community Centre designed by the Auroville Earth Institute represents something which is tremendously timely for current debate in the field of architecture: the relevance of climate appropriateness, the impact of global climate change and the value of local constructive cultures and vernacular craft to offset these changes.

As humankind begins globally to grapple with the incomprehensible reality of climate change, we are forced to acknowledge how shortsighted we have been in evaluating our collective environmental impact. Just as in a valley, we do not see the storm clouds until the storm is upon us. We have to step way back, to see where changing climate is changing the face of how people live, and then assess very carefully how our cultural landscape can be shifted back to a model in which climate plays an integral role in how we shape our physical environments.