Wallmakers: Indian Architecture Studio Pioneers Sustainable Building with Waste Materials

Vinu Daniel (born 1982), founder of the nomadic architecture studio Wallmakers, won the 2022 RA Dorfman Award. His practice is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's advice to architect Laurie Baker: the best house for India uses materials found within five miles. Wallmakers has no permanent office; the team 'occupies' each construction site to experiment with local resources. The studio innovates with excavated earth, using it raw, rammed, and compressed into blocks. The Pirouette House in Trivandrum features a rat-trap bond brick weave that hides a cavity for thermal efficiency and ventilation. Daniel also developed two patented wall-building techniques that mix cement, soil, and waste materials of various sizes, tested on a residence built on a former construction debris dump. Wallmakers upcycles waste into grille windows from washing machine wheels, furniture from scrap wood, and screens from reused bamboo. The studio now employs 17 architects and over 100 artisans across multiple Indian sites, working on large-scale projects like multi-story commercial complexes, schools, ashrams, temples, and campuses. Daniel warns that architecture is evolving without purpose or philosophy, urging constant exploration of alternative materials in preparation for a future when current resources are depleted.