initiative for green habitats

After a state wise study, commissioned by the UNDP and the MoRD, across all districts of Meghalaya, we identified five distinct housing zones, based on geography, rainfall, climatic variations, material resources, and cultural references. Based on this we developed Sustainable and disaster resilient rural housing construction technologies, which were later put together as housing prototypes. 

Each of these prototypes demonstrated different ways to build, and also demonstrated the growth of the housing unit. The houses were primarily meant for rural folk who were below the poverty line, and beneficiaries of the IAY (now PMAY-G) grant to build their houses. 
Different construction materials were recommended based on their availability in the housing zone. The agenda was to serve as a fillip for rural economies by boosting local enterprise, and to reduce environmental impacts due to the downsides of conventional construction technologies like burnt-clay brick and RCC. These housing technologies effectively reduced the CO2 emissions by up to 6 tonnes per 200 square metre house. The designs for these prototypes also incorporated disaster resilient construction details and recommendations for both seismic zone 5 (which the state of Meghalaya occupies), high rainfall, and strong winds.