The beauty is in the simplicity! – Jean Pougeault, Engineer
Today was the first day that Sonali took charge of the workshop. First thing in the morning, we were at the workshop of Engineer Jean Pougeault in front of the Matrimandir. Every passing minute, he continued to impress us with his knowledge and went on to show us innovation after innovation. But the raw engineering that caught our attention was just as beautiful as it was ingenious. “The beauty is in the simplicity!”, he exclaimed in his thick French accent. Later he took us into the Matrimandir and showed us various trapdoors and hidden chambers that the common visitor would never get to see or perhaps even notice. After three hours of observing and learning, we thanked Jean for his enthusiastic guidance around the area and went on to have lunch.
In the afternoon, we went straight to Sonali’s house in order to check on the workers who had already begun working on the foundation for the toilet. The spot was already chosen beside the Fullfill Home Prototype. We continued to discuss the various colouring options and Maria made some coloured sketches to visualise the options. Tomorrow, we will begin to colour the ferrocement pieces and begin transporting them to the site of assembly.
Slowly we are inching towards the end of the workshop, and so far everything has gone really well. Tomorrow being the assembly, we will have to do some heavy-lifting but it will be great to see the erection after one week of hard work!
Affordable Habitat - the blog 