Shashidhar, a seasoned civil engineer and entrepreneur with a successful construction company, and his wife Sandhya, a passionate horticulturist and landscape contractor, long shared a vision to recreate Sandhya’s ancestral home as a resort to share the cherished memories and charm of traditional rural homes. Scouting for suitable land was Shashidhar’s pet project with his renowned architect friend Georg Leuzinger, an active outdoors person, familiar with rural culture and sustainable building practices. One day in 2008, they set foot on this gently sloping land bordering Bantamari state forest at the foot of one of the region’s famously steep granite monoliths. Though the land was badly degraded with a host of skinny neem tree shoots, the immense potential for leisure and recreation was obvious to all. Many exploratory walks over smooth rock slopes and forests to ponds and streams, the exquisite flora and countless wildlife sightings were a strong motivation for the work ahead.
The resort’s theme was clear from the outset but the project still required an architectural master plan. All aspects of infrastructure had to be carefully analysed and planned. The need for total water, resource and waste management was paramount, as well as self-sufficiency with regard to agricultural food production and energy needs. At this point their daughter Sitara, a hotel management graduate who was working for Clean, Green & Healthy resorts group earlier, was roped in by her parents for their own pet project. The four embarked on a decade-long journey of collaboration filled with fun and unexpected adventures to tame and develop the land in this unique setting into the visionary project – Baevu.
Shashidhar and Georg looked closely at the region’s traditional thottimane houses, and its materials and craftsmanship. They scouted for sources and forgotten skills. The quest to recapture the awesome materiality and enduring beauty of the thottimane’s thick mud walls led to extensive testing of a large pure rammed earth prototype wall. A lot of patience was needed to refine the recipe for the best ingredient mix. Cohesion and compression strength was determined through countless rammed earth test blocks that were demolished with sledgehammers. Shashidhar and Georg visited drying lake beds, collecting, drying and powdering clay to obtain the perfect gravel aggregates. For centuries, jungle wood and bamboo from nearby forests provided roofing materials. However, the forest as a resource is now taboo and substitutes had to be identified. Senile coconut palms from nearby were sourced and brought to the village sawmill for cutting. While Baevu carpenters set up the main roof structure, the local village artisans crafted the fantastic roof texture with areca palm strips tied with coir ropes supporting traditional clay tiles.
Solar water heating has been the proven best practice for many years. Deciding to go without an electricity grid connection was daring to say the least! Today, Baevu is proud to be a NET ZERO development, with all power needs supported by photovoltaic systems. Pesticide-free organic practices in the vegetable gardens, fruit orchards, ragi and paddy fields results in organic, locally grown produce being delivered to Baevu’s kitchens. Indigenous breeds of cattle are lovingly cared for by the staff to give guests fresh dairy products every day. The resort employs people from the nearby villages in land work, farming and hospitality jobs.
At Baevu, Shashidhar and Sandhya’s bold organic vision has become a reality.
