Flood-relief housing project wins Hudco design award

A house constructed under Project Bhoomika at Cheruthana in Alappuzha. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Project Bhoomika, a flood-relief housing initiative implemented at Cheruthana in Alappuzha, and its architect N.S. Abhayakumar has bagged the Housing and Urban Development Corporation’s (Hudco) design award.

Mr. Abhayakumar won the prize in cost-effective rural/ urban housing deploying innovative/ emerging and disaster-resistant technology category. Under Project Bhoomika, 10 houses were built for people who lost their homes in the 2018 floods. Project Bhoomika used cost-effective and disaster-resistant technologies. Beneficiaries were part of the design process.

It used a mix of precast elements for the foundation and prefab using galvanised pipes and ferro cement technology for the superstructure which minimised the site works. The cost of constructing a 400 sq ft two-bedroom house, erected on nine pillars of 1-metre height, was below ₹6 lakh.