Although the interior space makes the experience of architecture at the scale of the human experience palpable, it is the phenomena of colour, sound, tactility and light that bestows character and authenticity to space and connects it to the imagery that is reminiscent of cultural nostalgia.
Not too long ago, oxide floors were a common sight across the households of modern India. Known more popularly as the Indian Patent Stone, oxide surfaces are essentially cement-concrete floors topped with a layer of cement mortar and finished with pigmented cement slurry. The oxide mixture primarily comprises of the mineral in its powdered form (the powder has colour variants depending on the desired finish) with white/grey cement to make the mix viscous, and lime to retard the setting process for better finish and colour. Oxides, mixed with a high grade of cement set quicker than the originally used slow- setting cement, which is bound to render a different colouration than the yesteryear floors.
The oxide laying process is nuanced with innate human errors accepted for a choice of this style.
The colour of the oxide depends on the mix. The oxide powders can be mixed in different proportions to achieve a hybrid colour or a single-colour oxide can be mixed with varying quantities of lime or cement for variations in colour. At the core of this process, is a unique finesse in the maker’s sense of aesthetics and touch. With the aid of locally available tools, every stage of mixing, applying, levelling, flooding and polishing uses a different pair of hands that leave a unique mark.
The process is largely artisanal. In the preliminary stage of prepping the cement mix, multiple samples are produced before the desired colour is achieved for the rest of the process. Once the mixture is ready and of the right consistency, it is poured over a dry PCC floor and levelled in requisite courses with a ‘gurmal’ ( at, square trowel) or a ‘karni’ ( at trowel), depending on the surface of application. Once it is set, the final touch of a wax polish is applied with and scrubbed to perfection with coconut coir.
Honed by practice and patience, every handicraft has the advantage of evolution by intuition.
Architects across the country have successfully gauged the versatility and durability of this material in designing various surfaces that make a home – floors, walls, ledges, counters, shelves, basins, bath ware and other surfaces alike. DUSTUDIO in Auroville has trained a large group of artisans, who have learnt from experimenting on the sites within the principles of the studio and developed independent expertise in such traditional techniques. This collaborative process with the artisans have enabled many traditional craftsmen in this technique to employ their skill and join the mainstream, prompting a slow but sure revival of the oxide floors ⊗
DUSTUDIO [formerly Buildaur] is a collaborative, inter-disciplinary, architectural design practice based out of Auroville, Tamil Nadu led by Dharmesh Jadeja and Dhruv Bhasker. Inspired by the wisdom in honed skill, the work of DUSTUDIO aims to create a strong link between past, present and future of building traditions in the Indian context, using existing traditional knowledge as well as innovating within the framework of its social relevance, economic viability, environmental impact and culturally-rooted aesthetics.
