GOVARDHAN

ECO VILLAGE
AT PALGHAR, WADA

PARITA BHATT 2015012 L.B.H.CO.A

 CASE STUDY
GOVARDHAN ECO VILLAGE AT WADA
LOCATION

Location : Galtare,
Hamrapur, Taluka
Wada, District
Palghar.

Nearest railway
station: 36kms
from Palghar
railway station.

Nearest airport: 90
kms from Mumbai
Airport.
Land: 70 acres

Total built up area: 2400.65 sqmt.

Energy consumption reduction: 57% reduction in energy consumption compared to griha

benchmark.
Renewable energy: rated capacity of solar PV installed on site is 39 kw.
GRIHA provisional rating: 5 star
Year of completion: 2012
Architect team: Biome environmental solution, Bangalore.

CONCEPT
 ● The purpose behind this Govardhan eco-
village is to present a sustainable community
model and to educate people in the field of
traditional sciences including Yoga,
spirituality,
Cow Protection & Ayurveda.
● The activities does not adversely affect the
environment, does not consume any non-
renewable resources, and creates no waste or
emissions, and does not harm any living
beings.
● The activities of govardhan eco village include
a Goshala, Rural education service, organic
farming, cottage industry, farm community,
and FACT- facility for alternative
construction technologies.

NEED

Civil facilities were required to house the community and several facilities. They had to minimize –
resource consumption, waste generation, overall adverse ecological impact by implementing
● Refuse
● Reduce
● Reuse
● Recycle
● Reinvent

OBJECTIVE

Conformance to GRIHA certification To comply with the GRIHA norms the following considerations
have to be fulfilled –
Preserve and protect the landscape during construction
Proper topsoil laying, stabilization of the soil, and maintenance of adequate
fertility of the soil
Reduce air pollution during construction
Reduce landscape water requirement
Reduce building water use by applying low-flow fixtures
Optimize building design to reduce the conventional energy demand
Optimize the energy performance of the building within specified comfort limits
Renewable energy utilization
Renewable-energy-based water heating system
Waste-water treatment using SBT
Water recycle and reuse
Reduction in waste during construction
Resource recovery from waste
Minimize ozone-depleting substances
Minimize the disruption of the natural ecosystem
Meet minimum allowable luminous efficacy
Minimize road and pedestrian length by appropriate planning
To protect the health of construction workers and prevent pollution.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

● There were structures built for the

community with locally available materials
which gave comfort even in harsh climates.
● Foundation was made with stabilised mud
mortar, and concrete short poles as bond stone.
● The material used in substitute for brick is
compressed earth blocks.

● Salient features:
1. The interlocking blocks required minimum
quantity of mortar, plaster in the masonry work.
2. Faster masonry
3. Improved performance of masonry because of less number of joints
4. Environment friendly, energy efficient technology with very low consumption of energy
5. Machines utilised for manufacturing blocks are mobile and can be shifted from site to
site, either near to the raw material source or near to the construction site.
6. Product can be designed for earthquake/ cyclone prone region
● Size: 220mmx140mmx115mm.
● The roof was made up of straws and resin panels along with iron framing in the café area
and other structures and villas had Mangalore tiles sloping roof.

● Lesser amount of energy is consumed in preparing the compressed earth blocks as against
the modern day bricks used in construction.
● 90% of the materials were sourced from within 100 kms radius of the facility.
● The construction was limited within certain parts of the campus where transportation was
easily done.
● Mud is the essence: Simple, Natural Mud was the key constituent of the construction
material.
ZONING
AMENITY BLOCK – SATSANG BHAVAN

Amenity block had an auditorium for 100

people, 2 seminar halls for 50 people capacity
each, a conference room for 25 people, office
and library. It also had solar water heater.
It had windows made up of recycled wood and
double tiled roofing.
 TYPES OF HOUSE UNITS/ COTTAGES.

1. COMMUNAL COTTAGE:
● 13 Rooms with Sitout.
● Attached Toilet with Drying Area.
● Semi Covered Terrace.

● Slide form one of individual block Terrace.

● Flat terraces for solar panels.

2. PRIVATE COTTAGE 1:
● 2 units having kitchen and living area
● Attached Toilet with Drying Area.
● Semi Covered Terrace.
● Flat terraces for solar panels.

3. PRIVATE COTTAGE 2:
● 1 units having kitchen and living area
● Attached Toilet with Drying Area.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

● They used alternative energy sources

such as
1. Bio Gas Energy –Biomass is a renewable energy
resource derived from the carbonaceous waste of various human and natural activities.
2. Solar Energy –GEV has exposure to sunlight for most part of the year and management
identified certain unusable open areas to install panels to harness solar energy.
3. Animal Driven Prime Mover –Bulls not only contribute in ploughing the farmland, but also
help substitute power requirement for couple of processes
● Benefits
1. Ample availability of Food Waste: Apart from their own kitchen waste, they have two free
mid-day meal projects within a radius of about 30 km. Together they cater to lunch
requirements of about 80,000 children a day. They have a potential of providing about 1.5
tons/day of vegetable waste and left over food. The biodegradable waste, when allowed to
decompose naturally, would lead to release of methane, which is a much more damaging
greenhouse gas as compared to carbon di-oxide. Hence a dual benefit of generating energy
and curtailing greenhouse effect is achieved.
2. Organic Manure: The left over slurry, after the removal of biogas, acts as excellent organic
manure in a very easily dispensable form. They have a “zero chemical” agricultural policy
this slurry is fulfilling the role of other.
3. They had SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANTS to reuse the
sewage for agricultural processes and biogas plants near the
goshala to reuse it for kitchen purposes.
4. They had rainwater harvesting system which filtered the
rainwater and the sewage water by a process which was
reused again in agriculture and planting

CULTURE

According to culture,
there were three
number of temples for devotees of Krishna.

This village has been awarded 5

star griha rating for adaptive reuse of materialistic
waste and its been a treat to visit for whole new
experience of yoga and wellness centre.

REFERENCES

https://www.ecovillage.org.in

https://icew.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/18_Rudzinskaite.pdf

https://architecturelive.in/govardhan-eco-village-palghar-maharashtra-biome-environmental-solutions/

https://www.slideshare.net/srisurabhi/govardhan-eco-village-66070627