Sunday, August 1, 2010

Product Development - Roofing panels

Roofing Panels - in Bamboo
We are now in the process of developing a new range of panels at our Belgaum center. Udayan,. who is also part of the new team at Wonder Grass is developing a new range of panels which cann potentially be applied for variouos applicatons in a typical urban market.

The roof-panel, we are developing may not really work as full-fledged roofing alternative due to various inherent problems, but can certainly be used in varous other small-scale applications.



Interios Panels - visual barries
We are developing a seperate range of panels which are self-standing, can be movable and are available in some standard lengths. these panels can be used for various applications in and outside the building, from offices, residences, hotels etc.


Workers Housing for AB Rolling Mills, Bhilad

AB Rolling Mills, in village Manda near Bhilad (Gujrath) while proposig to bulding living units for the industrial-workers of their unit, they chose to tread a different path and decided to build bamboo living-units in place of typical concrete block + GI Tin sheet rooms.

Wonder Grass has been working on what can at best be described as semi-permanent housing for workers, artisans and labours staying in premises of Large industrial units, construction project-sites and similar projects spread across the country and many parts of the world.

There are various design solutions available for such housing-living requirements in a European, Middle East or US markets. In Indian context, there is a need to develop products - solutions which will help provide a decent living spaces for artisans and workers. In a typical scenario, the living-units built for workers-artisans, are just a ramshackle arrangement of casuarina poles and GI Sheets. Workers stay in these conditions sometimes for 12-18 months, braving monsoon, heat and winter, with GI sheets proving an accomplice in torment under all weather-conditions.

Bamboo and composite structures can provide for this gap in the demand.

Taking our clues from the modular standardized building systems, we are developing a simple living-unit for the industrial workers, which will be cost-effective and yet give its occupant a better living conditions.

The efforts are on to design system, such that the unit can be assembled and erected on site at ease. On completion of the project, the living-unit can be dismantled and carried to another project site. The idea is that the structure can be used for about 2-3 project-cycles giving a better, while workers enjoy better living-conditions than a typical casuarina + GI sheet unit.

Wonder Grass artisan team could erect the primary structure for about 7 lining-units, each about 200 Sq Ft built-up area, in a span of 15 days while monsoon is still in full-swing. One of the sample-units is already finished.