Forces of nature

Can indigenous knowledge mitigate climate change? From the Khasis of Meghalaya to the fisherfolk of Bengal, architect Julia Watson shows how nature based construction techniques and materials can lead to a sustainable future.

- Rajashree Balaram

At the outset of my Zoom call with Julia Watson, I realise that the Australian architect-environmentalist is someone who will step forward to share a beautiful point of view, whenever one presents itself. It happens even as we are caught in that perfunctory drill of adjusting our laptop screens, facing each other over two different continents. I ask her what it’s like in Utah, where she is on a vacation (her studio is based in New York), and instead of answering, she turns her screen to show me the view from her window—the rugged mountains of Salt Lake City, which, even in pixelated splendour, make you gasp.

“I am just three hours from the Grand Canyon,” Watson says in her dulcet voice. The joy in her eyes is that of someone who doesn’t take the wonders of nature for granted. It’s this passion and reverence for the planet that also permeates her book, Lo—TEK Design By Radical Indigenism (Taschen), released earlier this year.

TIME AND AGAIN