The beauty of building with mud and trash | Vinu Daniel
TED Talks Daily
TED
4.1 • 11.9K Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2023
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What if we could use waste to create resilient and sustainable buildings? Bringing out the beauty of the dirt beneath our feet, climate-responsive architect Vinu Daniel shares how he and his team are giving local and discarded materials (think: mud, plastic and used tires) a second life by using them to create dreamlike homes, schools and other public spaces.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective |
| 0:11.0 | You're listening to Ted Talk's Daily, I'm Elise Hugh. |
| 0:13.8 | How we build this world and with what materials can have a lasting effect for good. |
| 0:18.7 | It is talked from Ted 2023, Climate Responsive Architect, Vinu Daniel introduces us to |
| 0:24.8 | how to build with enduring, sustaining and beautiful construction materials that are right |
| 0:30.1 | under our feet after a break. |
| 0:35.4 | The construction in this way accounts for 30 to 40% of the world's total energy and resources. |
| 0:47.1 | It also accounts for 40% of the world's total carbon emission. |
| 0:54.1 | A man who lived long before us gave us a very simple solution. |
| 1:00.1 | And he is Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation in India. |
| 1:05.0 | He said that the ideal house should be built with materials found in a final radius around |
| 1:12.9 | the house. |
| 1:13.9 | So you think, okay, what is that material? |
| 1:17.5 | And it is right below our feet. |
| 1:20.5 | It's mud. |
| 1:21.5 | Now imagine if we can build a house with mud, there would be nothing more sustainable |
| 1:28.5 | or eco-friendly than that. |
| 1:31.0 | But then you might ask, how strong is mud? |
| 1:36.2 | This compressed 5% cement added mud block made by my alma mater Auroville Earth Institute |
| 1:44.5 | is twice as strong as a country-fired brick. |
| 1:48.0 | In fact, it has a dry compressive strength of 6.5 megapascal as compared to a normal |
| 1:56.9 | 5 brick which just has 3 to 3.5 megapascal. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from TED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of TED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

