In 2021, once the multi-year Elephant World project in northeastern Thailand was finished, architect Boonserm Premthada kept noticing the same thing on his return visits to the elephant villages, dung everywhere on the roads, outside houses, piled up around town as the local elephant population grew. "My approach to my practice doesn't come from theory; it comes from the soul," Premthada said via Azure, reflecting his instinct to treat the problem as material rather than waste. He began experimenting with the dung as a construction ingredient, mixing it with soil, cement, stucco, tree bark, leaves and plant-based pigments to form bricks.
Get breaking news anytime, anywhere. Download the TOI app now!
