The Bio Architects: Put Your Hands Together (PYHT)
Meet the Bio Architects of Mumbai
‘Put Your Hands Together’ (PYHT), a team of bio architects is a firm that aces when it comes to constructing eco-friendly infrastructures. What sets them apart from the conventional architects, the very essence of bio-architecture, is the choice of working with natural materials, thus practicing eco-friendly architecture.
When asked about the philosophy behind their work, this is what Shahveer, one of the co-founders, had to say,
“To design spaces that bring a sense of peace and calm, the materials we use contribute a great factor to this too. So we design with the ecosystem and build with natural materials.”
'Put Your Hands Together's' Eco-conscious Approach
To talk about their environment-friendly process, it all begins from sourcing what is available locally. For this, PYHT mostly relies upon the site and its vicinity.
“First choice is the site itself, and then we keep spanning outward to get material from as close to the site as possible.”
Also, as opposed to cement, PYHT prefers to work with the natural binding material – the earth. This rustic COB house built at Kamshet, with materials sourced on-site, makes a good case in point.




Not just COB, but PYHT also crafts and works with other natural materials such as adobe, rammed earth, CSEB (compressed stabilized earth blocks), bamboo, etc., every material, inspired and sourced locally. As a result, each design complements the ecosystem it is within.
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Challenges are a part of everything one does in his/her life. And these bio-architects are no different. They, too, have to deal with them in executing this eco-conscious concept.
“There are a plenty of challenges, books can be written on the same, as designers our job is problem solving, sustainable or not. Some of the ones we face regularly are, resistance/skepticism from people of the idea and feasibility of what we do.”
Intentionally or not, it is safe to say that Put Your Hands Together is reviving the ancient art of architecture in this modern world. A technique that was kinder to our ecosystems. Be it building an earthquake-resistant home in Nepal or a homestay at Manali, PYHT’s confidence in natural materials is meritorious.