new house?

I have spent a lot of today doing these preliminary sketches for a house we hope to build soon in Buddha Garden. 

Like all the houses we want it to be as simple as possible, not only from the cost point of view, but also from the point of view of use.  None of the houses belong to an individual so we move around between houses according to our need.  This is a 'house for an Aurovilian' which is going to be built by the kitchen garden.  We thought Pierre would be the first person to live there.

Unfortunately it looks like the house is going to cost more than we can afford and so Vivek and I are quite keen on having one of Eric's demountable houses which are not only cheaper but which are much easier to put up.  It only takes about a week whereas if we have builders doing the work it will take several months.

Pierre is not at all keen on Eric's house because of the materials of which it is made - cement and other prefabricated stuff.  He wants natural materials like keet, which is all very fine and nice but which means we are letting ourselves in for a huge amount of upkeep over the years.  There are various other more lasting materials which we could use for roofing but Pierre is not at all keen on them and the longer lasting ones which he might find acceptable - like tiles - are probably too expensive.

I offered to go and live in the new house if we get the Eric model, but Pierre feels he has a special relationship with the land there and so wants to live on that particular place.

We shall have to see what transpires.......... hopefully we can eventually come to a solution to which we can all say 'yes'.