who we are?

Mrinmayee

Mahijaa is a design consultancy firm and is an off shoot of its parent firm Mrinmayee. It is involved in alternative ideas in architecture which stresses on low embodied energy and eco friendly designs to construct load bearing masonry buildings & provides services in architectural and structural design.

Mrinmayee, Consultants on Mud blocks and building alternatives & Material testing laboratory. The seeds of Mrinmayee began to germinate way back in 1987 during the construction of the residence of Yogananda M.R.(who was working with KSCST/ ASTRA, IISc) using Stabilised Mud Blocks (SMB). The interest shown by many people who were captivated by the twin advantage of cost reduction and elegant appearance paved the way for setting up of Mrinmayee, consultants on mud blocks and building alternatives in 1988.

Mrinmayee Testing Lab made its beginning by getting involved in testing various kinds of soils and arriving at the correct mix design to produce good quality SMB’s with the required wet compressive strength and durability. The research & development work carried out at ASTRA and Dept. Of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru led by Prof.K.S.Jagadish has been the foundation for all the activities of Mrinmayee.

Mr. Yoganandas house, made in Stabilised blocks

Hands-on workshops are conducted by Mrinmayee on a regular basis, where the participants can actively take part to get practical knowledge. These workshops have seen architects, civil engineers, contractors, students, home makers, masons et al. enroll for the programme.
Artisans on-site training is also given wherever the projects are executed using alternative technologies.

Maheemaya

Maheemaya is a sister concern of Mrinmayee involved in manufacturing manually operated soil block press called “MARDINI” developed by Dr.M.R.Yogananda with valuable inputs from mechanic Sri.N.Krishna. This manually operated press is capable of generating sufficient force to produce a dense block and the machine comes with different mould sizes which are interchangeable. It eliminates additional energy needs like electricity, diesel and other additional energy needs.

The Mud Block Press Manufacturers
Mrinmayee conducts Hands-on workshops on a regular basis, where the participants can actively take part to get practical knowledge. These workshops have seen architects, civil engineers, contractors, students, home makers, masons et al. enroll for the programme.

THE MARDINI PRESS A manually operated soil block press called MARDINI was developed in 1994-95. The machine is designed with interchangeable moulds and optional inserts for special purpose blocks. This manually operated press is capable of generating sufficient force to produce a dense block and the machine comes with different mould sizes which are interchangeable. It eliminates additional energy needs like electricity, diesel and other additional energy needs.

THE HYDRAULIC PRESS

1. 1. The hydraulic press developed in the early 2014 installed at the Anekal production centre has been able to produce about 2,00,000 blocks of size 300x200x150 mm and they have been used in buildings as 200mm thick load bearing walls as well as 150mm thick walls in frame structures.

   

2. 2. The second version of a hydraulic press for mud blocks has been designed and fabricated under the joint Gramavidya-Hunnarshaala collaboration. Two of these machines are put to use for producing stabilized mud blocks, one at Thirthahalli, and the other at Sarjapur,Bengaluru. Totally about 40,000 blocks of size 230x230x100 mm and about 10,000 blocks of size 305x143x100 mm have been produced and used in the buildings as 230mm thick load bearing walls and 143 mm thick walls in frame structure.

   

LATE SRI N. KRISHNA
Sri.N.Krishna, was an excellent mechanic, a genuine human being.Without him, our ideas would have been just only on a paper.He brought brilliant insights into the development of this machine correcting its shortcomings by dipping into his vast experience. He was a mechanic of rare brilliance and brought utter dedication to his work, who fortunately happened to work with us for the past 38 years.



During the first fourteen years he worked in the department of Civil Engineering, IISc, Bengaluru. Initially, he was involved in the fabrication of an Electro hydraulic Shake table. Two years later, he worked for a K.S.C.S.T project assisting the ASTRA team in development of devices for building technologies. During this period, he fabricated ASTRAM and ITGE VOTH machine for making pressed mud blocks. After retiring in1992, he was involved in the development of the MARDINI soil block press.

Mrinmayee is also involved in training Artisans on-job wherever the projects are being executed using alternative technologies.