Kutcha

What it does

Project Kutcha empowers flood-prone communities with a low-cost, amphibious housing toolkit using bamboo and HDPE barrels. It offers simple, resilient design, floating with floodwaters and returning safely, ensuring agency and security.

Your inspiration

Project Kutcha addresses the urgent need for climate-resilient housing in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh. In 2024, flash floods displaced nearly 16 million people, destroying over 53,000 homes. Most affected families earn less than $45/month, lacking access to resilient housing. Kutcha offers a low-tech, amphibious solution at just 60,000 BDT for a 24 sqm structure (~$22/sqm), far cheaper than existing floating or stilt options. Unlike peer efforts, Kutcha provides a fully integrated, adaptable toolkit tailored to rural, low-income communities, delivering affordable, dignified housing where it's needed most.

How it works

Project Kutcha is an architectural system enabling rural communities to build homes that float during floods and rest safely on dry ground. It uses a buoyant foundation made of bamboo frames and HDPE barrels, lightweight, affordable, and locally available materials. In dry conditions, the house sits normally; when floods rise, barrels lift the structure above water. Vertical bamboo or steel rails guide the home’s movement, ensuring stability and preventing drift. The system includes a toolkit with a construction manual, 3D model, and Excel calculator for material estimates. Designed for local masons with basic tools, Project Kutcha offers a climate-resilient, affordable, and dignified housing solution.

Design process

Project Kutcha began by exploring how locally abundant bamboo could create buoyant, flood-resilient homes for rural Bangladesh. Early prototypes combined bamboo with wax, oil, reeds, coconut coir, and shells to improve water resistance, including bamboo baskets coated with cement-sand for flotation. However, natural materials degraded quickly and weren’t reliable for large-scale use. Consultations with hydrologists and local builders revealed the real challenge: adapting existing materials into affordable, practical systems for low-income communities. Hydrologists noted flash floods reach speeds of 2–3 m/s, strong enough to damage concrete, prompting the addition of vegetative flood berms—earth mounds planted with grass to slow water flow and protect homes. The design evolved into a buoyant platform of bamboo and HDPE barrels, stabilized by vertical rails to prevent drift. To aid replication, a toolkit was created including a construction manual, 3D model, and Excel calculator. Project Kutcha is now a scalable, low-tech toolkit developed with communities for lasting resilience.

How it is different

Project Kutcha transforms amphibious housing from a high-tech concept into a low-tech, community-driven solution tailored for flood-prone, low-income regions like rural Bangladesh. While floating homes exist globally—in the Netherlands or Florida—they are often expensive and engineered beyond the reach of vulnerable communities. Even NGO-led barrel-based projects lack scalability or fail to meet permanent housing needs. Kutcha stands out through its use of local materials (bamboo, HDPE barrels), low cost (~60,000 BDT for 24 sqm), and an open-source toolkit including a construction manual, 3D model, and Excel-based load calculator, designed for local masons, not engineers. It also integrates a vegetative flood berm to withstand fast-moving floods (2–3 m/s), offering passive protection beyond what even concrete can endure. Most importantly, Project Kutcha enables participatory, community-led construction, ensuring ownership, adaptability, and lasting resilience.

Future plans

Next, I’ll seek funding, grants, and launch a crowdfunding campaign, supported by networks like the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights. With financial aid, we’ll build full-scale prototypes in flood-prone areas and test them at Imperial College. Local collaboration will refine the design, using Bangladesh’s plastic recycling industry to source affordable HDPE barrels. Winning the James Dyson Award would amplify visibility, attract partners, and empower communities to build resilient, amphibious homes.

Awards