eco building in tropical place with long rainy season

[sindhooram]

Hello, I am living in India for the past 3 years although I'm English. My husband is Indian. He would love to build a new house for his parents (they have enough land but their present house is not big enough when all there extended family come to stay). Also maybe even to have enough room for a small homestay type of guest house.
The problem is that we dont have a lot of money for that. I was talking to him before about adobe building but I realise now it pprobablt wouldnt be suitable here because there is a rainy season of about 5 months total and sometimes really heavy rain...
Does anyone know about earth type building materials suitable for this type of climate (hot all year round) that would not be very costly and also make a beautiful house. Needs to keep cool rather than warm inside...
its unlikely that we would start construction until the next year but would love to get ideas and start planning a little

[Yukkuri_Kame]

Thick earthen walls do not provide the same benefits they would in a hot, dry climate, because tropical places don't have the same wide range of day/night temperatures. The big advantage of earthen walls is they absorb heat all day, and then re-radiate during the night. The tropics tend to stay warm all the time, so this benefit is somewhat less valuable.

The rain, torrential and sideways can be a problem for earthen walls, but with a well-built concrete footer and a good roof with wide eaves, that can be made manageable. Cob comes from rainy england, after all. The new cob has performed quite well in rainy oregon. These are cold wet climates, which is different than the tropics, but shows the water isn't necessarily the problem.

In the tropics, cooling is mostly about shade and ventilation of one sort of another...

Earth tubes are one option... designing the house to suck air through a tube under the earth, cooling it before it enters the house. A living roof may also provide some cooling benefits.

Best friends are shade trees, with a fairly open understory to promote cross-breezes through the house.

[pebble]

What are the traditional and historical building materials and techniques where you live?

[sindhooram]

What are the traditional and historical building materials and techniques where you live?

I dont really know - I want to research that and see if there are any mud type houses in the region...I know coconut palm roof are traditional here but nowadays not many people know how to make or maintain them...
I like the idea of the earth tube for cooling - will read up on that more. I dont like to always use electricity for the fan but when it's really hot I dont manage well without it....
the other issue is that generally people here feel happy with something that looks exactly the same as what the neighbours have and society expects so cant be too over the top with creativity ....
best wishes to everyoe...

[pebble]

I know India is a big place, but there's been some interesting permaculture projects going on there. Maybe you could contact them and ask for advice, as they would know the local issues perhaps.