Amrutha Preetham

I am a learner. I love learning; learning skills that are required to live a life of self sufficiency.’Growing’ is what inspires me. I love vegetables, fruits, herbs and crops that are grown in a family food garden. I love growing healthier physically and intellectually. At present, I’m learning about permaculture, early childhood environments and parenting. The skills I wish to acquire in the near future are woodworking, sewing and baking in a conventional oven. I aspire to live in a quite corner of the world, with a close connection to the earth, as a homesteader. The joy of simple natural living has been my driving force behind the creation of Red Soil’s environment.

I’m a textile engineer and a post graduate in business management by qualification. Schools and colleges have deprived me of real education and I’m in the journey of unschooling myself and finding out my real self.

The knowledge I acquired through our mainstream education, with it’s various flaws and inadequacies, has been very useful in moulding me into who I am today. I strongly feel that our system of education needs a huge and substantial transformation and that the only thing a child needs is a nurturing environment for education to happen.

Early childhood education is what I’m passionately interested in and I’ve been inspired by many early childhood experts in the field. Some of them are

Dr. Emmi Pikler, Pediatrician and Infant educator
Magda Gerber, Early childhood educator, Founder of RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers)
Dr. Maria Montessori, Physician and educator, Founder of Montessori method of education
Loris Malaguzzi, Founder of Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education
Alfie Kohn, Author and lecturer in the areas of education, parenting and human behavior

Teaming up with my partner and architect, Senthil Nathan, I intend to create a wonderful environment for children, an environment for play, cheer, laughter and life, a place they would hold dear, where experiences of tender nourishing moments create memories that last a lifetime.

      Senthil Nathan

I’m an artist and the principal architect of Poetics.  My design ideas are focused on sustainability of the built environment. I’ve been inspired by great architects like Alvar Aalto, Glenn Murcutt and Laurie Baker. My design works focus on land, people and their environment and aim to create harmony among them. I’ve learned about natural farming and sustainable living from the master works of Masanobu Fukuoka, Bill Mollison and Nammazhwar. At Red Soil, I weave the Nature Playscape and Permaculture to the finest level, where children discover Play and Nature within themselves.

Red Soil Nature Play is designed by Poetics architecture and planning studio. Poetics studio has been recognized as one of the ‘Top ten young practices’ in Karnataka state by IIA (Indian Institute of Architects). Senthil is the principal architect and permaculture designer of Red Soil. Senthil is an alumnus of ‘Glenn Murcutt International Master Class’, a design-studio program in Australia, conducted by Pritzker Prize awarded Architect Glenn Murcutt. He also participated in ‘BASEhabitat International Summer School’ on Modern Earthen Architecture and Bamboo Constructions, conducted by University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria partnered with UNESCO Chair of Earthen Architecture. Before starting his own practice in 2005, he has worked with India’s Master architects, Sanjay Mohe and Christopher Charles Benninger. His vast experience and insight in architecture and design, his knowledge about sustainable living practices and his in-depth understanding of the relationship between land and people, his strong concerns about today’s education system and his growing interest in early childhood education has been an invaluable resource and driving force behind the origination of Red Soil’s environment for young children.