The Better India · 6 hours ago

Designer Vijyendra Thakur Restores 100-YO Himachal Kathkuni House Into Art Village Naggar Homestay

When concrete began replacing the ancient Kathkuni tradition - timber and stone interlocked without mortar, flexible enough to survive earthquakes - a quiet form of knowledge started disappearing from the Himalayas. Designer Vijyendra Thakur interrupted that erasure not with advocacy or argument, but with a purchase: a neglected farmhouse in Chachogi that he restored using 90% recycled materials, honoring both the building's century-old bones and its capacity for modern life. The logic behind his approach was as durable as the architecture itself - that "tourism should add value to a village" - and something in that conviction proved contagious. Locals who had once turned toward concrete are now exploring Kathkuni for their own homes, and four or five such projects are underway nearby. One person's decision to save a single structure quietly shifted what an entire community believed was worth saving.