Designing a building in India may not be what you are used to – everything seems reversed: labor is the cheapest commodity, granite and marble are common while wood is a luxury, and women in sarees place concrete using dishes carried on their heads. In a land where ‘time is time, and money is money' and where ‘yes' can also mean ‘no', working across cultural boundaries can be confusing. Pursuing effective cross-cultural communication, incorporating local materials and methods, maximizing the use of passive and efficient building systems, and introducing improvements to common building practices are some of the challenges of an eMi² project.

Are you considering volunteering your time to join a project trip? Take a look at what you should expect to gain from the experience, and how your life might be changed because of it.