Siddharth Pillai, 17, has designed a system of interlocking blocks, assembling them along the Pondicherry coast. Experts estimate that it will start hosting marine life in a month.(HT Photo)

His classmates at BD Somani School don’t know it yet, but Siddharth Pillai, 17, is a coastal crusader. Over the last year, Pillai quietly designed and patented a system of interlocking blocks, assembling them along the Pondicherry coast to create India’s first 3D-printed modular artificial reef. The reef – the largest section spans 20m – was installed two weeks ago and experts estimate that it will start hosting marine life in roughly a month.

Pillai, an avid diver, has seen first-hand how rising ocean temperatures have bleached coral outcrops. “They lose colour, crumble and die in 30 days. Seeing dead coral on the sea floor is disgusting and heartbreaking,” he says. Bleached coral also stops hosting marine life, and erodes […]

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