Architecture With a Conscience, DataQuest, 08April,2008

Rising sea levels, unpredictable weather patterns, depleting ozone layers: what have these to do with architects and building designers? A lot. If statistics are to be believed, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration illustrates that buildings are responsible for almost half (48%) of all GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions annually. 76% of all electricity generated by US power plants goes to supply the building sector. The building sector in India is growing at a rapid pace and is the third largest consumer of energy after industry and agriculture.

Thus a certain amount of responsibility lies on the architects and designers to postpone the ravages of carbon footprints on this planet. Green architecture seeks to minimize the negative impacts that a building can leave behind. Thanks to the net, concepts of green architecture are no longer only textbook knowledge — many architectural practices are sensitive to the growing need to adopt methods, processes, materials, products to make a building in complete harmony with nature.

What is a green building?
Some of the salient features of a “green building’ are minimal disturbance to site conditions, use of non-toxic, recycled and environmental friendly building materials, efficient use of water, efficient use of energy through use of eco friendly appliances, renewable energy and through the use of intelligent building management systems.
It is also important to monitor the quality of indoor air for human safety and comfort.

Every region in the world is rich in some specific natural resources. If local natural resources are used, processing and transportation hassles are minimized, lowering economic and environmental costs. Moreover using any natural material (be it stone, glass, lime or mud plasters, rammed earth, bricks, tiles, untreated wood, cork, paper, reeds, bamboo, canes and grasses) is healthy, environmental and sustainable in the long run. Development Alternatives World Headquaters, New Delhi has used recycled waste flyash bricks, mud compressed bricks and ferro cement roofing in its construction. The trilogy of reduce , reuse and recycle are important to achieve material efficiency.

Water efficiency can be achieved by using low flow faucets wherever required, dual flush systems in toilets. More importantly in today’s scenario of water scarcity, rainwater harvesting should be an integral part of every building to minimize water run off.
In ITC Green Centre, Gurgaon, there is a 40 per cent reduction in potable water use. Moreover they have used treated grey water for flushing and landscaping

Conserving energy
The most important aspect of “green architecture” is energy efficiency. It is not just energy savings, but it’s more to do with energy management, efficient use of energy, daylight harvesting, HVAC integration, and energy generation by Green means. This would help minimize operational costs and conserve energy. In CII Godrej GBC , the first green building in India, fresh air to the AHUs is precooled in the two wind towers that sit on either side of the building. Precooling reduces the load on the air conditioning system, saves 60% of cooling energy requirement compared to buildings of similar size. Building orientation, insulation of roof and walls also become important in this context. Lawn trays, made out of recycled plastic protects against heat ingress through the roof while providing a green and pleasing surrounding.
In Wipro Technologies, Gurgaon, the basic design of the building is inspired by the traditional inward looking “haveli”, a typical Indian rural home with a central courtyard that uses ancient architectural wisdom to build a comfortable, environmentally friendly edifice. The central courtyard acts as a microclimate generator that reduces energy consumption, an important factor to consider when constructing energy efficient buildings.
Some of the unique ‘green’ features of NEG-Micon, Chennai are 100 percent day lighting, wind energy, insulated walls, green lawns, waste recycling, as well as building maintenance through green products and consumables. There is a 50 percent saving in overall energy consumption when compared to a normal building, as well as an 88 percent reduction in lighting consumption.









Olympia Technology Park, an information technology workspace located at Guindy, Chennai, has been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold rating by the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED rating system is considered the yardstick for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Specifically for buildings in the IT sector like these, energy efficiency can be achieved in other ways: design passive solar energy facilities, use energy efficient appliances, solar panels and heat pump technology, use of computer sensor controlled energy saving devices; like automatic dimmers for lighting and occupancy sensors to adjust air-conditioning automatically, install Monitor Power Management Software , use of low power computers.

Global phenomenon
From generating solar power from as small as a residential window, to have solar farms, and from savings energy by applying EMS (Energy Management Systems), to saving harmful emissions they all go towards creating a Green environment.

Besides energy efficiency, creating a workplace that is environmentally friendly is a growing, global phenomenon. Increasingly, buildings are going ‘green’ and the benefits for the environment, as well as corporations and their employees are numerous. The quality of these who work in green buildings are more productive and take fewer sick days. Sick Building Syndrome has been attributed to poor air quality caused by air-tight construction and the off-gassing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from such things as finishes, adhesives, furniture systems, wall coverings, office machinery, and in some instances, molds. The release of harmful VOCs (such as carcinogenic urea formaldehyde) is one of the biggest concerns when choosing products and materials for interior spaces.
In Grundfos Pumps, Chennai construction methods on a ‘green’ build are not that different to a ‘normal’ build, says Krishna, except that a lot of documentation had to be done from the time of choosing the site to commissioning the building. In terms of materials used, they differed when compared to a ‘normal’ build, in that Grundfos had to use some recycled materials and materials with a low VOC (volatile organic compounds) content

S Srinivas, Senior Counsellor, CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre says that apart from saving on operating costs, adopting environmentally friendly technologies and practices in the building sector can address sustainability issues, as well as contribute to the conservation of national resources.


Indian industry is now recognizing the role of environmental management as a tool to enhance competitiveness. Be it a residence, a retail space, a hotel or an IT office, the awareness to go green is evident all around. Articles are being written about it, debates are being aired in the audiovisual media, programmes are being themed around it. But this growing awareness has to be complemented with the education of manufacturers who should come under a common umbrella like “greenguard” or “ecomark”, bodies certifying “green” materials and products. Moreover it is important to have some sort of recognition and encouragement from the government so that this positive movement in environmentally and socially responsible architecture does not stop at just being a gimmick or fad.



The above article is composed by Soma Majumdar, Manager-Design Resources and Marketing, DFC, Design For Change, Bangalore. DFC is member of USGBC and practises Green Design in Architecture, Retail and interiors. She can be contacted at somajm@gmail.com