There has always been sustainability in the roots of Indian architecture; refer to the old ancient buildings which were built on the sustainability principles. Talking of today, in the age of modern buildings, people have now started realizing the importance of sustainability with rise in the mercury levels.
Initially, there were limited resources for green technologies & green materials. Whereas, today due to awareness and demand, there are multiple options available. The government is now encouraging and promoting people to adopt sustainability buildings by providing incentives to both the developers and the end-users. Some of states, municipal corporations have already mandated some of the sustainability codes for buildings. The green features are now being incorporated as part of the by-laws, which in turn will help in a long run.
Sustainability is being introduced in education for the younger minds. There are special courses on sustainability which students can pursue. This is changing the way the new generation of architects are designing the buildings.
The corporate and the developers are now looking for green buildings, either as a social responsibility or for operational savings or may be to woo the customers. Hence, directly or indirectly helping the environment. Most of the multi-national companies demand green buildings, as a policy to move in, which in turn, is also encouraging green buildings. The incremental cost of a green building has now drastically reduced as compared to what it was about a decade ago.
However, it is also true that out of the huge real estate industry, only a handful opt to go green. Some of the challenges which are faced in adopting green buildings are like lesser or no incentives in many of the cities, awareness in 2 tier & 3 tier cities, etc. Many of the developers still think the cost of a green building is very high, which is not true. Government and some other bodies have been capacity building for better reach out & awareness, but will take a bit longer. Subsidized interest rates for loans for green buildings would also encourage better market penetration & transformation. This needs involvement from the financial institutes.
Subsidized interest rates for loans for green buildings will encourage better market penetration and transformation. This needs involvement from financial institutes
I admire...
One of our admirable projects is the Building 1800, located in the MN Park Synergy Square 3, in the Genome Valley at Shamirpet, Hyderabad. The building houses R & D and incubation facility and is beautifully designed by Ar. Sanjay Mohe from Mindscape, Bangalore, keeping in mind the orientation, the site topography, and respecting the site conditions.
Solar passive design is an important characteristic of this building combined with the efficient systems installed. The building is predominantly oriented in the North – South axis to ensure good daylight in most of the spaces. The harsh South-West sun is blocked by blank walls.
The topography of the site is least disturbed, forming plazas, activity hubs, leading to a water pond at the lowest part of the site, which doubles up as a rain water harvesting pond, in which the storm water is collected due to the gravity of the natural slope maintained. Wherever possible the rocky terrain on the site is kept undisturbed and is integrated with landscape, causing minimal disturbance to the site.
