India has a fantastic tradition of sustainable / eco-friendly structures. However, today, what is being promoted is pseudo green, superficial and commercialized structures, which do not possess the very basics of sustainability … that empathy and simplicity.
These issues are deep rooted in our society as well as in our psyche. These are not architectural but are issues of ego, greed, one upmanship, over consumption due to comparisons, too much dependence on technology, and desire to stay within one’s comfort zone.
Laurie Baker’s Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum, is very simple, consumes minimum external energy, and minimum energy has been used in its construction. My own recent residence on the outskirts of the city has been built almost from all recycled, scrap materials and with minimum dependence on external grid energy and resources. By shifting into this house, the old large ancestral bunglow could be sold to create millions of rupees for charity and towards equity.
Green architecture is architecture born out of universal empathy and a sense of unity
