Ar. Suneel Kaushik - Silhouette

India is progressing in all spheres and progress is impossible without change.
Indian Architecture and design has seen a drastic change in the last 15 years, which is making progress visible, and the influence of global architecture cannot be denied for the same. More importantly, environment protection and energy conservation are the requirement of the day. The new trends in building construction are designed to achieve these.

Design software is just a tool to increase efficiency.
Designs can only be visualised better and faster with the help of software. Designers can also identify the challenges that may arise during construction and can resolve them before getting into it. The integration of complex building services becomes easy as conflicts can be identified and resolved with the help of BIM. The major breakthrough in times to come which may change the way buildings will be constructed is 3D printing.

Building materials and techniques are getting a makeover day by day.
Bricks are getting replaced with ACC blocks, use of stone has been minimised, engineered stone is getting acceptability over natural stones, and bamboo with mud are still being used in rural areas. However, glass and steel have acquired a prominent space in the list of building materials as they offer fast construction and the results are always impressive. Glass is also getting intelligent; with time to come it will have integration with solar panels.


Most development authorities still specify conventional construction materials and methods, but with time things will change and eventually techniques like precast, PEB, and drywall will be widely accepted. The impact will be positive, and especially low-cost housing can get a boost. Time of construction will drastically reduce in bigger projects. Introduction of fire and heat resistant paint and chemicals at lower cost can boost PEB construction in India.

Our cultural identity should not be sacrificed at the cost of globalisation.
We must learn to incorporate modern building materials in our traditional architecture. Buildings should speak about their identity as Indian rather than be common and ordinary by just being global. The challenges and issues can be resolved but lost identity cannot be restored. Being traditional is getting costly and rare these days. The forces are many; restoring it is the biggest challenge of the day.