SUSTAINABILITY

Amanjeet Kaur and Neetu Kapoor

Dharamshala
Local Building Tradition

Sustainability is a complex concept of a multi disciplinary character. Its realisation requires an integrated design approach involving several stakeholders.

W
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e are developing very fast and with these development new trends, new techniques and new demands are coming up. One of the major issues that are coming up with this development is the increase in population which in turn is the root cause of increase in demands of things like food, shel-

ter, employment etc. In order to fulfill these requirements we are depleting our natural resources at a very fast pace. So, as a result the most important issue in front of all of us is Resource Management. We have to be very conscious while using our available resources, so that we can fulfill our needs without compromising the ability of our future generations to meet their own needs. Most of our resources are consumed by the building industry so it is very important for us to create awareness to people involved in this industry so that we can optimize the use of these recourses. There is a need of creating awareness towards sustainable

development. In this paper, we have discussed about the need of sustainable development and how we can minimize natural resource consumption. The focus of our paper will be sustainable architecture in which the basic goal is attractive, comfortable, affordable shelter that does no harm to the earth in its manufacture or its use. This goal is more attainable than we might think, and wont take long, because the average conventional building isnt built to last and will soon need to be replaced. Effective livable and sustainable building design works well with an integration of historic principles and new technologies and methods.

our resources at their best. Keeping all these factors in mind a new concept of resource conscious design have come.

RESOURCE CONSCIOUS DESIGN

The issue of resource conscious design is central to sustainable construction, which ultimately aims to minimize natural resource consumption and the resulting impact on ecological systems. The seven principles of sustainable construction: Reduce resource consumption Reuse resources Use recyclable recourses Protect nature Eliminate toxics Apply life-cycle costing Focus on quality The World Commission on Environment and Development introduced the term Sustainable Development and defined it as The development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs Think globally - act locally. Look around - find others that are doing something you resonate with - join them.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
The sustainable development is influencing the physical structure and also the workings of the companies and organizations that populate the built environment .many new concepts are emerging related to sustainability and global environmental changes. As a result, Complementary terms such as green buildings, building assessment and application of principles of sustainability to the built environment are coming up. As a subset of sustainable development, sustainable construction, addresses the role of the built environment in contributing the overarching vision of sustainability. Sustainable construction addresses the ecological, social and economic issues of a building in the context of its community. As our population is increasing at a fast pace and the resources are also depleting, so there is an urgent need to utilize

and snow clad valleys. It is popularly known as Scotland of India standing on the spur of the Dhauladhar range admist magnificent deodar and pine forests. Dharamshala is also the district headquarter of Kangra district. Once a British hill resort, this sleepy little hill town revived with the influx of Tibetan refugees after Chinese occupation in 1959. The Dalai Lama set up his temporary residence at McLeodganj. Many western visitors have come to Dharamshala in search of spiritual guidance and an audience with the Dalai Lama. In McLeodganj, the Tibetans run most of the hotels and restaurants as well as handicrafts shops. The lower town of Dharamshala is crowded with shops, local houses and government offices and the Museum of Kangra Art. McLeodganj has a distinctly different character, with its brightly painted buildings.

LOCATION AND CLIMATE

Lying between tropical and temperate regions; it has a rich diversity of bio- spheres, plant life and weather. Heavy rains fall during the summer and winter monsoons. Winter temperatures seldom fall below 2 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures seldom exceed 32 degrees Celsius. The town is roughly divided into two sections - the lower town with its traditional settlement and market areas and the upper town of McLeodganj, famous for its celebrity resident, The Dalai Lama. The heights of the two sections vary from 1,250 meters to about 1,770 meters with a steep winding 10 km road linking the two sections.
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A CASE STUDY: DHARAMSHALA

The mountain state of Himachal Pradesh is incredibly beautiful with its lush secret valleys, fierce rocky ravines, flowering meadows and the mysterious snow-clad Himalayan peaks that rise majestically in the morning mist. Dharamshala is among the most beautiful places in himachal which is famous for its beautiful valleys

LOCAL ARCHITECTURE OF DHARAMSHALA

The overall planning of the town is based on caste system i.e. the upper caste occupy the prime location in the city, and the people of lower caste stay at the outskirts of the town. The houses are planned around a central courtyard in which people of the same kin stay around. Structure: The interior walls are thick and are made of stone or sun dried mud bricks in mud mortar. The upper floor is supported by heavy wooden pillars and beams. Such type of structure helps to provide good thermal insulation and keep the interiors warm. The houses are double storied with thick walls of local stone or sundried bricks in mud mortar. Ceiling of the ground floor are low and ground floor rooms are used for storage of grains and fodder for the cattle. The upper storey rooms were used for living. Flooring: Flooring inside the houses is done with mud and in courtyards; local stone is used. The internal streets are also paved by local stone flooring forming different patterns.

exploring the tradition that they evolved. Wisdom lies not in conquering and exploiting nature, but in understanding and cooperating with nature, as we were forced to in the past. In the present context, people are attempting to build upon this concept of attentive respect for the local ecology and creating awareness among the masses, which includes its vernacular traditions, and to meet the challenges posed by contemporary living needs with in the constraints imposed by local materials and skills. Local NGOs are also working for the benefit of local people by promoting this concept and experimenting with new techniques. They are using these very factors to support sustainability like use of local building materials for the construction and renewable materials. Some Labourintensive building construction methods generated give employment to local masons and craftsmen.

of valley, each of the sites has irrigation rights and access to a piped water supply. Rock is abundandant there, so professional stone cutters break these rocks which are dressed into building blocks as required. Rock is used to build the foundations, fill the plinth and to take the walls up at least to the sill level of the lower story windows. Slate, mined just above the immediate area, is cut thin for roofs or thick for water proof flooring. Flat rounded slates shaped by the river are used for dry stone walls, pathways and landscaping.

TECHNIQUES USED FOR CONSTRUCTION

In most of the traditional as well as modern buildings, attempt has been made to increase the use and durability of all easily renewable materials, such as earth and bamboo, and to decrease the use of ecologically expensive materials, such as wood, or materials that generate pollution in manufacture.

MATERIALS USED FOR CONSTRUCTION

As long as tradition carried meanings, and proved practical, it is passed on and inspired skill from generation to generation. Our country has long sustained rich enduring traditions; in turn these traditions have defined and sustained India. The forces that cause ecological and cultural deterioration are now overwhelming and the underlying conditions that allow these forces to prevail may be too deep to overcome. In most of the buildings, Landscape is planned to provide earth for mortar and brick making. Water is not a problem in this part

BEAMS
Bamboo reinforced beams have been used that encircled the whole of the building. Bamboo has been shown, to have tensile strength, despite its greater flexibility, equal to that of the iron reinforcing rods. Iron can be combined with bamboo; Iron rods have also been used to hold bamboo firmly. These reinforced floors do cost about a third more than the ordinary traditional story floor, but still save at least a half the monetary expense of a reinforced cement slab. These floors offer ecological, aesthetic, acoustic and thermal advantages. Dry, seasoned bamboo

SUSTAINABILITY
In the past, buildings had to be sustainable. Human activity had to confirm to the demands of the ecological balance, survival and prosperity depended on sustainability. Because builders in the past had to comply to ecological constraints, to rely on materials available locally, to construct in accordance with local conditions, in tune with the seasons and with minimal harm to the regional ecology, therefore by
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lengths, rolled into bitumen to prevent expansion from the moisture in the cement, and in gravel to give a bonding, are laid into a wooden trough alongside iron rods. Electric junction and plastic piping for concealed electric wiring can also be laid into the beam. The trough is supported by the shuttering while the cement is being poured and cured. Bamboo rafter spaced a little less than a foot apart, run across the beam. Split opened out bamboo, called chachara, is laid over the rafter. Chicken wire is then stretched out on the floor and over the supporting walls. The bamboo rafters are encircled with iron rings and held rigid to rods lying across the rafters, parallel to the beams, at three to four foot intervals. a layer of cement about an inch and a half thick is laid over the whole floor, with care being given to insure that the cement has coated all around the wire and the cross rods. The upper walls are taken up after this layer of the building is cured. After the roof is on, four to five inch thick earthen floors are laid.

this mud slab dries deep fissures develop. Cement slurry poured over stretched chicken wire, penetrates into these fissures to help hold this cement skin in place on the roof slope. The slate can be fixed onto thinner batons with less overlap than on a conventional slate roof. The overhangs that protect the mud walls can be of cement or conventional slate. Almost everyone in himachal will agree to this that unfired sun dried earth brick buildings are more comfortable in all seasons, cooler in summer, warmer in winter, than baked brick and cement houses. And they are low cost in monetary terms, with low ecological cost and maximum comfort and elegance.

CONCLUSION
Sustainability is a complex concept of multidisciplinary character. Its realization requires an integrated design approach involving all key stakeholders in the process of designing, planning and constructing buildings. The architect, landscaper, owner, user, electrical, mechanical, plumbing engineer and energy professionals need to work hand in hand to evolve a sustainable design that is designed to leave minimum environmental footprint and to fulfill all the modern day comfort requirements of human beings. Hence sustainable design is a way by which architects can make their contribution to sustainable development of this world.

BENEFITS OF SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Effective livable and sustainable building design works well with an integration of historic principles and new technologies and methods. These are some of the benefits: Conservation of natural and building resources Increased building durability Increased user comfort and satisfaction Energy and material savings Elimination of waste and pollution Savings from recycling

REFERENCES
1. Towards sustainable architecture- Brian Edward 2. Sustainable architecture-low tech houses Arian Mostaedi 3. Sustainable construction- Green Building Design and DeliveryCharles J. Kibert

ROOFING
Framework of whole bamboo is used to support the roof. Bitumen sheeting on opened bamboo chachara is then covered with a four to five inch slab of mud mortar to add protective insulation. As

Amanjeet Kaur and Neetu Kapoor are Lecturers in the Department of Architecture, NIT, Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. Photographs: Courtesy the Author.

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