Sustainable Architecture

SUBMITTED BY
SOURABH GUPTA||2012EAL34||AKSHAY GUPTA||2012EAL19
Department of Architecture and Landscape Design

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Any
development
will
have
some
environmental
impact.
Sustainable
development can be thought of as
development with low environmental impact,
while maximising environmental, economic,
and social gains.
Thus the most suitable definition for
sustainable development would be a
comfortable and healthy habitat, achieved by
low impact methods, consuming less
resources (natural elements like water, fuels
etc.) than a standard habitat and using
environmental friendly materials and
Fig1. sustainable aspects of habitat design
products.

Fig 1

IMPORTANT PARAMETERS FOR SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENTS

Various parameters that need to be considered to achieve sustainable built environment for housing
complexes are as follows:
Site planning which essentially looks into the design aspects and proper utilization of
resources on site.
Solar passive designing providing design measures for buildings that take advantage of solar
energy in reducing energy consumption and providing better living conditions.
Building Materials and Building Technologies in order to reduce embodied energy in
buildings
Water Management and Water conservation techniques
Solid Waste management including techniques for solid waste utilization
Various sustainable energy systems

CASE STUDY

RETREAT ,TERI,GURGAON

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

A powerful and effective combination of
modern science and traditional knowledge.

The Energy and resources institute earlier known as Tata Energy

Resources Institute

Project details
Site location
: 30 km south of Delhi, in
northern Haryana at GUAL PAHARI
Site includes : Forestry , Micro propagation
technology park (MTP) , Patchy greens, Retreat
Centre, Golf range , Golf Course
Site area
: 36 hectares
Climate
: Composite
Building type : Institutional
Architects
: Sanjay Prakash and Teri
Year of start/completion :19972000
Cost of various technologies : Rs 18.54 million

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

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SITE

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

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SITE

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

DESIGN FEATURES
Roof insulated with vermiculite concrete and china mosaic
white finish.
Insulated walls using expanded polystyrene insulation.
Shading devices and fenestration have been designed to cut
off summer sun & let in winter sun.
Glare free day lights used through specially designed
skylights.
Building designed as such wind direction can be
redirected.
Deciduous trees used in the south to shade the building in
summers.
in winters these shed their leaves thus letting in winter sun
Building oriented along east west axis so as to have
maximum exposure
along north-south.
South side partially sunk into ground to reduce heat gains
and loses.
East and west devoid of opening are shaded

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

ENERGY EFFICIENT SYSTEM ( EAT)

Four tunnels of 70m long and 70cm diameter layed at a depth of 4m.
Temp. remains 26 C 4m deep in gurgaon throught year.
Rooms cooled at 28 C when temp. is 40 degree during daytime in summers and was 22 degree when the ambient
temp. was 10 degree Celsius.

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

ENERGY EFFICIENT
LIGHTENING
Uses energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps
in the residential quarters, corridors, lobby &
toilets.
The conference rooms enjoy glare free daylight
through skylights.
Time based controls switch off lights at present
time.

WASTE WATER TREATMENT

TECHNIQUES
Waste water is recycled by root zone technique in which the roots of

phragmites plants with special capabilities of collecting the waste at the

roots are used to clean the water which is used for irrigation. It cleans
5metre cube of water every day.
Water harvesting and watershed management are proposed in entire
area.

CASE STUDY-1 TERI,RETREAT,GURGAON

RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEM
SOLAR HOT WATER PANELS
24 hot water panel forms a part of parapet walls inclined at 70 degree
instead of 45 degree.
Fulfills the daily requirement of 2000 liters daily at 65 degree Celsius.
In winters gas derived from burning twigs, dry leaves etc. serves as a back
up source to heat the water.

Photovoltaic panels

Solar water heater taps the suns energy directly, a series of photovoltaic
panels capture the energy and store it by charging a bank of batteries. A
number of panels, each measuring 1.1 by 1.2 metres, are joined and form an
integral part of the roof of the building. The panels can generate up to 10.7
kilowatts peak of energy, which is fed into a 900 ampere-hour/240 volt
battery bank. Independent panels power most of the lights located outside the
building. Each such light has a pair of small photovoltaic panels (roughly a
metre wide and half a metre tall) and is thus a self-sufficient stand-alone unit.
The sun is the powering force of RETREAT, where solar panels are used to
form a 'solar roof'

CASE STUDY

POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

About the project
The study comprises of a settlement in Martorell comprising
of 121 dwellings:45 social rent flats in two blocks and 76
paired houses. The project is situated in a zone called the
POU DEL MERLI of Martorell.

Natural drainage
pattern on site

Cold winds
during winter

Key features about the site

Surrounded by a highway in the south and east
seat factory in the north,.
small pine forest and hillock in the north.
Last area of growth of the town. Qualified land, not
urbanised, so possibility to apply sustainable design.
Climate
The area has a Mediterranean climate with some days of the
year below 0 degree Celsius.in winter, there are cold north
east winds and in summers a light southerly breeze.

Summer
breezes

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Site development and use of landscape with
respect to climatic data and other key factors
In winter, there are cold winds from north and east
with a light southerly breeze in the summer. Tall
perennial trees have been used to reduce the negative
influence of cold wind especially from east winds.
Similarly 60% of south land has been preserved to
develop a garden and two artificial ponds to produce
an evaporative cooling effect to south breeze during
summer.
The use of caduceus trees in the south and perennials
in the north prevents direct solar radiation in
summers while allowing it in winter.the trees also
keep the soil around the buildings cool and provide
shad eto people and cars both.
Vegetation is also used to create a natural barrier that
mitigates the noise on highway
The open land has been preserved to create a garden
of vegetables and fruit trees.

Caduceus trees to
allow summer sun

Open land preserved

to create garden of
vegetables and fruit
trees

Perennial trees to prevent from

winter breezes and also to create
buffer from highway noise

Ponds developed to produce evaporative

cooling effect during summers

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

District thermal
and PV plant

Paired houses

forest
Preserved open land developed
as vegetable garden

Use of slope to prevent

northern winter cold winds

Use of slope to encourage

summer breezes
Natural drainage slope being
used for irrigation of garden zone
and run off water gets collected
in to the ponds developed

Blocks

Site section showing the conceptual planning and use of slopes and site infrastructure.

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Solar passive Design Features
Basic design for paired houses
Orientation houses are oriented towards the
south , but living room is oriented towards north
to demonstrate that an inadequate indoor
distribution increases energy consumption
Insulation

Insulated walls to
prevent heat loss and
gains
Placement of windows
on north and south walls
for direct solar gain
during winters and for
cross ventilation of
winds

Roof insulation expanded polystyrene

Wall insulation expanded polyurethane
Floor insulation inner aerated concrete
U value for wall =.72w/sq.mt deg. C
Time lag =2.1 hours
U value for windows =6.0w/sq.mt deg. C
Fig Typical floor plan of a paired house.

Provision of gardens in
south and north to
maximise usage of
winter solar gains and
summer cool breezes.

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Solar passive Design Features
Base design for block dwellings

Placement of windows on north and south

walls for direct solar gain during winters
and for cross ventilation of winds

Orientation dwellings are also oriented towards

the south , but living room is oriented towards
north to demonstrate that an inadequate indoor
distribution increases energy consumption
Insulation
Roof insulation expanded polystyrene
Wall insulation expanded polyurethane
Floor insulation inner aerated concrete
U value for wall =.67w/sq.mt deg. C
Time lag =2.1 hours
U value for windows =6.0w/sq.mt deg. C
Fig Typical floor plan of a block dwelling.

Insulated walls to prevent heat

loss and gains

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Solar passive Design Features
Various passive design techniques used to improve
building envelope
1: basic design + thermal brick
Thermal brick without insulation is used in the entire
During winter.
envelope .
Total wall insulation is .60 and time lag is 11.8 hours
2:basic design + extra insulation
Extra insulation is used in the entire envelope .
Total wall insulation is .3 and time lag is 12.4 hours
The above mentioned techniques were applied to
cater for the large diurnal variations using the simple During summer.
concept of thermal mass wall system.

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Solar passive Design Features
3:basic design + SAV
Solar acoustic ventilation window (heating and
refrigeration passive) SAV. The ventilation
system will direct during winter periods the hot
air from the south facade and force it to cross
the dwellings expulsing the air to the north
faade, the summer procedures will be of the
same characteristics but in the opposite way,
forcing the cool air from the north faade
(protected by the shadow of the building) and
expulsing the air through the South faade

Cold air from

outside

Fig. a

4:eco building

Heated air

In this case, all the techniques are applied in

addition to renewable energy systems, energy
and water savings, energy management and use
of eco-responsive materials.
In this scenario a cooling system is not
necessary, so the energy district system is
required only for heating.

Solar radiation
heating the air

Fig. b

Fig a wind movement during summer. Fig b wind movement during

Fig. c
Fig c typical window section.

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Eco friendly materials
Thermo-clay
Eco-friendly paints
Natural stones and recycled glass materials on
facades and railings
Drainage
systems
polypropylene
and
polyethylene
Water management
Surface water and black water are separately disposed
through a double grid. Grey waters are reutilized. Rain
water is stored in a communal tank for each group of paired
houses and blocks for irrigation or to clean the grey water if
required, the remaining rainwater is collected in an artificial
pond to irrigate the vegetable and fruit garden zone. All
these saving measures make it possible to reduce water
consumption from 150litres to 45 litres per person per day.

CASE STUDY-2 POU DEL MERLI SETTLEMENT, SPAIN

Building integrated technologies
SAV system Ventilation, heating, cooling,
noise and thermal insulation
DHW If the solar thermal panels are not
centralized double glassed panel 0.762-1.51X
Photo voltaic system connected to grid and
stand alone for common uses (100 kWp). If
the solar pv panels are not centralised
District heating and cooling system
Heat is produced by: Solar thermal plant of
1000 m2. 4 micro cogeneration of 70 kW
.High efficient boiler of 2 MW.Cooling is
generated by an absorption machine.

CASE STUDY
Inferences
Use the existing utility and transportation infrastructure in order to avoid the need for new infrastructure
Use gravity and natural slope for sewerage system to reduce power consumption
Protect the existing soil and existing vegetation to preserve self sufficient ecosystem
Modify the microclimatic conditions through landscaping
Use the existing topography and landscape to create or avoid harsh and cold winds in winter and invite
summer breezes
Use rainwater harvesting techniques to utilise maximum water and excess water can be directed towards
that to holding ponds for efficient use
Use and effectively place thermal mass as it is cheapest way to achieve energy efficiency with desired
comfort
Area and orientation of buildings should be designed in accordance to site climate
Active Energy systems should be used if necessary and should be non centralised as centralised system
require more maintenance and thus increase the cost.