HOLISTIC DESIGN APPROACH FOR

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE.

By: Associate Professor Pallavi Mahida.

College of Architecture, SVIT Vasad.
 NEW PARADIGM OF APPROACH TO BUILT ENVIRONMENTS:

THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY

THE FOCUS AND GOAL OF ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION WORLDWIDE.

PRESENT SCENARIO OF BUILDING INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The building sector currently consumes 35% of Indias electricity production (CEA 2009). In addition, it is
estimated that this sector as a whole is poised to grow at a rate of 6.6% annually up to 2030, with commercial sector
currently growing at a rate of 9% per year.
Recent study by McKinsey (McKinsey & Company 2009) has estimated that by 2030 the built up area is projected
to increase from one billion square meters to four billion square meters for the commercial sector and from eight
billion square meters to 37 billion square meters for the residential sector.
The building construction industry is one of the core sectors of the Indian economy and the net spending in this
sector is expected to increase to about USD 370 billion by 2013 (IHS 2009).
This pace of construction presents both challenges and opportunities for improving energy efficiency in commercial
buildings. On the one hand, changing standards in the indoor environment of commercial buildings means that
buildings are consuming more than twice the energy per unit of floor area as before (IRG Discussion Forum 2008).
At the same time, it is easier to build energy-efficiency measures into new buildings than to retrofit existing
structure.
 EFFORTS OF COA FOR ENHANCEMENT OF SUSTAINABILITY IN
CURRENT ARCHITECTURAL CURRICULUM:

The first step in the curriculum enhancement program, as an outcome of the above discussions, was,
therefore, to evaluate the existing architectural curriculum to gain some insights into how an effort can be
initiated, incorporated and sustained to include sustainability as an integral part of the architectural education.

In order to appraise the current architecture curriculum, the ECO-III team designed a survey that was sent to
136 architectural institutions in India in 2007 and responses were received from 28 institutes (Kumar et. al.
2009).

This helped the ECO-III project to identify 18 partner institutes and launch the educational curriculum
enhancement program in 2007. Since then, awareness about sustainable practices, green technologies, energy
efficiency has increased as a result of ECBC being launched by the BEE, building rating systems such as
LEED India and GRIHA, and an enhanced understanding of the environmental impact of building design etc.
 WHAT WE NEED TO ADDRESS AS ACADEMACIANS:

Within the architectural profession and academic traditions that have been stable for half century are being
questioned by a new generation of practitioners.

And so the question here is: Have

we, the architectural educators, reached to reconfigure
our curricula in a manner that is based on sustainability?

The need is of integrating and strengthening present syllabus of architecture in terms of sustainability and be
able to build a new cadre of architects and professionals exposed to the new science and techniques related to new
approaches to passive and low energy architecture, sustainable material, building orientation and design, less
water intensive structures, reuse and recycling of construction and demolition waste and techniques of assessing
energy and resource aspects of building operations.
SUSTAINABILITY IN ACADEMICS: THE GENERIC

Projects categorized as sustainable are often defined either according to the number and type of
environmental systems and technologies utilized, as well as their efficiency, rather than their architectural
design approach.

Ability of merging technical environmental knowledge to the design process as an integrated

design enriching tool seems to be far from being a consolidated approach.
 AGRICULTURE RESEARCH INSTITUTE AT JAWAI HILL, RAJASTHAN
STEP:1
The analysis of the site, its context, its climatic data and the social and functional sustainability of the proposed program:

High ground water table due to proximity of the main hydrology line makes the site suitable for agricultural institute.
Farming site located parallel to the canal gives proximity to water source reducing the energy requirement for irrigation.
Locating the building in such a way that it does not hinder the fertile land .
Building orientated in such a way that longer axis is east west and the surrounding hills giving natural shading from the lower
angle summer sun.
LEARNING OUTCOME : Understanding during the preliminary phase of the project of the implication of sustainability
and the overall site features in early design decision-making.
STEP:2
Microclimatic and wind analysis on the site to assist the volumetric alternative definition and design.

Microclimatic analysis lead to the following three decisions

Evaporative cooling of lake water
Ventury effect from the funnel created by surrounding hills
Elevated building for wind draft
And hence the schematic volumetric solution of a linear building formed
LEARNING OUTCOME : site microclimate matrix study helps to locate correctly the building to be designed, considering
solar radiation and seasonal prevalent wind flows.
STEP:3
Study technological systems and derivation of architectural design definition:

Construction detail Schematic section Volumetric outcome of spaces

On the basis of the data analysed a number of volumetric design alternatives were explored and defined in relation to the spatial
distribution in the building.
LEARNING OUTCOME : The result of the third exercise was the development of the student's ability to use compositional
aspects such as geometries, shapes, volumetric design, balance, harmony, et cetera in relation to technological systems used, in
such way that students could propose an architectural language that can represent a design language for sustainability
 . The fourth assignment allowed the students to analyze the solar radiation pattern and develop and envelope optimizing the heating cooling cooling requirements.

STEP:4
Developing faade, envelope, shading devices and solar systems as design definition and their analysis:

The analysis of sun movement and radiation patterns lead to the following decisions.
Creation of green house on the terrace covered with double layer polycarbonate sheeting and a solar top panel.
Vertical fins added on northwest for low summer sun
The southern roof is extended to achieve the summer noon shading.
LEARNING OUTCOME : . The fourth step allowed the students to analyze the solar radiation pattern and develop and envelope
optimizing the heating cooling requirements.
STEP:5
Natural and assisted ventilation and evaporation system definition in conjunction to construction system design definition

Moderate summer Peak summer Monsoon Winter

The analysis of climatic data lead to the lead to the following decisions of induced ventilation:
In moderate summer use of convective cooling of cool winds from the lake.
Use of earth air tunnel in peak summer .
In the humid months chillers integrated with the earth air tunnel system to achieve moistur free air intake.
LEARNING OUTCOME : The fifth step focused on the use of the passive devices like earth tunnels, wind towers,
ventilated faade rain screen were selected ad-hoc for each faade, according the exposure and characteristics, elaborated
in the micro-climatic analysis.
STEP:6
Basic thumb rule calculations where the student can access the performances of the building:
COOLING
1 ORIENTATION 10% GLAZING7% SHADING 10% REDUCED INTERNAL GAIN 20%
CONSUMPTION FOR NON ENERGY EFFICIENT BUILDING
USING EAT COOLING SYSTEM 29%
4142 KWH/DAY
ACTUAL CONSUMPTION 828
81%
SAVING
LIGHTING
BUILDING OPERATING TIME- 7AM -8PM , ILLUMINATING DARK AREA REQUIRES LED OF 648 WATTS/DAY 85%
2 OPTICAL FIBER LIGHTING SAVING ENERGY DURING DAY AFTER EVENING100 WATTS/DAY SAVING
COOLING + LIGHTING + OTHER APPLIANCES = TOTAL ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION
33%
3 OTHER APPLIANCES
OTHER APPLIANCES
COOLING
COOLING
LIGHTING
33% OF TOTAL ENERGY SAVED
SAVING
SOLAR POWER GENERATION
4 ACTUAL PRODUCTION CONSIDERING 60% EFFICIENCY 6912KWH/DAY INSTALLED CAPACITY 11,520 KWH/DAY.
WATER CONSUMPTION
5ACTUAL CONSUMPTION
ROOF WATER COLLECTION
1,32,00,000 LITER INCLUDING EXPERIMENT FIELD
1,76,00,000 LITER
30% SAVING DUE TO CONSERVATIVE TECHNIQUES

As per thum rule the the final calculation shows that 30% of total energy saved using energy efficient building design stretagies,
instead of 9998kwh/day the building using 6684kwh/day electricity to run the building. If other appliances used in research center
not considered then the saving is almost 83 % for lighting and cooling appliances.
Bar 4 nd 5 shows that all the electricity used is generated buy the solar top panel roof even water inside building is collecting
sufficient water for building to use.
Learning outcome : the sixth and last step allowed completing the project by offering the students the opportunity to access the
performance of the low energy consumption and resource utilization techniques adopted in the design.
The proposed teaching methodology of the design studio based on the environmental building programming and site analysis
exposes the students to the following:
Developing various design alternatives based on the environmental context.
Developing a new architectural language for low energy consumption.
3) Skill to evaluate different compositional solutions and suggest performance driven optimization.
Architectural education should be more responsive to sustainability and sustainable development fields. The academic
community should be involved in providing opportunities for future architects and urban designers to develop more
environmentally responsive architecture.
I acknowledge the students Praveen Suthar and Roma Bhatt of the Fourth year College of Architecture SVIT Vasad year 2014
2015, for their works.