Ar. Chitra K Vishwanath, Prinicpal Architect & Managing Director, Biome Environmental Solutions Pvt Ltd

Embodied Energy Plays a Big Part in Building Construction Ar. Chitra K Vishwanath, Principal Architect and Managing Director of Biome Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is also an expert in earth architecture. She believes that Eco-friendliness cannot be a fashion statement, instead, it has to be a way of life. In an interview with Built Expressions, she points out that building a positive environment is not an easy task. It has to be all inclusive- politically and socially viable.

BE: What are the several issues identified for sustainable urban built environment? How do we proactively address them?

CKV: An urban built environment should support people of all ages; all income groups while not being parasitic on the hinterland for management of its water, waste and demand of energy. It should also strive for self sufficiency for some of its need of food.  Through passive design, designing for water storage and recharge, waste management, growing food - a lot can be addressed proactively.

BE: What are the effects of Urbanisation on environment? How do we mitigate this challenge in urban environment?

CKV: Urbanization especially in Indian context has a mixed effect. On the positive note- It provides for employment, living in a place free of caste and gender constraints, access to better education and health care- in short better/higher social mobility. On the negative side Urbanization invariably eats up the agriculture hinterland since cheap access to food is a necessity for cities to flourish, pollution of water and air since we are not very stringent with pushing the boundaries of treatment of generated pollutants, heat island effect and due to planning for faceless a loss of community living.... Building a positive environment is not an easy task. It has to be all inclusive politically and socially viable.

BE: As an architect, how do you visualize a future eco friendly city? What important parameters of built environment this city shall address?

CKV: I do visualize an ecological city of future. The hew concrete of the city should be the new ground. It should allow for greenery to happen, allow for water storage as well as make energy.

It will be very important that the resources to build come from the closest distance of future buildings. The resources to build should determine the carrying capacity of the structure. Carrying capacity of the land with respect to providing for healthy water for living, treating the waste water and waste within the premises, providing for food and energy should determine the number of people occupying the land. It can no longer be based on economics alone but also on ecological value.

BE: What are the energy efficiency options that should be made mandatory in a building at the time of plan approval? Are there any steps initiated by the concerned authorities in this direction?

CKV: In almost all cities, our staffs at planning authorities are not trained to understand and dialogue in terms of ecological designs but are merely authorized to tick off certain points with respect to FAR, setbacks and ground coverage. Once a design on paper checks out with these criteria the job is done and the building comes up willy nilly. An enlightened authority would be the one which looks at the design considering its environmental and social impacts. It has to go beyond mandatory criteria and develop contextual criteria.

Building passive should be made mandatory with respect to energy which will require that the staff at planning authority understand climatic aspect and ask for sun path diagram from the designer.

BE: What is the impact of embodied energy of construction materials in the construction of High Performance buildings for sustainable future?

CKV: Embodied energy plays a big part in construction of building. Higher embodied energy means that the materials are coming from long distances or have energy consumed in building them.  Cities too need to be planned in such a way that the materials for construction come from closer by and the nature of the built should be integral to the material available.

We definitely need to think differently as to what kind of spaces do we need in a largely tropical country like ours. We are building too many closed spaces and then consuming energy to light and ventilate them. The paradigm of building should change drastically as well as our lifestyle should change to require lower energy.