Are we truly ‘green’ in our thoughts?

Spoke about my beliefs about making buildings green on the occasion of renewal of ‘gold’ green rating for Saint Gobain corporate office , Egmore; October 2017

…….To start with, my fundamental belief is that architects have a social responsibility. People spend all their time in a planned or built environment or space; starting from their homes to urban / rural scape comprising of roads, open spaces, recreational spaces to built forms like their offices, schools, metro stations, shops and malls, hotels; even hospitals. Hence, we can imagine and gauge the ill effect which a badly designed home, bad roads, bad urban fabric, bad schools and offices can have on the pysche of an individual and vice versa.

This project was special for us; in the sense of the freedom we were given during the process of design. This got coupled with the unshakeable vision which Saint Gobain had of being sustainable and green. The design , in turn , had to be coupled with the fact that this is the corporate headquarters which had to showcase all their products .

So our start point was a sustainable office, modern and minimalistic and a product showcase.

Just bringing in ‘sensitivity’ in design, which according to me, is a default, brings about sustainability, lower project cost and shorter completion time. This sensitivity will lead to a sustainable interior space even if we donot go for certification. Eg, thoughtful spatial planning, distribution of daylight, efficient design of services like electrical systems, BMS systems, choice of materials, choice of colour etc. Here we had to have cabins on the periphery. Daylight penetration was achieved by the use of glass and daylight panels in between cabins.

I also want to stress upon the importance of research and development in creating sustainable buildings. As designers, we face limitations, many times, which can be addressed by continuous research in all associated fields. Example; VAV boxes in air conditioning – yes, we can throttle the air in one cabin when it is not in use but that makes the supply cfm of air at another location increase, use of waste water in sprinkler systems – why don’t we use the residual/waste water left over after filteration/ treatment of water instead of fresh water ?, occupancy sensors – why do they sense people in the corridor and turn on cluster lights when they are just passing? etc.

Colour therapy for wellness of occupants needs to be used in a more exhaustive manner . As human beings, we are designed to be subject to the entire spectrum of colour. Different colours affect us differently. Eg, red colour generates hunger, makes us feel more alert; blue colour has a calming effect and so on.

Climate and the importance of cardinal directions have to be taken very seriously. It is not recommended to sleep in a certain direction because of the affect the magnetic lines of the earth has on us.

The volume of the space we are in has a profound effect on our emotional well being. A length and height of a room has to allow for our aura space and the energies around us; if we do not get that we feel ‘cramped’.

I also feel that a much larger sustainable effect can be had if some of these practices come into the domain of our building bye laws, rules and regulations. Eg, it could be made mandatory that each office space within a much larger multi tenanted building has a suitable sized terrace attached to it. This would give a much needed lung space to the interior space where people could step out. Also, openable panels in the external glazing could be made mandatory so that in cooler months dependency on air conditioning is reduced. The other advantage, and a very big one too, would be that we would cease to have maximised FSI boxes; buildings will have better quality of spaces and also better aesthetics.

To end, as people we should not be satisfied with just a sustainable interior space . We can aim for a green building, aim for a green neighbourhood and hence a sustainable green world.

A ‘green’ environment has the power to affect the pysche of the users. They will, soon , even outside their green space, follow green measures in their day to day life.

Lifestyles will change.  Human interrelationships will change and the world will be a better place to live in.