GREEN ARCHITECTURE IN A DEVELOPING SITUATION
Anil Chotmarada
In the triad of basic human needs, shelter is as important as food and clothing for the survival of Man. The fulfillment of this need covers the domain of not only mere shelter from the elements for basic living but also for the performance of all human functions which have become ever so complicated in the contemporary living styles, behavioral patterns, aspirations and expectations. The changes from the cave man dwelling to the intelligent building are based on numerous factors. These multifaceted factors are a part of reality and cannot be wished away. The need for all kinds of creature comforts and the satisfaction of human egos for building bigger and larger and more comfortable will have to be accepted by all developing societies as an unavoidable reality.
Building is an expensive proposition. It is expensive not only in terms of the actual expenditure in land, material and labor costs but also the price that has to be paid environmentally. Modern building materials have high resource and energy consuming manufacturing processes and most of these manufacturing processes also generate toxic by products or change the environmental balances in terms of air, water and land pollution besides the noise and microbial disturbances. Building by its very nature disturbs the natural environment. Where natural land, space and air exists, Man by building, changes the natural conditions as the natural flora and fauna are uprooted for often the introduction of inorganic substance that changes the very being of that land, space and air. Therein lies the irony and paradox that architects and builders need to resolve before embarking on any building endeavor.
The concern on environmental degradation caused by building, led thinkers to look in the direction of environmentally appropriate construction methods and materials that was given the name “green” to relate it to the nature and its intrinsic color and qualities. The inherent human need of wanting to leave behind a better world than the one that a person got, was also an aspect of human life that necessitated the introduction of making building an environmentally friendly process.
As normally happens, it was in the more satiated developed world that such thoughts occurred because the developing world was still striving to provide basic shelter to its inhabitants while the developed world after meeting the basic needs was now addressing the consequences of such physical growth. This concern was expressed in the first instance by the United States and a rating system was developed. This is, however, now being adopted by most countries in some form or the other. Most countries will need to assess their own existing situations before applying these rating methodologies as the situation and context is extremely varying in different parts of the world.
Traditional architecture in most places was more environment friendly than today’s extensively mechanized architecture. Various building elements like chajjas, jallies, jharokhas, courtyards, verandahs, high ceilings, vaults, domes, narrow streets and the like contributed towards making buildings climatically more suitable in India. The materials used were also by and large, bio degradable and hence more effective in introducing ‘sustainability’ that concerns many today. Present day living and working needs necessitate changes in spatial needs and hence buildings of different typologies are required but there can be a semblance of living with nature in the rapidly changing building requirements if the architects are sensitive towards these concerns that may not have an immediate visible effect but will cast long shadows in times to come.
We in India need to assess the value of such serious environmental concerns in our own context. The rating systems for measure of these aspects by the developed world may not be totally suitable to our situation. This is essential as a holistic analysis of the existing conditions and future needs for our built environment will have to be undertaken to resolve the issue pragmatically.
We need to build more densely because of our large population and our extensive dependence on agriculture for survival as a nation. The moment there is a talk of high densities environmentalists get very disturbed and quite rightly so. High density of human habitat will totally change the ecological and environmental conditions because of the consequent change of land use, introduction of materials produced by highly mechanized means, change of water and air quality and other environmental disturbances. Green thinkers have devised various methodologies for resolving these problems like recycling, waste management techniques and the like but once the basic rhythm and structure of nature is disturbed, reconstruction of the original is expensive and difficult. The answer may not totally but partially lie in a rethink on the urbanization policies and maybe the adoption of some appropriate version of model of the Wrightian Broad Acre concepts besides using the garden city reasoning.
It is not only that our present need that are to be addressed but we also need to take care of the future as that is one of the base percepts of green architecture. Our future needs need to be addressed not only in physical terms but also with respect to the aspirations and the expectations of the populace. All villagers want to be city dwellers, everybody wants a big house, a big office, a big shop and the fulfillment of all these aspirations with our present building systems would be anti-green to a large extent. Judicious resource utilization in a manner that respects environment may provide partial answers. The other resolutions may lie in social engineering and value realignments.
The Indian culture, manifest in its rituals and social mores, is another factor that needs to be keyed in for appreciating the differing needs of the built spaces as compared to the needs in some other part of the world. We revere trees, the sun, and rain but have no qualms in making a mess of our ‘sacred’ rivers while performing our numerous rituals. Of course, industrial affluent are worse culprits but our cultural needs of congregating in large numbers is no less an issue that should concern us environmentally. The desire to create an artificial shivalinga in Amarnath is a case in point.
Performing a number of our routine activities outdoor is a living habit that is part of us but quite alien to some in other parts of the world. While the urban dwelling and the urban pace of life does not allow the continuation of such an inherent living pattern, the crowds in the city open spaces are representative of this desire. Part of the reason is the difference in the climate that prevails in this part of the world but part of it is the basic life style. Such behavioral patterns ease the architect’s burden in that such requirements necessitate the organization of spaces that are closer to nature and hence environmentally least disturbed as compared to the large built up spaces required for people with indoor living habits and extreme climates.
The developing world differs from the developed world in terms of basic economy. While it is true that it is the affluent that generate the maximum waste, the plight of the poor is that they cannot take any remedial actions that are required to rectify environmental degradation as these are very expensive. Besides this, there is the perpetual struggle for procuring the minimum for survival that thinking about the environment especially that which has no tangible immediate manifestation can not be expected. A slum dweller in search for basic livelihood can think little about separating the waste for recycling or bother about the reuse of grey water when just getting enough water for drinking is his sole concern. The underlying flaw may be systemic in terms of misplaced urbanization policies or certain political compulsions but these become a major issue for environmentalists. Such problems can be resolved by judicious regional planning and optimum resource utilization, besides of course, actual concern for the environment and the future.
While nature may have provided all parts of the earth with ample natural resources, Man and his greed have created imbalances that lead to over exploitation of these resources. Extensive deforestation, extensive withdrawal of ground water, depletion of fossil fuel, disturbing of the ozone layer are some of the facets of such environmental degrading activities performed by Man in search of creature comforts. The developing countries with their limited economy are at a perpetual crossroad on this count. Increase in resource consumption could ultimately lead to regression in development as a result of environmental degradation. This has been substantiated by the prevailing conditions in China. Its rapid urbanization and industrial growth has increased respiratory and heart diseases in the urban populace, decreased productivity because of absenteeism and poor health and caused a loss of about 7% in GDP, annually, because of environmental problems. This is a heavy price to pay for development and countries on the path of development need to factor such effects while programming their progress.
Another issue of major concern is the production of energy in a country and the consumption of energy in the building industry and the differences in this area between the developed and developing world. Energy is more scarce and expensive in the third world as compared to the developed world. The building industry is a vast consumer of energy in all forms. Starting from the manufacturing of building materials and products, their transportation, to the actual building process and then the running and maintenance of built spaces there is a massive consumption of energy be it electrical or from fossil fuels. Both the production and the consumption of energy in all forms effect the environment and this is thus a concern of green architecture. The developing world with its limited energy resources has to be extremely careful in its consumption for remedial methods that are used for rectifying environmental degradation. While rich countries can use large amount of energy for recycling of waste, third world countries need to deploy methods of progress which produce minimum waste. Use of polymers in packaging is a case in point. There is need for India to discourage the use of plastics and its allied products for packaging and encourage the use of biodegradable materials for such products.
Building procedures and practices differ in different parts of the world depending on the extent of mechanization used for this activity. The richer the country the greater will be the mechanization and greater the mechanization greater will be the use of energy and greater the environmental disturbances. The developing countries, at least for modest projects, are still using conventional building practices and it is only the advent of multi national companies or the building of mega projects that extensive mechanization is being introduced. It would be in the countries interest to use traditional building techniques and practices that were much less harmful than the use of building products that call for extensive mechanization or deploy building practices that call for extensive use of machines. It is nobody’s argument that this be done at the cost of quality of construction but methods that are least harmful to the environment directly or indirectly be used for the purpose of construction wherever these are possible. Less mechanized building construction practices will entail extensive use of human labor. In the urban areas this is a migrant force and if not dealt with properly can be another source of environmental damage. Certain cost offsets by providing appropriate work conditions may still retain the greenness in architecture if all the embodied environmental costs are fully appreciated by the designers and builders.
Spatial organizations are modulated on the basis of the users living and space usage patterns besides the other concerned factors like economy, technology, climate and the like. The building project takes shape in an architects mind and it is here that maximum consideration has to be made for environmental protection. It is at the initial design stages that thought needs to be given to the generation of green architecture. This would start from the selection of the site entailing judicious regional and urban planning and then enter into the appropriate siting of the building within the site. Smaller building footprints will cause the least environmental damage but also entail use of higher technology that may reduce the green effects in the over all environmental disturbance process. Building orientation, to take the maximum advantage of the natural thermal conditionings, window sizes and opening protection systems will all affect the green value of the building. The contradictions of providing daylight while protecting the interiors from heating will need to be carefully resolved. Here, too, mechanization can help but the over all costing of energy used in mechanized systems needs to be carefully weighed.
It is at the stage of designing that the holistic approach to producing green architecture can best be introduced. Appropriate use of building materials, products and methods, in other words, use of local materials, local least mechanized inputs for the building process if made the basis of the fundamental building design will cause the least harm to the environment, thus introducing greenness in architecture. Recycling of waste, on site, to the extent possible needs to be introduced on the drawing board and cannot be a subsequent addition as it would then be either a compromise or more expensive to install. Similarly it would be easier to install a water harvesting system in the initial construction stages than to do it after the project has been completed.
In almost all areas of introducing greenness in architecture, the thinking must start at the design stage. As for example, in the case of mandatory mechanized air conditioning in buildings, the building design needs to address interior volumes, exterior openings, orientation, exposed faces and the like for the mechanized component to have the least harmful affect, environmentally. It is thus the obligation of the architect to initiate the process. There are bound to be numerous obstacles as the investor in the building sees no immediate advantage in these inputs and is more concerned about immediate returns rather than the future he is going to leave for his grandchildren.
Architects in the developing world have an extra burden to carry as their designs need to incorporate the qualities of green architecture much against the wishes of their patrons and they have to put in a tremendous additional effort in convincing the investors. The investors can not be blamed as the building industry in the organized sector is totally finance driven and in the informal sector there is no appreciation for such subtleties. In the organized building industry, our social and cultural norms, lack of appreciation for the future, economy, egos and the cultured desire to solve just the immediate problems makes the convincing even more difficult. If we in India wish a bright future for the coming generations it is imperative that we rethink our approach to architecture, incorporating the greenness in building while also appreciating the factors that exist in the developing world in this regard.
Conclusion
It is an undeniable fact that the physical environment and resource capacities provided by nature are fragile limited and the various endeavors by Man are impinging on the structure of these divine gifts and creating a situation that may not be sustainable if the infringement of natural cycles continues. All development to be sustainable has to take in account, the effect it produces in terms of environmental degradation. While this is a global phenomenon, within the general ambit of these causes and effects there are differences in different parts of the world. Therefore, it is equally important that the physical development in developing countries takes its own steps to create architecture and built environment that is sustainable and green. There are differences in the developing and developed world in most of the factors that affect the decision making in these domains. These differences, illustrated above, need to be respected and taken in account before the issues of sustainability and greenness are tackled by architects, builders and planners in our country. All the development agencies concerned with built environment in India need to appreciate the situation and context that exists here with respect to our own needs, capacities and resources rather than follow the measurement guidelines for green building laid down by the western world. We need to develop a sustainability growth pattern of our own, keeping in mind our population levels, our economic status, our need for urbanization and its consequent policies, our aspirations and our ethos. Let us set up our research centers and think tanks to generate guidelines for our building industry to create sustainable and green built environment.
Anil Chotmarada is a Faculty & Director in Gateway College of Architecture & Design, Sonipat-131001, India.