Green Design: An Idream Experience

By Author: Loknath
Total Articles: 22
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By Loknath Swain

The history of architecture describes, the manufacturers in ancient Greek and Roman, Renaissance and Enlightenment architects of the modern business understood and practiced the use of locally available materials. They used natural light when building self-sustaining, this energy was practised long before anyone, and named it "sustainability".

Finally, people are more aware of the influence of nature and joint efforts such as the Kyoto Protocol and the LEED certification came into existence. There are a number of reasons for building green, including environmental issues like global warming, energy prices, growing awareness and responsibility associated with "Sick Building Syndrome", economic issues like rising energy prices the declining oil reserves and concerns about our limited water supply and social services. Time has evolved a new concept which is Sustainable construction.

But what is it? The ultimate definition depends on how "green" as opposed to how "sustainable" are defined :

Experts share their experience while working on iDream project, which is currently devoted to ...
... the LEED (platinum), certified, they had an opportunity to fully understand whether the whole process is going green. The idea then was to make the building, which would enable the building itself effectively. So, the first reaction was designing to enable maximum of natural light, the building must be oriented for the residents to watch more. As our architectural abilities advanced, and the LEED consultant on board, it was noticed that the "green project" was not just about using natural light and views, but was indeed a very deep subject in itself.

The building was then only part of the process. Sustainable or green design is not a simple process of conventional design, but it is close coordination of the design team, architects, engineers, and the client at all stages of project selection, site selection system of training materials and recruitment of project implementation. For a sustainable design key few important points were considered:

1) Use of renewable energies such as wind, geothermal and solar.

2) Maintain a healthy indoor environment with adequate ventilation.

3) Reduce the environmental impact by choosing building materials.

4) Conserve water and increase efficiency through equipment, faucets, shower greywater recycling, rainwater capture, landscaping and other non-potable uses.

These key points to diversify views, responding to questions from selection of the HVAC system, lighting, restrooms and accessories, locally available materials, products with minimal VOC content, preventing water running off the site from harvest landscape and preserve adequate water to maintain the soil surface during construction process.

About Loknath Swain:
Loknath Swain is a Mumbai based writer. He writes on subjects related to architects in mumbai and interior designers