Environment responsive Design

Sustainability In Architecture

Major Divya Pillai 08 April 2022

Objectives:

• Sustainability and Sustainable Development

• History and Philosophy of sustainability
• Sustainable Architecture concepts
• Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
• Examples leading to sustainability evolution
Sustainability and Sustainable
development
What do you mean by Sustainability

• Why sustainability
• Why the need today
• What sustains
• What are the solutions as architects
Why sustainability

• Environmental problems and degradation

• Deforestation
• Pollution (water, land, waste and air)
• Extensive land use
• Energy consumption
• Water consumption
• Resources and materials
Why the need today?

• Technologies to combat environmental problems add to more resource deficiency.

• Increasing transportation and technologically advanced methods on land and
space creating environmental changes
• Environmental changes due to development affecting are own survival
• No clean air, water and space to live
• Climate change will lead to natural calamities leading to damage to human, animal
and flora fauna as a life as a whole.
• Finding a solution
What sustains? A lesson by nature

• Nature sustains
• Artificial man made elements that does not support nature cannot survive
• Cohesion or correlation with nature is important
• We are an integral part of nature as we are nature itself
• Detaching ourselves from nature creates environmental problems therefore
sustainability and development at large.

• As architects, architecture needs to be associated with nature. Therefore

architecture needs to sustain with nature. Therefore sustainability.
• Need to abide to rules of nature conceptual stage of designing
• Interdependency
• nothing in nature is independent, every form in nature needs each other to survive.
• The waste from one is useful to the other. Nothing in nature is wasted.
• Efficiency
• Anything in nature that survives is efficient by virtue of design, existence, process.
• Manmade systems are not efficient because it cannot reuse what its designed for and give back to nature rather it uses
natural resources and pollutes the nature instead.
• Demand and supply will largely effect design inefficiency and will have to be changed gradually. That’s y sustainability.
• Survival
• Systems need to be robust and strong that will have to survive test of time
• Mechanism of survival in nature will be required for creating a balance.
• Change
• Adaptation and evolution with time will survive and sustain
• Brids, animals and even architecture
• Evolve
• Adapt
• Sustain
Solutions and response

• Contextual existence
• Live, eat and exist as per what if available in nature
• Natural mechanisms with respect to architecture, food, clothing
• Natural resources and climate response to survival
• Basic fundamental connect with nature helped survival of different clans in the world through time.
• Eskimos
• Early humans
• Tribes in Andaman
• Interdependency, efficiency in terms of resources and adaptability to surroundings in terms of living.
• Houses and settlements of these humans also explain the principles of sustainability
• What is the problem • Economy and environment ignored. Society is given
more priority.
• Population has increased
• Instability as a global problem.
• Globalisation with a lifestyle problem
• Unsustainable
• Ignoring local context (AC, Lifestyle, big houses small
families) • Human development - We need generic solutions
and specific solutions
• Same expectations leading to same architecture.
(Concrete, steel, glass) • Architecture - solutions in the forms of sustainability
tools is important
• No local context in terms of climate, materials
resources, energy • Green buildings and rating systems
• Demand increasing and resources depleting • Climate responsive buildings
• Skills at local level o build as per local context • Ecological buildings.
demising.
• Building automation systems.
Maslows Heirarchy of Needs
How it affected architecture

• Need turned to want

• Basic needs overlooked transformed into society needs
• Became a lifestyle
• No value of environment
• CREATE
• ACHIEVE
• SOCIALISE
• PROGRESS
• SURVIVE
Architecture and Building wrt Maslows Hierarchy

Stone Shelters - prehistoric

• Basic needs
• Physiological
• Social Security

• Can it sustain - yes

• No manpower
• No resources
• But today we cannot survive due to
large population and society point of
view.
Colonies prehistoric
• Built for survive

• Physiological and safety needs

• Can it sustain - yes
• Limited resources
• No skilled manpower
• No ecological resources wasted
• But contextually today no we cannot
Bungas in Rajasthan
• Built for • Might not meet ur socio cultural
requirements today.
• Physiological and social needs.
Also to create a sense of
belongingness

• Can it sustain - yes

• But needs more skilled personnel
• Manpower to construct these
specific type of structures
Forts - Jaipur
• Built for
• Physiological needs and security
purposes. Also to create a sense of
belongingness.
• Creativity comes into play and
therefore self actualisation need is
met.
• Can it sustain - yes but
• Needs more manpower to construct
such huge structures
• Individual utility building cannot
multipurpose.
• Resources required
• Sustianbility might depend on many
factors.
Takshahshila University
• Built for • Sustainability is on the basis of
utility today. Its education. It serves
• Physiological needs a purpose. Therefore sustainable.
• Security and self actualisation

• Can in sustain - individual design

context no

• But -
Taj Mahal
• Built for • As it requires skilled labour
• Physiological needs • Huge amount of resources,
manpower.
• Security
• Self actualisation

• Can it sustain - no
 Conclusion
• Sustainability or sustainable development broadly sums up to the needs and
intelligent planning in order to save resources, manpower, economy and
cause least enevironeneta impact.

• Buildings needs to be designed taken in to account basic requirements of

nature like interdependency, efficiency, survival an change

• Future of all life forms depends on use of architecture and nature together
creating a natural built environment with respect to climate, locally available
resources and environment at large.
Thank you