SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE

Definition and Characteristics of Sustainability

DR AVLOKITA AGRAWAL
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND PLANNING

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Scales of Sustainable Built Environment
Building

Site

Region Image source: www.travelok.com/

Each of these scales would interact with each other and impact too.

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Elements of Sustainable Habitat

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 Sustainable Architecture
Sustainable Architecture is a subset of sustainable development.

Architecture is a social and economical exercise which leads to

environmental impact and in turn is affected by it, it has to respond to
all these in a balanced manner.
First principle is to understand it as a system.

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 Characteristics of Sustainable Architecture
1. Resource Equity - Green National Product SOCIAL

2. Embodied Energy -Of materials and resources

3. Global community -Think global but act local

ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENTAL
4. Economics -Larger socio-economic awareness

5. Renewability -New way of looking at materials

6. Traditional Wisdom -Changed view towards traditional architecture

7. Institutional change -Beyond design of buildings

8. Technology -Appropriate technology

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 Three constant themes
Tradition- Tradition essentially represents accumulated knowledge of past
generations in dealing with environment and place-specific techniques that have
been used by people to alter their micro climates.

Technology - Evolutionary distinction between our species and those that did
not use tools as effectively. Technology is then intertwined with tradition.

Urbanism – No serious assessment of sustainable development can be made by

ignoring urban arena and most topics relate to civic issues.

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 Tradition as a theme
• To set tradition and technology against
each other is a false dialectic.
• Until early 1980’s, traditional was
considered picturesque but not worthy of
research.
• Bernand Rudolfsky’s Architecture without
Architects was a courageous attempt in
1960
• There are many notable exceptions who
respected traditional wisdom before it
became fashionable to do so.
• Rediscovering the past to move into
future.
Katsura Villa, Kyoto, Walter Gropius and Bruno taut praised its
aesthetic qualities and talked about the potential of its modular
system being adopted in contemporary prefabricated system

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 Tradition as a theme
• Concern for environment was not a
priority for architects caught up in new
and epic adventure of discovery.
• Traditions and historical conventions
typically convey respect for the
environment.
• Reconstruction of historical identity has
been used to protect national integrity.

Katsura Villa, Kyoto, Walter Gropius and Bruno taut praised its
aesthetic qualities and talked about the potential of its modular
system being adopted in contemporary prefabricated system

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 Technology as a theme
- It is situated on a steep hillside on land
previously considered unusable.

- Landscaped outdoor teaching areas at each

cluster act as courtyards between buildings.

- Minimizing the displacement of earth for

budgetary and environmental reasons, the siting
of the project took advantage of a natural bowl
for the playing field and primary football field,
embedding them in the sloped earth at the
south of the site to create an economically
Diamond ranch High School, California, architect Thom Mayne.
efficient hillside seating area.

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 Urbanism as challenge
• Cities continue to hold out great promise
as well as potential to become source of
enormous environmental problems if not
dealt properly.
• They also have obvious advantage of
housing more people on less land thus
reducing the impact.
• They are engines of job creation and can
provide better services.

Transit oriented Development in Curitiba.

(Source: URBS)

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 Hassan Fathy

New Baris Market, Kharga Oasis, Egypt 11

 Hassan Fathy
- Created to shelter the community of
Old Gourna (Gournii ) who lived
above the tombs in the ancient
cemetery of Thebes.
- reinterpretation of a traditional
urban and architectural setting,
- appropriate use of local materials
and techniques,
- extraordinary sensitivity to climatic
problems.
New Gourna Village is located in Luxor on the West Bank of the Nile River, within the - It demonstrated, that sustainability
World Heritage property of Ancient Thebes in Egypt. The Village was designed and and social cohesion could also be
built between 1946 and 1952. an outstanding example of sustainable human
settlement and appropriate use of technology in architecture and planning. met with vernacular architectures,
local materials and techniques.

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 Hassan Fathy
- Fathy's tenets derived from
humanistic values about the
connections between people and
places, and the use of traditional
knowledge and materials especially
the exceptional advantages of earth
as full-fledged construction material.
- promotions of ideas of sustainable
architecture but also help recognize
the fundamental role of
New Gourna Village is located in Luxor on the West Bank of the Nile River, within the communities.
World Heritage property of Ancient Thebes in Egypt. The Village was designed and
built between 1946 and 1952. an outstanding example of sustainable human
settlement and appropriate use of technology in architecture and planning.

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 Hassan fathy

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan’s House

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 Le Corbusier
• Though he is
remembered as a
modernist, his
architecture shows
great sensitivity to
context and an interest
in more earthy forms
of building
• He possessed an
exceptional visionary
grasp of the potential
of new materials
making him a leader of
modern movement.

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 Le Corbusier
- Construction system made of panels
which could be connected together, easily
transported and filled with concrete.
- Less material consumption, time
saving, response to context
- Connectivity with nature
- Historical, environmental and
technological synthesis
-

Villa Savoye
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 B V Doshi
• Western modernism
with traditional
environmental
responsiveness.
• LIG housing
improvement

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 Luis I kahn

Salk Institute IIM Ahmedabad

Lightweight structure, imkportance of light and ventilation, nobility of purpose 18

 Over Arching principles
Prior assessment of proposed activity

Involve people in decision making

Recognize necessity of comparing alternative course of action

Utilize life cycle framework

Commit to continual improvement

Set targets, monitor evaluation and regulate

Identify synergies between environment and development

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 Social aspects
Improve quality of human life

Make provisions for cultural diversity in development

Ensure healthy and safe environments

Implement skill training and capacity enhancement of disadvantaged people

Seek fair and equitable distribution of social costs of construction

Seek intergenerational equity

Humanize larger buildings

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SOCIO-CULTURAL & ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS
• Identity
• Sense of belonging and ownership
• Socio-economic regeneration through buildings
• Economic aspects most often combine within the aspect of
affordability

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 Economic sustainability
Ensure financial affordability for intended
beneficiaries

Promote employment creation

Enhance competitiveness in market by

adopting sustainable policies

Choose environmentally responsible

suppliers

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 Bio-physical sustainability
Extract resources slower than their rate of
extraction

Maximize reuse and recycling

Minimize pollution

Create healthy and non-toxic environment

Maintain ecological diversity

Minimize scenic, cultural, historical and

architectural damage
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 Technical Sustainability
Construct durable, reliable and
functional structures

Pursue quality

Revitalize existing structure

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 considerations for design process
• Ensure connectivity-
- Reinforce connectivity between
project, site, community and
ecology.
- Minimize changes to natural system
functioning
- Reinforce natural characteristics of
the place
• Indigenous- what has been
sustaining for centuries?
• Design for future looking at the
Image Source: asla.org
past

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 Sustainable Neighborhoods
- Design on a human scale
- Provide choices
- Encourage mixed use
development
- Vary transportation options
- Build vibrant spaces
- Create identity
- Conserve landscapes Image source: https://meetingoftheminds.org

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 Sustainable region
- Climatic conditions
- Topography – terrain
- Vegetation
- Water resources
- Land as a resource
- Connectivity

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 Site to region
• Relevant urban, agricultural
and natural characteristics
• Cultural and economic assets Site Region

• Climatic characteristics of bio

regional system
• Natural disasters
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 Site to site
• Context, scale, view, corridor,
materials, geometric
relationship, proportions
• Site and environmental analysis Site Site
• Microclimate
• Vegetation type and soil water
retention characteristics

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 Site to architecture
• Climate and human comfort
• Adjustments
• Area of microclimate alterations Site Architecture

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Thank you

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