Sustainability in Design

Many people assume that the future of architecture will be the same as in the present: more glass and metal.  Upon reflection, this turns out to be the past of architecture, representing the best of the last century – the oil century – that is giving way to the age of electronics, biotechnology, nanotechnology and the hydrogen economy.

Integral to this design is the efficient and ecological running of a facility and it does not concentrate only on the sculptural qualities of space. This implies the use of glass that is correctly sized and shaded. It implies personalised lighting and air-conditioning serving the user and not the entire space. It also means having roofs that produce heating, cooling, electricity, water and food at the same time as they provide leisure. It means prioritising human values like spending time with co-workers and nature. It infers seeing hybrid and fuel cell automobiles as captive power generators for the building in the future. And it entails the utmost respect for water as a basic resource. All this leads to significant operational energy and water savings while providing a high performance workspace.

This is not a retrograde move towards a romanticised or traditional ‘low-consuming’ past, but a consciously willed path to serve a highly ecological, networked and intelligent future society where hardware starts becoming ever more personalised, pliable and living. This is the design of a living building that integrates various stand-alone features with energy efficiency making it an international model of ecologically appropriate office architecture in continental tropical climates. It is not the shape of the buildings and machines that are the centre of attention, but their metabolism.

Agilent Technologies, Industrial Model Township, Manesar

Crafted as a great office experience, this 10-acre campus imparts a distinctive character to enhance productivity while maintaining the sanctity of a peaceful work environment. The campus mainly houses a state-of-the-art work facility of about 50,000 sqm to support approximately 1,800 employees and includes various recreational facilities.

Half the area is in parking and utility spaces (two levels for the basement plus an above ground multi-level parking). The utilities include water tanks and thermal storage, rain water storage (of 5 million litres), AC and electric areas and STP.

International quality plug and play stations in flexible, signature interiors on large floor plates, from 600 sqm to 1500 sqm, provide IT infrastructure with an optic fibre backbone with world-class conference/meeting spaces and make for a future-ready building with long term asset value and timeless finishes. Further, there are recreation centres, a rooftop café with 350 covers, daycare centres, medical sick bay, gym and health club, and a meditation centre.

The interior is coordinated to match the architectural ethos, Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC), electrical and green building/energy systems design. Spaces have a mix of daylight and very low energy task-light systems integrated with general lighting. The configuration minimises overheating, provides good views (to the hills to the south) with partition heights restricted to about one metre and efficient and flexible circulation patterns. Materials have low/no volatile organic compounds and are ‘natural’ and the faucets and flushes conserve water.

Credits: Campus for Agilent Technologies 1800 workstations IT campus at IMT Manesar, Gurgaon Site Area: 10 acres Gross Covered Area: 50,000 sqm Cost: Rs. 175 Cr. (c. 2010) Client: Agilent Technologies Architect: Sanjay Prakash & Associates (now SHiFt: Studio for Habitat Futures) Project Management: Johnson Controls International Construction Management: Sanjay Prakash & Associates (now SHiFt: Studio for Habitat Futures) Main Contractors: ACL, Sidco, QCC, MAS, Bluestar and JCI Consultants Environmental Consultant: Environmental Design Solutions Interior Architect:  Firm Terra Structure: NNC Consultants Electrical: Lirio Lopez HVAC, Sanitary, Fire Fighting: Sterling India Landscape: Integrated Design

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) guidelines were followed for ducts, paints, adhesives, sealants, other toxic materials, with no storage in Air Handling Units (AHU) and independent spaces with100% exhaust for copy rooms, chemical housekeeping rooms, pantry, cleaning areas etc.

With workstations of 1.8 m x 1.8 m, supervisors of 2.8 m x 2.4 m, and a variety of meeting room sizes, user densities of about 10.5 sqm/person is achieved. The area of office floors therefore is only about 12.5 sqm per person. Most workstations receive glare-free daylight and run with LED task lights.  This implies 3.2 m clear + 1 m floor = 4.2 m floor heights instead of the usual 3.6 m heights.

Using a live load of 4 kN/m2 and a combination of M20 and M35 concrete, various alternatives were evaluated for the slab system in terms of economy. A flat plate RC system has been selected for the office floors for simplicity and height conservation. For economy, a beam and slab RC system has been selected for the parking floors.

Personalised work environments utilise a hybrid under-floor air conditioning system based on the principle of cooling the user (not the space) while efficient variable air volume systems work even for the increased ceiling height of 3.2 metres using displacement ventilation as a strategy. Absorption chillers that run on waste heat were included as well as a screw chiller with thermal storage.

It is not the shape of the buildings and machines that are the centre of attention, but their metabolism

The extra height, as well as the limited floor plate depth of 25 m, allows much of the office to operate in natural light. The building achieved energy and water savings of more than half compared to similar buildings in this area, with air conditioning provisions as low as 60 sqm/TR. Continuous and uninterrupted power supply is backed by low-carbon cogenerating gas-based captive power plant. The power demanded has been conserved to only about 3 MW (80 W/sqm even on net area basis).

Despite selecting water-cooled chillers for energy efficiency, water consumption has been reduced to about one-third of the conventional by rainwater harvesting and double recycling of waste water. Hot water is provided by solar energy with gas backup.

The building currently utilises only about a quarter of the floor area permissible by zoning, allowing for future expansion to full coverage in the future. For now, this reserved land (in the south) not only serves to create valuable outdoor spaces for recreation, but also enhances biodiversity through the landscape, cutting dust and noise.

The design puts together techniques that have all been tried out in separate places. However, harmonised and implemented together in this project it may well become an international example focusing on the future of ecologically appropriate office architecture in continental tropical climates.

TERI Retreat at TERI Gram, Gurgaon, Faridabad Road, Haryana

This project demonstrates the philosophy that if water and energy are left out, the building becomes a ruin. Because it is the energies within a building that make it run.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has been actively involved in the development of sustainable solutions in the field of energy, environment and other related issues. Hence the foremost aspect that needed to be highlighted in the design philosophy of its RETREAT (Resource Efficient TERI Retreat for Environmental Awareness and Training) block, built to accommodate 36 trainees and scientists for various residential courses in energy and environment, was the projection of its beliefs about alternative technologies and methods. This would also facilitate the study and development of better versions of the propagated techniques.

It is located carefully in difficult undulating land, with gorges and ravines, so as not to disrupt the sensitive drainage and hydrology of the site, and placed at split-level. The two separate blocks of the hostel – the north-facing administrative ‘daytime’ block and the south-facing residential ‘night-time’ block – are interconnected through a footbridge open at the upper level. Two semi-enclosed courts between the blocks double as buffer spaces and spill-outs, providing an adequate distance for the south sun to enter the north block.

The layout, orientation, insulation, shading, reflection and character of the blocks work towards maximising the use of the sky for day lighting and the sun for natural winter heating. Innovative day lighting occurs by means of an atrium mounted with transparent solar photovoltaic (SPV) panels in the double height lobby of the administrative block; skylights mounted with regular PV panels and large glazed openings on the north side have reduced the use of electricity during the day. These include drastic reductions in electrical requirements, especially for HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning). A normally expected electrical load of 280 kW has been reduced to 96 kW. Corridors on the north and receding floors towards the south maximise direct entry of the winter sun into each room of the residential block. Balconies can thus be provided without hampering the winter sun. Summer gains have been offset using deciduous trees and shading devices like jaalis on the east and west facades of the staircase.

Credits: TERI Retreat at TERI Gram, Gurgaon Design team: Sanjay Prakash, Manoj Joshi, Alok Singh, Sumeet Manchanda, Jayesh Bansal, Anish Arora, Puneet Bansal Location: Gual Pahari, Gurgaon, Haryana Civil cost: Approximately Rs. 236 lakhs (L) (c.1995) Services cost: Approximately Rs. 210 L, including earth air tunnel (16.8 L), Solar chimneys (2.8 L), 10.7 kW solar photovoltaic system (74 L), Stand-alone SPV street lighting system (2.8 L), Root zone system (8.5 L), Solar water heating system (2.5 L), Building management system (23 L), Ammonia absorption cooling system and gas bank (31 L), Air conditioning system (24 L), Electrical works (25L). Built up area: 2,400 sqm Site area: 32-hectares (overall), about 3 hectares (surrounds of this block) Main contractor: Confoss Constructions Electrical contractor: Janus Engineering BMS contractor: Pyrotech Electronics HVAC contractor: Suvidha Engineers Interiors: Shiva Furnishers HVAC and root zone: Thermax SPV: Tata BP Solar Solar Hot Water: Jain Irrigation Structural Consultant: Sunil Arora Bldg Mgmt and Electrical: Amit Chandra Plumbing Consultant: Atam Kumar A/C Consultants: Atam Kumar, Mahender Kumar Lighting Consultant: Mili Majumdar Photovoltaic Consultant: B D Sharma Gasifier Consultant: VVN Kishore Landscape Consultant : Savita Punde Project Manager: Binod Rai, D K Sharma

While the design follows the dictates of site topography and required functions, its focus lies in the utilisation of a variety of conventional and non-conventional energy-conscious features; the latter necessary for the building to practice total energy autonomy and minimum resource depletion even while being fully functional. It has various innovative heating, cooling and energy saving features, which give nearly complete freedom from city services and infrastructure while providing a level of service that could be equated to a business hotel.

The energy requirement is met by a hybrid system run on a combination 50 kW (peak) wood waste-based gasifier and a 10.7 kW SPV system integrated through an intelligent building management system; the latter guides a power control unit to manage the large battery to be charged by the extra energy generated by the gasifier and SPV system. The battery feeds the building at night for more silent operation. Along with the gasifier plant that fuels a generator with a logic system, this is one of the earliest smart grid buildings in this geography.

Cooling and heating systems vary between blocks. The residential block utilises the ‘earth tunnel system’, an underground set of tunnels terminating in openings in each space. It takes advantage of the constancy in temperature at a certain level below the ground to provide the rooms with airflow at a constant 20°C to 30°C throughout the year. This brings down the formal electrical air-conditioning demand to under 0.3 TR of refrigeration per room. Solar chimneys assist with ventilation. The block is oriented so as to almost not require winter heating, beyond some nominal provision by the earth tunnel, and the overall electrical demand is reduced to almost one-third of conventional requirement.

While the design follows the dictates of site topography and required functions, its focus lies in the utilisation of a variety of conventional and non-conventional energy-conscious features

With a higher requirement for humidity control and conditioned air, the administrative block depends on a combined system. An ammonia-based CFC-free system cools most of the ‘daytime’ block while evaporative systems cool the double height lobby.

Walls and roofs are well insulated with 40 mm thick expanded polystyrene and 80 mm thick vermiculite concrete respectively while China mosaic tiles on the roof reflect heat. Walls are also protected by partial ground sinking, restricting exposed area, use of light colours and jaalis for shading. Shadow angles, sunshades and the use of curtains are carefully coordinated for optimising summer and winter behaviour.

Flat plate thermosiphonic solar collectors form the hot water system and are mounted at a slight incline matching the façade, as opposed to the usually seen diagonal mounting and ensure low maintenance and enhance the facade for a slight loss of efficiency.

While the design utilises a load-bearing structure for better detailing and quality of construction, the building attempts to break myths about the ‘straight’ forms of solar architecture while essaying an integration of design and energy systems.

Wastewater management (sewage and sullage) is done by a planted bed filter where reed beds thrive on wastewater while cleaning it.

All photos: Sanjay Prakash