Improvements in Architecture with respect to Climate Change

Climate change is a reality. It is caused by Global warming. The main reason for global warming is the human activity in the past and more so in the present. Architecture, in its widest sense consumes energy, modifies environment and manipulates ecology. Buildings contribute almost 30% of greenhouse gas emissions, which in turn are responsible for the climate change that has suddenly (in geological times) confronted us.

According to A.P. Mitra, who was Director at CSIR - National Physical Laboratory, a four-fold increase in the country’s GDP would require a 2.8-fold increase in carbon dioxide emissions, 1.3 times more methane and 2.6 times more nitrous oxide, unless action is taken.

But India cannot simply give up industrialization. “Imposing restrictions on development will affect the GDP. A 30 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions will raise the number of poor by 17.5 per cent,” explains Manoj Panda, Director - Economic Growth.

We are well aware of the “Energy Crisis” and the role of building design strategies in energy conservation. Energy and Environment have re-emerged as crucial issues of this millennium as Technology and Economy were of the last one. Energy is costly. Pure energy like electricity is costlier. Presently energy demand is outstripping the supply and increased energy generation is depleting natural resources and degrading environment. Let us not forget that energy and environment stand on the opposite side of the fence.

Environmental economist Herman Daley once remarked, “What is the use of a saw mill if there are no forests”. What this means is that economy is a subset of human society which itself is a subset of the biosphere. A gain in one sector would be loss to the other.

In the long run the energy costs would equal or exceed the environmental costs, which civilizations would have to pay dearly. On the other hand, energy is also vital for economic development which forms the foundation for social well-being and political stability.

In this scenario, energy conservation becomes not only imperative but also an obligation dictated by the basic human instinct of self-preservation. Architecture, in its widest sense consumes energy, modifies environment and manipulates ecology.

It seems that energy issues should be of professional concern to Architects, whose main goal is to improve the quality of life. Energy conservation should therefore become the prime goal of architectural design.

If energy requirement of a household of 200 kWh / m2 can be reduced, say by 50% using passive, climate responsive strategies, it will make available 100 kWh / m2 of energy to another household, “without having to produce it.” Energy conservation is thus termed as an “energy resource.”

It is, therefore, imperative that we produce design solutions that are Climate-responsive, Energy-efficient, Eco-sensitive, User-friendly and Cost-effective. Climate is an important context which greatly influences the amount of energy a building would use and therefore, needs to be analyzed accurately.

Climate as a Context:

In the process of architectural design, we often observe difficulties in resolving the forces that affect the skin of the building. These forces are Thermal, Luminous, Acoustic and Aqueous environment, which need to be addressed at the schematic design stage.

We have to take a broad view of the problem of designing buildings responsive to environmental forces by investigating the problems in different contexts such as Climate, Culture and Comfort as well as Energy, Environment and Ecology, and at different scales namely Building Groups, Buildings and Building Components.



Each of these contextual decision making tools is a complete science in itself. All of them are interactive and to some extent interdependent too and need to be examined in a serial discipline and holistic manner.

Optimization of indoor climate is clearly the most important architectural role. The exercise obviously depends upon accurate knowledge of external climate as it affects the behavior of the building fabric and the provision of internal environmental controls.

On the other hand, the very act of constructing a new building or a group of buildings will change the external climate, because each urban unit creates above it a climatological sheath with which it interacts.

Architect has to take responsibility for successful design of conditions in the immediate vicinity of the building called the “Micro-climatic Envelope” of the structure. This can be done only by applying Scientific Methodology.

Improvements with respect to Climate Change:

Architecture, which is the most demanding of the contemporary disciplines, has both an obvious artistic component, and also less obvious but not less essential, scientific component. Science and Mathematics are integral parts in the development and growth of Architecture.

Mathematics from Number theory to Algebra, from Calculus to Probability theory and from Topology to Logic has practical applications in Architecture. “Mathematics herself the daughter of universe, rules the nature.” Our responsibility to improve the quality of life also beacons us to develop scientific and mathematics based methods of design of Thermal, Luminous, Acoustic and Aqueous environments.

We must gain enough knowledge of various specialties and disciplines involved in the building process, in order to retain control of it. Energy and Environmental issues have brought a new dimension to this process and time has come not to shy away from and be hostile to scientific methods, formulae graphs and calculations.

If we apply analogy of human body to buildings, envelope is the skin of the building which guards the internal desired environment from the harsh external environment at these border conditions. (Thermodynamics)

Structural elements are bones and muscles of the building imparting strength. Building services like water supply and sanitation (Civil Engineering) electrical and mechanical equipment (both engineering disciplines) are the arteries and veins of the building carrying out important functions.

A badly designed acoustical space (Acoustics) cannot be easily improved and may need a large amount of expenditure for corrective measures. In fact, we may need to validate each of our design solutions by, sometimes intricate calculations.

In order to achieve this, a frame of mind has to be created. Energy and Environment have re-emerged as crucial issues of this millennium and to deal with these, sciences like Physics and Chemistry will be of great help. Even Economics will play a great role in ascertaining the viability of a critical design decision.

Most important of all, Architectural design consists of an ounce of artistic inspiration, aesthetic and intangible, which has to be supported by tons of logical argument that is engineering and technology.

Design is a reiterative process of Analysis, Design, Evaluation, Redesign and reevaluation, if necessary. All these processes need calculations. When cost of the building runs up to multicrores of rupees, we must understand the costing of the project, even if it involves number-crunching.

This can be done only by applying Scientific Methodology, which will enable us to make “Quantitative” assessment of the “Qualitative” performance of Materials, Systems and Resources.

Not in too far away future, Architects would be asked to provide energy audit of their design proposal, not only by the authorities but also by their clients themselves and Architects would be held accountable and answerable for their design decisions involving wasteful use of energy.

Guided by:- Prof. Sham L. Kolhatkar, UrjaMitra, Pune
 

 - Bhavik Mehta, Assistant Professor,  Anant National University
 - Suhas Toshniwal, Assistant Professor,  Anant National University