Green Culture begins at Home

By Anuradha K R

Photography: Courtesy the architect

 

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Ar.  Ashish Bhuvan and Ar. Charanyha Lakshmmi.S, sustainable design experts of IdeinLab Architects, help augment the roots of ‘green culture’, through their design of a stunningly self-sustaining home in Bengaluru, which stands independent of its energy and water needs from civil utilities.

A 4000 sq. ft. home, built on a 2400 sq. ft. plot, the project is born out of the client’s unflinching passion for an ‘easy-on-the-earth’ home. And the architects realize this objective by incorporating the three R’s – Reduce, Recycle and Reuse – as the common thread, running across all its elements.

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Right from the basic building block - CSEB (Cement Stabilized Earth Blocks), more earth-friendly than common brick , the commitment to lighten the carbon footprint is evident at every step. Sun-baked CSEB, made at site, out of the red soil sourced from foundation excavations lower the temperature inside the house by 3 degrees, when compared with common brick-wall. Bio-climatic considerations in the placement and sizing of fenestrations help prevent heat build-up, practically eliminating the need for any HVAC system in the house.

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Filler Slab roof, in addition to saving concrete, presents a patterned ceiling, adding subtle ingenuous glamour to the home. This, along with certain other techniques like jack-arch roofing, brick-on-edge lintels and pre-cast elements of the staircase bring down the use of steel and concrete by 63%. The use of up-cycled old/discarded wood for cladding and furniture hints at saving fully-grown 10 Pine, 2 Teak and 1 Honne trees, while the use of ‘manufactured’ sand points at a saving of 30 truckloads of river sand. Exposed masonry and patterned limestone flooring help enhance the rustic feel.

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A 4kW solar power plant, which routes the surplus power generated, back to the utility grid, powers the house, amounting to a saving of 5840 units/year of electricity produced from nonrenewable sources.  A 27,000Litre underground sump provides storage for harvested rainwater, which can supply fresh drinking water to the family for more than 70 days in a year. Channelized surface run-off water replenishes the groundwater table.

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Genuine ‘Green Vows’ taken by a few could be inspiring enough to initiate a ‘Green Revolution’ of a different kind.