Responsive Architecture

It is not architecture if not expressive, it is not smart if not contextual, and it is not responsible if not futuristic. It is our buildings that mark a point in time and give definition to space. But what makes our buildings remarkable? It is how responsive they are, to the environment or socially.

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Architecture that serves a community; addresses inequities in society; and responds to climatic, cultural and environmental conditions can be considered socially responsive. Socially responsive architecture evolves as a direct reflection of the life patterns of its inhabitants, reflecting the collective will of the society. Architecture should employ sustainable design to address client goals and user needs while responding to the surrounding community. Socially responsible design goes beyond aesthetics and function—it emphasises interaction between structure and people.

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Architecture should reflect the lives of the people who live in the buildings and celebrate the materials with which it is built. 

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The resource crunch confronting the energy supply sector can still be alleviated by designing and developing future buildings on the sound concepts of energy efficiency and sustainability. Energy efficiency in buildings can be achieved through a multi-pronged approach involving adoption of bioclimatic architectural principles responsive to the climate of the particular location; use of materials with low embodied energy; reduction of transportation energy; incorporation of efficient structural design; implementation of energy-efficient building systems; and structural design; implementation of energy-efficient building systems; and effective utilization of renewable energy resources to power the building.

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Translation of bioclimatic architectural design in the Indian context, therefore, provides a plethora of experiences and success stories to learn from.

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1. Degree College, Leh

Designed for the cold desert of Leh, the buildings promise to give thermal and visual comfort by judicious use of solar energy. Lecture theatres, labs, and library in the academic block have been designed with the building section optimized for both heat and daylight penetration. The north side of the complex has been designed with solid walls in each building to eliminate heat loss, while the south side has been designed to maximise solar penetration for heating and daylight distribution.

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2. Krushi Bhawan, Odisha

The building is designed as a passive-cooled structure with a unique ventilation system and a high thermal mass that keeps the building naturally cool and reduces energy cost. The facade consists of a brick-louvered screen that acts as a solar shading device and expresses itself in the pattern of Ikat weaves, its colours representing the geographical diversity of the region.

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3. Bidani House, Faridabad

In an unusual context, with constrained site and fixed orientation, the Bidani House demonstrates a climate-responsive design, which provides visual and thermal comfort round the year.

The demand of the building design was to respond to the extremes. This has been achieved in this house entirely through the form and fabric of the building. A courtyard facing and opening onto north-east has been designed as a heat sink. The entire house form has been developed around the courtyard with all the main living spaces wrapping around it and having maximum south-east orientation that is ideal exposure for this context.

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4. SOS Tibetan Children’s Village, Rajpur, Dehradun

Low-cost, low-maintenance construction designed to ward off harsh winds and facilitate solar access and ventilation. Simple construction techniques have been adopted to provide insulation at a minimal cost. Landscape planning has been carefully done to provide shelter from cold winter winds and access to winter sun.

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5. Himurja Office Building, Shimla

The Himurja office building is a unique example of energy efficient architecture demonstrating application of several passive and active solar interventions in an existing building. It also highlights the higher cost of retrofitting an existing building to make it efficient as compared to design stage implementation of similar measures.

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6. Silent Valley, Kalasa

Away from maddening crowd and close to nature, the Silent Valley resort is a good example of sustainable habitat with a minimum environmental footprint. Conservation of scarce resources and merger of built environment with nature were the primary objectives of the architect.

The cottages are partially sunk into the ground to take advantage of the thermal storage capacity of the earth. The roof also allows light to permeate and illuminate the rooms, thereby reducing lighting needs during daytime.

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7. La Cuisine Solaire, Auroville

This collective solar kitchen is an example of reducing strain on conventional energy in buildings by efficient structural design, reducing use of energy intensive building materials, and use of appropriate technologies for construction. The solar kitchen demonstrates the innovative use of solar thermal energy for cooking meals for 1000 people, thrice a day.

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8. Aaranya Farmstay Resort, Bhojade Village

The project centres on the principle of vernacular architecture, and is based on established, honest, and time-honoured construction techniques. In particular, the roof is made from terracotta, a material associated with the memory of many family generations, and a representative image of almost half million Indian villages.

The architects organized the longer surfaces of the cottages to face north-south, minimizing heat gain and maximizing cross ventilation and air flow from the adjoining agricultural field.

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9. Java Rain, Chikmagalur

Java Rain is a contemporarily styled resort, crafted in traditional techniques, sourced through local materials, nestled in the veritable coffee hills of Mullahangiri, Chikmagalur. The volumes of the resort repose on the natural contours of the site, interwoven with the landscape. The surfaces of the buildings here are rendered with earthy and rustic materials to accentuate their contemporary forms. Local materials available on site are extensively used to not only help the architecture blend with the context but also make the project sustainable.

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10. The Nirvana Farmhouse, Khadavli

The Nirvana Farmhouse in the small town of Khadavli gently blends into the green landscape to impersonate a quiet retreat. Based on the banks of the river Ulhas, on the fringes of the city of Mumbai, the architects conceived a rustic farmhouse reflective of its immediate surroundings in its structure, form and materiality.

Adapting and accepting ideas to flow from the traditional topographical setting, the architectural style finds its base in critical regionalism.

Void of heavy ornamentation of crafts typical to the region, the style is reinforced in its measured and meaningful décor elements. Overlooking around two acre of farmland, the once barren land now encompasses a 3,000 sq. ft. home along with a functionally landscaped garden.