This document discusses various principles of residential building planning, including:
1. Factors like building function, site conditions, and building codes affect residential planning. Planning principles include aspect, privacy, grouping, circulation, and sanitation.
2. Aspect involves positioning rooms for sunlight, views, and ventilation. Privacy considers isolation within and outside the building. Grouping relates to proximity of related rooms. Circulation covers internal access. Sanitation relates to hygiene.
3. Other principles are flexibility to adapt rooms over time, roominess for comfortable furniture arrangement, and elegance in overall building appearance. Residential planning requires balancing these various principles.
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BPD Module I
This document discusses various principles of residential building planning, including:
1. Factors like building function, site conditions, and building codes affect residential planning. Planning principles include aspect, privacy, grouping, circulation, and sanitation.
2. Aspect involves positioning rooms for sunlight, views, and ventilation. Privacy considers isolation within and outside the building. Grouping relates to proximity of related rooms. Circulation covers internal access. Sanitation relates to hygiene.
3. Other principles are flexibility to adapt rooms over time, roominess for comfortable furniture arrangement, and elegance in overall building appearance. Residential planning requires balancing these various principles.
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BTCVC606
Building Planning and Design
Module-I Principles of Building Planning What is Building Planning? Planning of Residential Building is the arrangement of various components or units of a building in a systematic manner so as to form a meaningful and homogeneous structure to meet its functional purpose. Building planning is a graphical representation of what a building will look like after construction. Also useful for to estimate cost and for preparing budget. The basic objective of planning of the building is to arrange all the units of building on all floors at a given level according to their functional requirements. Factors Affecting to Planning of Residential Buildings: Followings are the factors affecting to the planning of building: 1) Function of building e.g. residential, industrial, public, commercial etc. 2) Its component parts, their sizes and the relationship between different rooms 3) Shape and size of the plot 4) Topography 5) Climatic condition 6) Building by-Laws Principle of Building Planning: 1) Aspect 2) Prospect 3) Privacy 4) Furniture Requirement 5) Roominess 6) Grouping 7) Circulation 8) Sanitation 9) Flexibility 10) Elegance 11) Economy 12) Practical Considerations. Aspect- Aspect is the positioning of rooms in buildings with respect to 4 directions in such a way that the occupants of buildings would enjoy the natural comforts like sunshine, breeze, scenery, etc. to the maximum possible extent. A room receiving light and air from any particular direction is said to have the aspect of that direction. Each room of a residential building should have a particular aspect because certain room need morning sun and other rooms needs less light. A building must be designed to suit the site with all its varying aspects. Aspects not only provides comfort, but is a requisite from the hygienic point of view as well. Living Room: It should have a southern or south-east aspect. The sun is towards the south during winter and north during summer which will provide sunshine during winter and cooler during summertime. • Bedroom: It should have a west or south-west aspect, as the breeze required particularly in summer would prevail from this side. • Kitchen: It should have an eastern aspect so as to admit morning sun refresh and purify the air. • Dining- It should have N, NE, SE aspect. Proximity of kitchen. It should be cool. Less illuminated. • Gallery or Verandah: It should be north or north-east aspect. • Classroom, Reading room: It should be laid with the north aspect as light received from the north will be diffused and evenly distributed. • Store Room: It should have NW, N, NE aspect. Dark and cool. Prospect- It is to enrich the outside view i.e., elevation or end view created by prominently exposing the better constructed and better looking portions and at the same time concealing from the view any undesirables ones. The outside appearance can be improved by attractive planning, providing bay windows and utilization of good landscape or seascape. Privacy- Privacy is the seclusion or isolation of an individual or a couple or a group from the rest of the inmates of the house. Privacy may be from one part to another of the same building or could be from neighbouring buildings, streets, etc. Privacy can be a privacy of sight as needed in bath rooms, water closet or Privacy of sound as needed in confidential discussion and in study room, or both privacy of sight and sound as required in a bedrooms. Privacy is broadly classified as- 1) Internal Privacy 2) External Privacy 1) Internal Privacy- Internal Privacy is the privacy within the building. It can be easily achieved by- Proper grouping of rooms as bed, dressing and toilet, kitchen and dining. Careful planning of entrance and circulation space. Better disposition of doors and windows and mode of their hangings. 2) External Privacy- Privacy of the whole building with reference to the surrounding buildings and roads. It can be achieved by- Having a compound wall to a height of 1.35 m to 1.5 m above the adjacent road level. Construction of porch at the main entrance. Planting trees along the compound wall. Providing ground glass windows and ventilators. Providing screen walls, curtain walls and dwarf wall on verandah. Planting creepers along the boundary fencing or growing shrubs. Furniture Requirement- Furniture is a functional requirement of a room. A living room, drawing room, kitchen, a classroom, office room, laboratory, hospital room, etc. all have their own furniture requirements. A room should have enough space to accommodate all the furniture required for the maximum number of people without overcrowding. Dimensions of furniture to be used in that room is also known. Hence, arranging furniture in that particular room keeping clearance for circulation, dimensions of room can be finalized. Hence, while planning a building, furniture arrangement muse be shown to justify the size of room. Roominess- Roominess is the general feeling created after a room is well furnished with all the permeant furniture as a spacious and well planned. Roominess is obtained by getting the maximum benefit from the minimum dimension of a room without cramping of the plan. By using every nook and corner of the building advantage roominess is derived. Some rooms may create the impression of being crammed with furniture, where as some others may create a tunnel like feeling as we enter. A rectangular room is more useful than a square room in the same area. The length and breadth ratio of a good room should be between 1.2 to 1.5. A ratio more than that creates a bad effect. When length exceeds 2 times its breadth, it creates a tunnel-like effect. Grouping- Grouping means setting different rooms of a building according to their inter-relationship of invitation and transition. The rooms arranged in the layout in a proper correlation of their functions and in due proximity with each other. Grouping of a residential building: • The dining room should be close to the kitchen. • The kitchen should be kept away from the main living room. • Main bedrooms should have independent and separate access from each room towards the sanitary units. • The bathroom and water closet should be nearer to each other. • Kitchen should be nearer to the backyard and the doors and windows are so located that the housewife can have free unobstructed sight of the children's playing in the open space. • If more than one bedroom is provided, they should have easy access to the dining room. • Staircase should be centrally located and easily accessible from drawing room. • The water closet should be away from dining room. • Circulation: Access or internal connection between rooms on the same floor or between floors is known a circulation. It is the space used for getting comfortable communication from one room to another room or from one floor to another. Circulation inside house should be simple, systematic and short. Circulation should neither affect the privacy of a room nor interfere with the utility space.
Circulation in a building is of two types-
1) Horizontal Circulation 2) Vertical Circulation 1) Horizontal Circulation- Circulation between rooms of the same floor is called horizontal circulation like- passages, corridors, halls, etc. Passage should never be narrow, dark, zigzag. They should be free from obstruction. Area of the horizontal circulation may constitute about 20% to 25% of the total plan area of the building. It may be more for public building. 2) Vertical Circulation- Circulation between various floors is known as vertical circulation, like- stairs, lifts, etc. Stairs are quite common in small residential building. Lifts are must in addition to stairs when number of storeys are more than three, number of users are many as in public buildings. Plan are earmarked for vertical circulation is about 8% to 10 % of the total area. Sanitation- • Sanitation of building not only associated with urinals, bath-rooms, wash-basins, sinks but also the overall lighting and ventilation. • All the parts of a building should have well lighting and ventilation to maintain good hygienic conditions. This could be done in a natural way or in an artificial way (air condition). • Necessary provision to facilitate the cleaning of the building be installed. • Washing closet, lavatories, urinals, bathrooms like sanitary conveniences should be installed adequate in number in relation to the occupant load. The Factors influencing sanitations are- 1) Lighting 2) Ventilation 3) Cleanliness Flexibility- • Flexibility means planning the rooms in such a way that though originally designed for a specific purpose, may be used for other purposes also when desired. • For designing houses for middle-class families or other buildings where the economy is the main consideration flexibility should always be considered. • If large space needed in a certain time a house to accommodate the gathering. It can be obtained by removing a removable partition wall or curtain between the room and the dining room. Alternatively, an open yard, garden, or verandah can also be provided. • If the rooms are big enough and have min. width of 3m, then they are more flexible and the activities of the various rooms can be easily exchanged. • Independent access to bath & toilet offer maximum flexibility. Elegance- The elegance is the overall effect produced by elevation and general layout of the plan of a building. To get good elegance of a building it is better if elevation is developed first and then the plan is adjusted accordingly. A better elegance can be obtained by- 1) Selecting superior building materials for facing such as polished stones of granite, marble or mosaic. 2) Providing projections like sunshade, balconies, canopies or porch. 3) Providing corner windows or Bay windows. 4) Paints and varnishes with proper contrast 5) Providing kinks in walls to accommodate windows and cupboards instead of a straight wall. Economy- The economy is a major factor in building planning. To fit the proposed scheme within the limitations of the resources and funds certain alterations and omissions in the original plan have to make. But while considering the economy, the required strength and durability of the structure should not be compromised. Economy can be achieved by implementing the following measures without affecting the utility and strength of the structure. Providing the simple elevation. Dispensing of porches, lobbies and balconies. Reducing the storey height Reducing the number of stairs by giving more rise to steps. By standardization of sizes of various components and materials. Practical Consideration: Besides all the fundamentals of planning discussed, the following practical points should be additionally considered: • Strength, stability, convenience and comfort of the occupants of the building, should be considered first. • Provisions for future extensions without dismantling should be made in the planning. • The building should be strong and capable to withstand the likely adverse effects of natural agencies (earthquake, flood, storm etc.) • Elevation should be simply yet attractive. Too many porches may give good elevation for some time, but in the end, simple designs fit better for generations. • Larger size of the room should always be considered as far as possible as it can be shortened by providing partitions but smaller rooms cannot be enlarged easily. • Life period of a building should be at least 50 years. • Money should not be spent unnecessarily for elaborate architectural purpose. • Use of prefabricated elements for lintels, sunshades, steps etc. This measure is useful in effecting economy. • The number of doors and windows should be minimum from the safety and strength point of view. • If all the bedrooms are planned in the first floor, at least provide one floor on ground floor for sick and old. • Sun Path Diagram- • Sun path refers to the apparent significant seasonal-and-hourly positional changes of the sun (and length of daylight) as the Earth rotates, and orbits around the sun. • Sun-path diagram as the name suggests is something that is used to determine the location, in the sky, of the sun at any point of time during the day, throughout the year. The most immediate use of a sun-path diagram is that the solar azimuth and the altitude can be read and hence the position can be exactly determined. • The optimum position and orientation of various sunlight related equipment like solar heaters, ovens is known. • By tracing down the surface area illuminated, to the greatest extent, by the sun, the location of clerestories and fenestrations of a building can be optimised so that the thermal and visual comfort levels in the building are met. • The shading devices also can be designed similarly. • Stereographic Sun Path Diagram - Imagine somebody lying on the ground facing the sky and starts taking photographs of the sky all along the day, throughout the year using a fish lens camera. All these photographs superimposed forms a polar sun-path diagram. • Azimuthal lines: Azimuth angles run around the edge of the diagram in 15° increments. A point's azimuth from the reference position is measured in a clockwise direction from True North on the horizontal plane. True North on the stereographic diagram is the positive Y axis (straight up) and is marked with an N. • Altitude lines: Altitude angles are represented as concentric circular dotted lines that run from the centre of the diagram out, in 10° increments from 90° to 0°. A point's altitude from the reference position is measured from the horizontal plane up. • Date and month lines: Date lines represent the path of the sun through the sky on one particular day of the year. They start on the eastern side of the graph and run to the western side. There are twelve of these lines shown, for the 1st day of each month. The first six months are shown as solid lines (Jan-Jun) whilst the last six months are shown as dotted (Jul-Dec), to allow a clear distinction even though the path of the Sun is cyclical. • Hour Lines: Hour lines represent the position of the sun at a specific hour of the day, throughout the year. They are shown as figure-8 style lines that intersect the date lines. The intersection points between date and hour lines gives the position of the sun. Half of each hour line is shown as dotted, to indicate that this is during the latter six months of the year. • Reading the Sun position- (Step-by step)
Step 1 - Locate the required hour line on the diagram.
Step 2 - Locate the required date line, remembering that solid lines are used for Jan-Jun and dotted lines for Jul-Dec. Step 3 - Find the intersection point of the hour and date lines. Remember to intersect solid with solid and dotted with dotted lines. Step 4 - Draw a line from the very centre of the diagram, through the intersection point, out to the perimeter of the diagram. Step 5 - Read the azimuth as an angle taken clockwise from North. Step 6 - Trace a concentric circle around from the intersection point to the vertical North axis, on which is displayed the altitude angles. Step 7 - Interpolate between the concentric circle lines to find the altitude. Orientation Of Building- Orientation of building is the alignment of different rooms of the building along different directions to get the maximum benefit of natures gift as - • Solar insolation (of light & heat) • Wind • Enchanting views of nature as views of landscape, sunrise, sunset, Moonlit sky, running stream of water, fragrance of fresh air etc. Because of the neighbourhood of the site, layout of roads of street &other factors a building has to be oriented to face a particular direction. India being a tropical country, the best orientation is the direction of prevailing wind. Natural agencies like sun and wind are utilized to the best advantage by proper orientation of buildings. Factors Affecting Orientation- 1) Temperature 2) Wind 3) Humidity These three parameters consequently depends upon- Sun’s path throughout the year & its relative position with respect to the locality. Direction of prevailing wind particularly in summer when it is required most and in winter when it is to be controlled. Character of rain & its intensity. SUN- Sun is a source of heat & natural light. The sun action causing heat is mostly direct by day & indirect by night. The materials of construction like stone, brick & concrete get heated in the daytime & slowly radiate their heat at night which is quite uncomfortable particularly during summer in tropics. Hence - 1) Provide the large walls towards north and south and short walls towards east and west- 2) Provide sun breakers on the sunny faces, particularly on the south which receives heat for most part of the daytime. Similarly provide shady trees on the sunny sides. 3) Provide verandahs on south and west so that the walls on those sides are less heated. Verandah on east reduces the light of the morning sun and hence it is not recommended. 4) Where orientation of the building cannot be controlled, the defect can be remedied to some extent by improving upon the design of roof, which should then be well insulated against heat. Wind- Warm air should be expelled and fresh air should be induced into all the rooms and in particular into the bedroom where an average person spends 40% to 50% of his life either sleeping or relaxing. Locate bed room on windward side. Kitchen, which is hotter than any other residential room and where utmost coolness is desired, should be towards east. Rain- The rain directions is not predictable and its angle of incidence varies from time to time. Where there is continuous rainfall throughout the year, predominant rain direction can be noted and taken care of by making minimum opening in that direction. A sunshade with groove is necessary to prevent rain from creeping and entering the covered area. C.B.R.I. Suggestions for Obtaining optimum orientation - The building should receive maximum solar radiation in winter and minimum in summer. In hot climates, habitable rooms on the south and west sides should be protected by verandah, bathroom, store etc. Sun breakers may serve better than a verandah on south but when provided the verandah may be with south and west facings. Exposure to sun can be reduced by shady trees on sunny side and also keeping the shorter walls along east and west. For hot and humid zones, the orientation is governed by the direction of the breeze. All the rooms which are occupied in the daytime should preferably be placed on north and east side, The bedroom should be placed in the direction of prevailing wind and at the same time protected by verandah from the heat of afternoon sun. For proper orientation, the height of the house should not be more than twice the width of street. Orientation Criteria for Indian Conditions- There are three major climatic divisions of India. 1) Hot Arid Zones (Dry arid Zone) 2) Hot-humid zones 3) Hilly regions 1) Hot Arid Zones (Dry arid Zone)- - Day air, low humidity & meagre rainfall hence low vegetation, strong sun light and dry dusty ground are the features of this zone. - Northern India & central India away from coastal belt are the hot arid zones with high summer day time temp. 27⁰⁰ C to 45⁰⁰ C and night time temp. 15⁰⁰ C to 25⁰⁰ C. - Annual rainfall is below 100 mm & relative humidity is less than 40%, with wide variation in temperature between day & night and between summer & winter. - Comfort requirements call for the removal of the hot air through roofs, doors , windows & other openings for orientation in such zone. - Surface area of wall exposed to the sun should be as less as possible. Long walls of the building should face north-south. - Shading devices such as varandah, trees and sun breakers are to be provided on sunny side to create comfort. - Lighter colours reflect away the hot rays of solar radiation and are to be used. Darker colour absorbs heat during day time and radiate the heat at night and hence to be avoided. - The states comes under this zone are plains of Punjab, Rajasthan, plains of U. P., norther and western U.P., non-coastal Andhra Pradesh, eastern part of Maharashtra, Kerala and western part of Tamilnadu. 2) Hot Humid Zones- - Moderate heat, moist air & high rainfall leading to lushly growth of vegetation are the striking features of this zones. -Physical comfort is only possible by getting good circulation of breeze into the habitable rooms. This can be achieved by providing large windows. Shading is essential on southern & western sides. - As the rainfall is more, pitched roof in essential. - External walls are painted with light colours to enhance reflection of heat but not its absorption. - Damp proof course is must. - Thick walls are preferable with sufficient large opening for ventilation. - The states that comes under this region are Chattisgarh, Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Western coast of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and eastern coast of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. 3) Tropical Hilly regions- - Chill weather, moist air, rainfall round the year are common features of these regions. Snowfall also common particularly in winter. - Solar radiation is welcome and ventilation is of no significance. - Room heaters are used to maintain warmth during chill weather. - Window should be small & walls should be thick. - Compact closed plans are desirable. Long walls are to be planned on east and west to receive maximum sun during forenoon and afternoon. - Dark colours which absorbs heat during day time to reradiate them during night are desirable. - The states comes under this region are Kashmir, hills of Punjab, Assam, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and western ghats of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra. Green Building- A green building is a structure designed, built, operated, renovated, or reused in an ecological and resource efficient manner. A green building is one which uses less water, optimise energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generate less waste and provides healthier space for occupants when compared to conventional building.
Green buildings are designed to meet certain objectives such as
protecting occupant health, improving employee productivity, using energy, water and other resources more efficiently and reducing the overall negative impacts on environment. These objectives can be achieved by better siting, design, Construction, operation and maintenance taking into account the complete life cycle of building. General Principles of Green Building- Create a natural environment in buildings. Minimize the consumption of materials & maximize their utility. Protect the material environment by astute selection and use of materials. Minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission Minimize the consumption of water and maximize recycling of treated wastewater. Adopt environmentally sound and health work practices during both construction and occupancy. Create a healthy, non-hazardous and safe place. Balance environmental performance with cost and economic performance. Benefits of Green Building- 1) Economic Benefits 2) Environmental Benefits 3) Social Benefits 1) Economic Benefits- • Reduces operating costs and improve occupant performance due to efficient use of all utilities in building. • Improved occupant work efficiency and productivity • Creating, expanding and shaping markets for green product and services • Optimization of life cycle economic performance • Increased property value • Decreased infrastructure strain • Increased rent and occupancy • Less maintenance 2) Environmental Benefits- Reduces impact of building construction and operation on soil aquatic and forest eco-system, air & water quality, energy consumption. Energy savings and water saving varies from 20-30% and 30-50% respectively. Improves landscape of building site. Reduce dependence on artificial ventilation & energy. Reduce of waste generation and reaches landfills Offset greenhouse gas emission. Enhance and protect of biodiversity and ecosystem. Improves water and air quality. Conserves and restore natural resources. 3) Social benefits- Enhanced occupant comfort and health Heightened aesthetic qualities. Minimizing strain on local infrastructure Improved overall quality of life and standard of living. Improved occupational productivity.
Disadvantages of Green Buildings-
Initial cost is high Availability of materials Need more time to construct Need skilled labours Structural Orientation – In order to optimise sun exposure, green building demand structural positioning opposite of other neighbourhood homes, causing friction among neighbours. Green Roofs – In general, green roofs are comprised of multiple layers, including a vegetation layer growing medium, drainage or water storage insulation, a water proofing membrane & roof support since they are usually heavier than to install a green roof. Air Cooling features – When utilizing green building, cooling components such as natural ventilation, consumers do not have a precise mechanism to increase or decrease exact temperatures. This is a difficult hurdle for many green building occupants to over come. Design Criteria for Green Building- Green building places a high priority on health, environment and resource on performance over its life-cycle. These new priorities expand and complement the classical building design concerns: economy, utility, durability and delight. Green architecture is green building design concentrates on four interrelated aspects. • Daylight • Natural Ventilation • Comfort • Material & Devices The basic elements in designing a green building as per U.S. Green Building council standard 189.1-2009 are as follows- 1) Site Sustainability 2) Water Use Efficiency 3) Energy Efficiency 4) Indoor Environmental Quality 5) Green Building Materials 6) Occupant Health & Safety 1) Site Sustainability- The site sustainability addresses requirements for green building projects that pertain to site selection, site development, mitigation of Heat Island effect and light pollution reduction. a) Site Selection- The site for green buildings shall takes place on one of the following- - In an existing Building envelope - On a Brown field site - On a Gray field Site - On a Green field site that is within (a) 800m of residential land that is developed (b) 800m of a min. of ten basic services such as grocery stores, hardware stores etc. (c) 800m of an existing or planned and funded , commuter rail, light rail or subway station. - On a Green field site that is (a) Agricultural land and the buildings purpose related to the agricultural use of land. (b) Forest land and the buildings purpose is related to the forestry use of the land (c) Designated park land and the buildings purpose is related to the use of the land as park b) Prohibited Developmental Activity- The green building should not constructed at- - Flood affected land - Within 150 m of fish ponds and wildlife habitat conservation area - Within 35 m of any wetland. c) Mitigation of Heat Island Effect- i) Site Hardscape- At least 50% of the site hardscape shall be provided with one or any combinations of the following- - Existing trees and vegetation or new bio-diverse planting and adapted plants - Paving materials within a minimum initial Solar Reflectance Index of 29. - Shading through the use of structures - Parking under a building - Buildings or structures provided that provide shade to the site hardscape. ii) Walls- Above grade building wall and retaining walls shall be shaded with shade providing plants, man-made structures, existing buildings, hillsides, permeant building projections & on site renewable energy systems. iii) Roofs - A minimum of 75% of the entire roof surface not used for roof penetrations and associated equipment, or site renewable energy system as photovoltaics or solar thermal energy collectors, portions of the roof used to capture heat for building energy technologies. • Green roof systems shall be covered with products which have a minimum initial solar reflection index of 78 for a low-sloped roof and a minimum initial SRI of 29 for a steep-sloped roof. d) Site Development- A minimum of 40% of the entire site area shall incorporate one or more combination of the following- - Shall be vegetated with a minimum depth of growing medium of 300 mm. - Shall have a vegetated roof with a minimum depth of growing medium of 75 mm. - Shall have porous pavers. - Shall have permeable pavement with a minimum percolation rate of 100 litres/min-m2. 2) Water Use Efficiency- a) Site Water use Reduction- i) Landscape Design - Landscape architects and designers can specify native plants which use no waters after becoming established. Drip irrigation and other low water using system used. • A minimum of 60% of the area of the improved landscape shall be in bio-diverse planting of native plants and adapted plants other than turf grass. i) Irrigation System Design - Hydro zoning of automatic irrigation systems to water different plant materials is required. Landscaping sprinklers shall not be permitted to spray water directly on a building and within 1 m of a building. Smart controllers work based on ET and weather data should be used to adjust irrigation schedules or an on site rain moisture sensor that automatically shuts the system off after a predetermined amount of rainfall or sensed moisture accumulates in the soil b) Building water use reduction: i) Plumbing fixtures and fittings: - Water closet (Toilets): the effective flush volume of water shall be 4.8 litres. - Urinals: Code approved waterless urinals are available. However, maximum flush volume for urinal is 1.9 litres. - Residential kitchen fancets: Maximum flow rate : 8.3 litres/min - Residential showheads: Maximum flowrate : 7.6 litres/min ii) Domestic Appliances: - Clothes washers: Maximum water factor of 800 litres/m3 of drum capacity - Dish washers: Maximum water factor of 22 litres per full operating cycle iii) Gray Water Reuse- Gray water from sinks, kitchens and food service locations can be used for toilet and urinal flushing, landscaping and on site water storage for fire fighting. Such systems require dual piping to route gray water as well as appropriate valves, filters and signage. iv) Rain Water Harvesting- Rain water harvesting is the process of intercepting storm- water runoff and putting it to beneficial use for the building. It is also considering LEED certification of green building which leads to conservation of water. 3) Energy Efficiency- Energy efficiency requires a system based approach for designing and building a home. All elements of the building, foundation framing, roof structure, and windows should be high energy efficient. It is clear that if a building is properly designed and maintained it can save energy up to 60%. Some of the measures which can be taken to improve the energy efficiency of a building are as follows: i) Orientation- This is the first step to achieve energy efficiency. The orientation of the building should be such that it minimizes exposure to the south and west in order to minimize heat ingress and enhance energy efficiency. Passive solar buildings is often implemented in low- energy homes to shade windows and roof during summer while maximizing solar gain in the winter. ii) Building envelope- It plays a very important role in saving the energy consumed for the air conditioning. To reduce the heat inflow inside the building, the following measures can be considered - Select high performance glazing with U value, low shading coefficient and high VLT (visual light transmittance). - Insulate the wall. The options for insulation materials can be extruded polystyrene, expanded polystyrene (Thermocol), glass wool etc. - Brick wall with air cavity can also significantly reduce the heat ingress - Hollow blocks, fly ash bricks and Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks are also good insulators. - The heat ingress through the roof can be as high as 12-15%. Insulating the roof can substantially reduce the heat ingress. - Consider shading devices for window openings iii) Equipment and Systems- To save the energy one should be very careful while selecting various equipment's for the building. The following points must be given due importance for selecting the equipment's: - Select chillers with high coefficient of performance - Install variable frequency drives for supply and return air fans and pumps - Select high efficiency cooling towers - Use high efficiency motors, transformers and pumps - Consider night purging with ambient air to flush out the heat trapped within the building during the day time - Adopt controls and building management systems for effective control iv) Lighting- Lighting consumes about 20% electricity of the power consumption in the lighting. Simply by taking some measures, this consumptions may be reduced. - Design in such a way that the building gets maximum day lighting. - Overall lighting power density can be designed as less as 10 m/m2. - Use day light cum dimmer controls. - Select energy efficient luminaries like CFL, T- 5, LED etc. - Occupancy sensor control with Multilevel Switching or dimming system shall be used to reduce lighting power to a minimum of 50% when no persons represent. - Occupancy sensor controls are used in conference room, class rooms, persons represent meeting halls to automatically turn lighting off (within 30 minutes) when everybody left. - Lighting for security and emergency egress shall not exceed 1 w/m2. 4) Indoor Environmental Quality- Indoor air Quality is enhanced by utilizing materials that meet the following requirement- i) Building Entrance- All green building entrances shall employ an entry mat system that shall have a scraper surface, an absorption surface and a finishing surface. ii) Minimum Ventilation rate- The zone level design outdoor airflow rates in all spaces occupied shall be greater than or equal to the airflow generated by ventilation system in the building. iii) Environmental Tobacco smoker- Smoking shall not be allowed inside the building. Any exterior designated smoking areas shall be located at a minimum distance of 7.5 m from the building entrances, outdoor air intakes and windows with openings. iv) Less toxic or Non toxic- Materials that emit few or no carcinogen, low reproductive toxicants on irritants shall be used in order to eliminate indoor toxic pollution. v) Minimal Chemical Emission- Products that have minimal emissions of volatile organic compounds (vocs) and also maximize resource and energy efficiency shall be used to minimize hazards. vi) Moisture Resistant- Products and systems that resist moisture or inhibit the growth of biological contaminants in building should be used to protect the health of occupants. vii) Thermal Comfortable Conditions- Personal temperature and airflow control over the HVAC system coupled with properly designed building envelope will also create thermally comfortable conditions for occupants 5) Green Building Materials- Resource efficiency can be accomplished by utilizing materials that meet the following criteria. i) Sustainable Construction material- Products with identifiable recycled content including post industrial content with a preference for post consumer content. ii) Resource efficient manufacturing process- Products manufactured with resource efficient processes including reducing energy consumption minimising waste (recycled, recyclable and or source reduced product packaging) and reducing greenhouse gases. iii) Locally available products: Building materials components and systems found locally or regionally saving energy and resources in transportation to the project site. iv) Salvaged building materials: Use salvaged, refurbished or remanufactured materials, which save the product from early disposal by renovating, repairing, restoring or by improving the appearance, quality of performance, functionality or value of a product without sacrificing energy efficiency or water efficiency. v) Recycled or recyclable product packaging: Products enclosed in recycled content or recyclable packing put to use. vi) Durable: Materials that are long lasting or are comparable to conventional products with long life expectancies are preferred. vii) Reusable or recyclable: Select materials that can be easily dismantled and reused or recycled at the end of their useful life span. 6) Occupant Health and Safety- • Recent studies reveal that buildings with good overall environmental quality can reduce the rate of respiratory disease allergy, asthma, sick building syndrome symptoms, and enhance worker performance. Many building materials and cleaning maintenance products emit toxic gases such as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC and formaldehyde. • These gases have a detrimental impact on occupants' health and productivity Hence, use construction material and interior finish products with zero or low emissions to improve indoor air quality and protect health of occupants. CII sohrabji green building, Hyderabad TCS Techno park Chennai Suzlon One Earth, Pune