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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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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
122 views70 pages

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.

Uploaded by

Syed Fahad Ali
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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

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