Building Materials for Tropical Climate & Coastal Regions

ANMOL BHATIA
ENROLMENT NO. 02017601616
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2016-2021

RESEARCH PAPER GUIDE: PROF. SAIMA SHAKIL

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE
VASTU KALA ACADEMY
9/1 QUTAB INSTITUTIONAL AREA, ARUNA ASAF ALI MARG
NEW DELHI – 110067
 ABSTRACT
• Selection of Suitable Building Materials for the construction process is a very difficult task and there are some parameters or
factors which can help you select the materials correctly.
• In addition, selecting preferable building material options is a process, being influenced and determined by numerous
preconditions, decisions, and considerations.
• While there is clearly an urgent need for new technologies to optimize the use of low-impact building materials, it is also
true that there are many technologies or systems, already in use.
• Exploiting the full potential of materials is, therefore, becoming a key factor in material selection, particularly where they
can provide multiple solutions. Currently, the material selection remains limited to specific performance criteria, and a
narrow range of properties dominate the selection process.
• In this research ahead I studied the building materials of two different climatic zones i.e. Tropical climate and Coastal
Regions and their various parameters on which they can be differentiated or we can say factors which decide the selection
of the materials for any particular region.
• The materials currently in use in those regions are being used from the past few years and are there any other materials like
more advanced which fulfil the same purpose without harming much to the environment and a step towards sustainability.

INTRODUCTION
• Every building project involves a variety of building materials used for the selection process. As with the process, there is an
urgent need to consider the suitable building material for that particular purpose.
• In choosing the right material, there is not always a single definite criterion of selection, which means architects or
designers must consider a large number of material selection factors with the Context.
• Data also indicate that there is an increasing trend in knowledge about their implications and important role in seeding
transitions to sustainability in the wider mainstream setting. This makes sense on an intuitive level since less energy is
usually required to process and transport these materials.
• There are factors which governs the selection of a particular material according to its area of application considering the
context and the properties of the material.
• The selection of materials is a very important aspect in terms of building sustainability.
 FACTORS GOVERNING THE SELECTION OF BUILDING MATERIALS
• Building materials are used in a broad range of applications to meet the performance and comfort requirements of an
internal space.
• Different disciplines within the construction industry focus on how to best identify materials that will fulfil these needs.
• For the purposes of rationalizing the selection of material using statistical methods, the characteristics can be grouped into
categories that are likely to include, but not exclusively, the following -:

1) Acoustic Properties 7) Sustainability Research Methodology

AIM
To find out the building materials used in the tropical climate
and coastal regions and how can we replace them with the
modern materials to make them more efficient.

OBJECTIVE
• Factors affecting the selection of materials
• The criteria behind the process of selection.
• Is the construction happening in these climatic regions
using the conventional materials contribute towards
Sustainable development?
• To find out what if we can replace these materials with
the modern or advanced materials? Will it be
Sustainable?
 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK CHAPTERISATION
1) BUILDING MATERIALS USED IN COASTAL REGIONS
CHAPTER 1 : INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
• Construction activities in the rural coast is a typical
phenomenon which involves social, psychological,
economic, environmental, geological, political, global,
CHAPTER 2 : LITERATURE REVIEW national as well as local issues of concern.
• Safe reconstruction for the rural coastal community
MATERIALS USED IN MATERIALS USED IN after the 2004 devastating tsunami was the common will
TROPICAL REGIONS COASTAL REGIONS of all the twelve affected countries.
• In the subsequent tsunami of 2011, Japan experienced
multiple disasters and could not be able to manage
things.
CHAPTER 3 : DETAILED CASE STUDIES
• It was proved by many factors like lack of land use
planning, quality of construction, provision of basic
amenities, health and total safety for Indian Tsunami
reconstruction.
CHAPTER 4 : ANALYSIS AND • Therefore, the scientific and technological-based
COMPARISION approach only can give a better solution.
• For a developing country like India, having more rural-
based communities, the problem is serious, and it
becomes necessary to have construction activities with a
CHAPTER 5 : CONCLUSION & control system to achieve a permanently safer system.
INFERENCES • During the last 20 years, India has experienced 10 major
EQs that have claimed more than 35000 lives.
KEY ISSUES -:
• The harsh environment requires that more substantial building materials to be used and more care taken
when using these materials in order to ensure durability, hazard resistance, and reduce maintenance. The
materials discussed can be used when dealing with both flood and wind hazards.
• Other factors such as corrosion and decay resistance will also be covered. This fact sheet is also intended to
provide the reader with an idea of what the best practice should be when selecting a material for a coastal
building.
ROOFING MATERIALS
MATERIALS USED - GENERAL MATERIALS USED • THATCH
• LUMBER • ASBESTOS
• CONCRETE • RCC
• MASONARY • CLAY TILE
• WIND RESISTANT MATERIALS PROPOSED MATERIALS
• CORROSION RESISTANT MATERIALS • CABKOMA STRAND RODS
• MOISTURE RESISTANT MATERIALS • FIBRE CEMENT COMPOSITES
• TERMITE RESISTANCE MATERIALS • FIBRE REINFORCED POLYMERS
2) BUILDING MATERIALS USED IN TROPICAL CLIMATE
• Buildings for hot-humid climates should be comfortable. The humidity is usually above 50% and often nearly
100% in many regions. Simple, low-cost buildings or Ews can be cool, dry, and mold-free if they carefully
planned and designed.
• Buildings in other areas have conquered cold and disasters like earthquakes. Large areas in the tropics, like
much of central Africa and central South America, are free from serious earthquakes or tsunamis.
• People also live differently in the tropics than in colder regions, and differently than they did 100 years ago.
Old traditional buildings don't fit the way they live now, as their lifestyles changed a lot as compared to
earlier because cultures have changed. New buildings should fit the ways people live in the tropics.
 GENERAL MATERIALS USED
MATERIALS USED - GENERAL MATERIALS USED
• NATURAL STONE
• TIMBER
• SAND-CEMENT BLOCK
• BAMBOO
• RCC
• STEEL
• LIGHT WEIGHT CONSTRUCTION PANELS
• ALUMINIUM
• COPPER PROPOSED MATERIALS
• GLASS • BREATHE BRICKS
• CLAY WITH FIRED BRICK • COOLING BRICKS
• HYDRO-CERAMIC SKIN
• CRIATERRA EARTH TECHNOLOGY

CASE STUDIES

• 1) TORRENT RESEARCH CENTER , AHMEDABAD

 After all the detailed study of selection criteria of materials and the use of different types of
materials in different climatic regions, we can see that the materials react differently according to
the context and nature where it is going to be applied.
 Every different climatic zone or region has its own factors that influence the selection criteria for
selecting the materials for better comforts and Sustainable practices.
 Likewise, from this study we can see that to achieve similar criteria of Sustainability, less energy
Consumption, Conservation of resources, Thermal Insulation, etc. there are the application and
role of different materials according to the different climatic zones and different bearing capacity of
the materials.
 Each material has its own capacity to bear the heat and every material has different physical
properties, chemical properties, acoustic properties, thermal capacity, the weight of the material,
and many other properties that can help us choose the right material for construction.
 The materials proposed above the sustainable with respect to the existing materials but these
materials are not available in India as the materials used for the production is not easily available.
 We can replace them with those materials but it will take some time to setup the market in India
and these materials will help us in long run to make the buildings more sustainable.
 From the comparison table if we see the properties of the materials are similar but due to
unavailability of these materials in our country, we can not apply these materials in our buildings.
 So we must take care of all the factors while selecting the materials in order to attain sustainability
on the larger scale.