Ecological Building

Environmental impacts of building

Environmental impacts of building

Shortage of building materials

Historically, building materials like wood, brick, adobe were procured locally
High construction volumes during the last 30 years have drastically depleted
naturally available resources

Ex: due to scarcity of structural lumber, wooden architecture has become a rarity

Concrete-masonry structures represent the majority of low-rise residential and

commercial buildings
Steel is used as the primary structural material in high-rise buildings
The substitution of natural materials like wood with materials like steel may solve
the short term resource shortage problem but should not be considered as the
ultimate solution

why do some
buildings sit
lighter than
the others?

Environmental impacts of building

Noise, vibration, dust and traffic

disruptions

Noise, vibrations and dust are

major sources of environmental
pollution due to construction
activity
Building types such as industries
and theatres must be zoned
carefully to prevent adverse
impacts on people working/living in
the surrounding areas
Construction methods and design
principles employed must ensure
the above sources of pollution are
minimized or eliminated completely

Environmental impacts of building

Food wastes

In dense urban sprawls, the management of organic food waste is a major

problem and poses a challenge to the environment
Grinding and disposing of food waste into the sewer increases the content of
organic materials so high that it becomes difficult to treat at water treatment
plants
Releasing untreated/improperly treated sewer has adverse impacts on water
bodies in the ecosystem
In many countries, it is required by law to separate organic food wastes from
other domestic solid wastes
Methods, such as composting, to treat organic wastes in ways beneficial to
nature must be adopted and improved further

Environmental impacts of building

Water pollution

Drinking water business is

profitable these days

Single-family homes in rural communities, in

most parts of the world, are not connected to
municipal water treatment systems
Sewer generated from these buildings reach
creeks, rivers and lakes through surface run-off
The same water bodies may be the primary
source for fresh-water withdrawal for major
cities downstream
Currently most people in cities rely on bottled
water for drinking as they cannot drink
municipal water without domestic treatment
The release of untreated sewer from rural
communities upstream is a major cause for this
low quality water problem

Environmental impacts of building

Disruption of the natural

landscape

Buildings disrupt natural

landscape
Many buildings are designed with
complete disregard for its
topography and surroundings
Although they may not cause
physiological harm to people and
the environment, they ruin the
visual quality of nature
Building on sensitive natural areas
must be judiciously regulated
F L Wrights Falling Water is a good example
of how to build in harmony with Nature

Environmental impacts of building

Disappearing green spaces in

urban areas

Urbanization is a world-wide
phenomenon with over 50% of the world
population living in urban areas
Sub-urban farmlands and forests are
encroached by ever expanding
residential and commercial zones
Green spaces (parks, gardens) are
becoming increasingly scares in urban
areas
Lack of green space deteriorates the
physical, visual and psychological wellbeing of human residents and
immeasurably hurts the local and the
regional eco-system

Protecting green areas must be high on

our priority list

Destruction of green spaces creates

the heat-island effect
This causes night time temperatures
remains uncomfortably high in many
cities, causing an increase in electricity
consumption for air-conditioning.

Sustainable built environments

Sustainable built environments

The flow of materials

A building is a part of the global ecosystem

There is a continuous flow of resources, natural and manufactured, through the
building
The flow begins with construction and continues throughout the buildings
lifespan to create an environment for sustaining human wellbeing and activities

This flow of materials can be

divided as upstream or the input
& the downstream or the output
The materials going into a
building will come at some point
of time.
This is called the law of
material flow conservation
Eden Project by Architect Nicholas Grimshaw
makes use of minimum material

The Building ecosystem

input

building

building
materials
energy

output

used materials
wasted heat. CO2, CO,
SO2

water

gray water, sewer

consumer
goods

waste, recyclable
materials

solar radiation
wind
rainwater

warm air
polluted air
storm water

Sustainable built environments

The flow of materials

For any material, its form before entry into a building

after exit is different
This transformation of material from input to output is
caused by many mechanical processes or human
interventions
These inputs and outputs have diverse environmental
impacts

Strategies to reduce impact on

the ecosystem:
- Input reduction methods that ensure
minimal flow of non-renewable
resources into a building.
- Output management that include
proper waste management like recycle,
reuse, etc.
Paper house by architect Shigeru Ban uses
cardboard and recycled paper

Sustainable built environments

Building material considerations

Architect Glen Murcutts house for an

aborigine family in Australia
Building is lifted off the ground to minimize
environmental impact. Sustainable methods
such as use of locally available materials
employed.

Extraction, processing, manufacture and

transport of building materials are energy
intensive processes
The energy consumed by building
materials in these processes is called
embodied energy

The use of alternative building materials

having low embodied energy is one way of
reducing a buildings environmental impact

In order to facilitate construction,

temporary roads may need to be built
This causes permanent damage to existing
vegetation, wildlife & topography

Sustainable built environments

Energy considerations

The building requires a constant flow of energy

Environmental impacts due to energy

consumption by buildings occur primarily away
from the building site: in the process of
generating power and harvesting of energy
resources

coal-fired electric power plants emit

pollutants such as SO2, CO2, CO and NOX
into the atmosphere

nuclear power plants generate radioactive

wastes

hydropower plants require a dam and a

reservoir, the construction of which result in
the discontinuation of the river ecosystem
and the loss of habitats for humans, animals
and plants

House R128 by Werner Sobek

in Stuttgart uses completely
recyclable materials, produces
no emissions and is self
sufficient in terms of energy
requirements

Sustainable built environments

Water requirements

Water is required for the purposes of

drinking, cooking, washing, flushing of
toilets, etc.
Water supplied to the building requires
treatment and delivery, which consume
energy
Waste water or sewer from buildings can
be classified as
gray water: does not contain high
concentration of contaminants
black water: contains very high
concentration of contaminants
Consequently, gray water requires
minimal treatment before it can be reused
Installation of sanitary fixtures such as
low-speed showerheads, smaller size
toilet tanks and high-pressure flushing
systems reduces water consumption
Innovative landscaping and drip-irrigation
systems contribute to water conservation

Landscaping at the Salk Institute at La Jolla,

CA by Louis Barragan, employs methods to
conserve water and achieves beautiful
spaces

Impact of built form on the water cycle

Sustainable built environments

On-site natural resources

Natural energy on-site, such as solar

radiation, wind, air, rainwater and ambient
heat or cold has implications on the design
process
These natural resources can be harnessed
for optimal performance of the building
Incident solar radiation is the most
abundant energy source for buildings and
provides heat & light
Vernacular buildings reveal ingenious
architectural solutions for dealing with
the sun and other climatic conditions
Passive solar architecture offers
design schemes to harness solar
energy using building faades and
structures
Prevailing wind conditions for cooling and
ventilation has tremendous implications on
architectural design
Rainwater harvesting can be beneficial in
arid regions and urban areas

Well Articulated windows in Hawa

Mahal, Jaipur provides cool
breeze in a desert area

These typical Kerala (India)

houses use rainwater harvesting
methods and pitched roof for

Ecological Building

Ecological Building
What can be learnt from history?

In the past, human beings lived in harmony

with their environment
Comfort requirements were different
Small population meant ample space,
modest requirements, low energy
needs and emissions
Waste products mostly recyclable &
bio-degradable
Mobile communities
Low threat to the environment

Nomadic life & sparse requirements

drove the architecture of the past and
made it sustainable

Ecological Building

Buildings in cold climates characterized by:

Small windows that allowed little light into spaces resulting in minimal heat
gains/loss and cooling/heating loads
Building mass with high thermal storage capacities
Low standards for heating and sanitary systems

These castles in Europe use small fenestrations to minimize heat loss

Ecological Building

Buildings in temperate zones

characterized by:
Tendency to locate living areas
underground to utilize coolness of the
earth and create ventilation through
buoyancy
Small window & roof elements
minimizing heat transfer
Use of narrow courtyards to promote
ventilation
Fine grained cities that cause mutual
shading
Use of water as an architectural
element

Ecological Building
The Industrial Age is characterized by:
Migration of ever increasing population from
rural to urban areas
Extremely poor living conditions for most
people
Industrialization & rapid advances in
technology
Increased demands for energy met through
use of coal & gas
Sharp increase in emissions; indiscriminate
dumping of wastes
No efforts to protect environment, conserve
natural reserves
BEGINNING OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL
CALAMITY
Alarming number of industries,
poor living conditions, deteriorating
environment mark the industrial
era

Ecological Building
The early & mid 20th century is
characterized by:
Urbanization, technological development,
industrialization, concentration of labor in
cities at a frantic pace
Concentration of workplaces in small areas
Shortening of distances for communication
& information
Maximized utilization of available spaces
An architecture & technology that pays no
respect to the environment & energy
consumption
A false sense of Man has overcome
nature
Skyscrapers, fully automated climate
control

New York the city of skyscrapers

Ecological Building
Late 20th century architecture
characterized by:
Renewed search for elegant architectural
solution with respect to energy use,
environment & ventilation
Facades designed for natural ventilation
Creation of climate buffer zones (halls
and atria)
Improved heat insulation & sun
protection
Implementation of energy recovery &
waste treatment systems
Major energy crisis in 1973
Architects, engineers & clients turn to
ECOLOGICAL BUILDING DESIGN
Commerzbank headquarters
in Germany by Architect
Norman Foster uses garden
terraces every 12 floors

Menara Mesiniaga by Ken Yeang

in Malaysia is a revolutionary highrise building design using
sustainable principles