DESPITE India being a country with an ancient tradition of
building houses which used little energy in construction and
maintenance, the majority of our government housing and
construction agencies have been blind to it. Ironically, in a
country where 65 million of the 118 million existing houses
are made of mud - just I of the solutions for climatically
responsive and low cost factor to meet the need for shelter -
greater reliance is placed solely on cement, steel and bricks to
add to the housing stock. But increasingly, with the spiralling
price of energy, these energy- intensive materials will become
the preserve of a microscopic minority.
Architects and designers have for too long squandered our
energy resources. Add the cost ofactively controlling the inter-
nal environment of our modern homes - airconditioners,
convectors and such other items of luxury - and one sees
how high-cost construction techniques have
been perpetuated. It is time, in this age of
accelerating environmental degradation, to
actively espouse urban building forms that
respect nature and are sustainable.
The basics of climate responsive design are
well established, and programmes and tools
are available, allowing for the simulation and
analysis of thermal performance and comfort
levels in buildings before construction is taken
up. But these impose far greater commitments
on and demand very hard work from the men who tell us how
to live. It is the lack of this will to adopt to changes that perpetuates inefficiency.
There are decentralised, low cost solutions available.
This became clear at the just concluded design workshop, held
in New Delhi, on sustainability through climatically responsive low energy architecture . There was some evidence of the
realisation that passive and low energy buildings can improve
human comfort and, in so doing, improve the living conditions.
Two things were most evident at the meet. Firstly, as some
speakers emphasised, though bureaucrats have for long been
resisting rethinking and adjusting to the needs of the hour,
there has come up a new crop of young architects who have
mustered enough courage to propagate the changes required
in our thinking. The 2nd realisation, which rather offset this
spurt of fresh energy, was the fact that not much thought had
been given to the problem of mass housing that precisely is the
crucial area where we need to apply ourselves; that our urban
mass housing system has already started spelling major health
and environmental hazards is more than evident.
It is imperative that the decision-makers realise notwithstanding the current phase of industrial euphoria, the housing
scenario in the coming decade s will be marked by an acute
materials shortage... mat&ials, of course, of the modern kind;
the energy-intensive materials which refuse to go out of fashion with architects and constructors. Prices will skyrocket, and
inevitably marginalise newer sections from the hub to the
peripheries of our towns And cities.
Yet, there are significaot efforts going on in isolated pockets, aimed at promoting the saner alternative. For instance, the
Auroville Building Centre in Tamil Nadu, has
been doing commendable work in disseminat
4riate building technologies.
But the'bureaucrats have been resisting any
change that would seek to put technology or
resources in the hands of the people who
understand their own needs, and could do it
with far greater economy and efficiency.
In the experiments currently on to seek out
alternatives, construction and training proceed
hand in hand. At the end of the project, people
are left with not only the assets they have helped create, but
also the skill to build more houses on their own. But for this,
the I st challenge for the nongovernmental experimenters is to
wean away the local community from their dependency on the
government, which has projected itself as the sole source of
resources and technologies. This requires a whole cultural
reversal. It would also be necessary to create occupational
niches for the people who could earn a livelihood building
houses within their village.
The government should also desist from thrusting new
technologies on the poor first. The role of the government
should be to provide the environment for the self-help process
to flourish. For this, the government should provide
security of tenure, technical advice, and help in acquiring
small loans and cheap building material. This, surely, is not
calling for too much.
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