Green Building Code

Recently the Maharashtra State Government withdrew tax cuts and FSI sops for “eco-friendly buildings”. The government is in the process of developing a “Green Building Code”. The code will have mandatory and voluntary reforms. This I think is a good step in the direction of sustainability. In fact, many Western countries have this kind of code already inculcated in their code; for example the Tile 24 Energy Code in California, to which all the projects have to adhere to. In Pune, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation adopted the GRIHA guidelines in their Building bye-laws and require all new construction to follow those guidelines to obtain approval.

To me, though, “Sustainable Architecture” is a tautology. I strongly feel that a building is not “Architecture” if it is not “Sustainable”. In the last few years we have seen abundant misuse of the terms “Green”, “Sustainable” and “Eco-friendly”, with developers, builders, product manufacturers using it as a marketing gimmick or “greenwashing”. An architect, while designing a building, not only has a responsibility towards the client, society and the profession, but also towards the environment.

Making environment sustainability for buildings a norm, rather than an exception is a positive step towards saving our cities and ourselves. By incorporating this into the system it will encourage more architects, builders and contractors to do the right thing, and bring about an awareness in the general public.

The bottom line is that we have passed the point where we can afford to treat “environmental sustainability” as an add-on tag (that developers can profit from). Many will contest that this will have an adverse impact on the overall development. But isn’t it more prudent, as a society to build wisely than to build widely?

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