For those in the know, an introduction would be redundant. But for those who aren’t, an introduction is a must – An introduction to GRIHA, or Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment. It is, essentially,

• A point based voluntary scoring system to evaluate commercial, residential and institutional buildings on "green scale"
• Is based on Indian codes, standards and best practices
• Comprises an evaluation panel of eminent professionals

So what’s the big deal about a green building, in the first place? A green building is one that utilizes natural resources to a minimum during its construction and operation. It is evolved through a design process that requires all concerned –the architect and landscape designer and the air conditioning, electrical, plumbing, and energy consultants – to work as a team to address all aspects of building and system planning, design, construction, and operation. They critically evaluate the impacts of each design decision on the environment and arrive at viable solutions to minimize the negative impacts and enhance the positive impacts on the environment.

All right, so what’s the news? The news is that the Union Government of India has, in a landmark decision, made it mandatory for all new buildings of the Public Sector Undertakings and the government to seek new green rating norms in an effort to ensure energy efficiency and tackle climate change threats. Every government building, the law says, must get at least 3-star rating (on a scale of 1-5 stars) under the GRIHA scheme. And why not? The idea is to minimise demand for non-renewable resources and maximise utilization.

 Take, for example, the Earth System & Environment Science Engineering Building, a research facility located in the Indian Institute of Technology Campus, Kanpur. The facility, as the name suggests, houses laboratories and other facilities for various disciplines of the environment sciences. The facility is nestled into the existing landscape. In siting the building, the natural course was left undisturbed. The architecture of the building has been designed around the existing vegetation, so as to not disturb the natural surroundings and fully grown.

The facility houses wet labs which are non-air-conditioned spaces on the ground floor and dry labs that are air-conditioned spaces on the first floor. Building design and envelope has been optimised through selection of appropriate wall and roof construction and through adoption of passive design measures after studying the sun path analysis to provide shading devices for windows and roof which would reduce energy demand to condition the spaces. This is probably the only existing building in India with a GRIHA rating of 5 stars,  though there are several similar proposed projects, such as the Triburg Headquarters at Udyog Vihar in Gurgaon, Integrated Township in Kanyapur, Asansol, West Bengal, and the Office of Public Works Department, Nashik

Today, glass has an almost indispensable role to play in green architecture. Energy efficient glass is the need of the hour, given its unmatched features of optimum transparency that helps in day lighting of interiors, solar control & thermal insulation which cuts down the relative heat gain, and so on. To elaborate, glass can do the following wonders:

Day Lighting - The use of glass allows the penetration of adequate daylight and facilitates a reduction in power consumption.

Energy Efficiency - High performance glass helps control solar and thermal heat gain, thereby cutting down on air-conditioning expenses.

Recyclability – All architectural glass products are recyclable and qualify as “green” building material.

Recycled Content – The production of glass requires a minimum level of ‘cullet’ or broken glass in the Float Glass manufacturing process thereby by qualifying it as a material with high recycled content.

Acoustic Control – Certain types of architectural glass provide a high degree of acoustic comfort by obstructing the entry of sound from the exteriors of a building.

Blending Interiors with Exteriors – Facades made with reflective glass do not obstruct visibility from the inside.

Self Cleaning – The future belongs to environment friendly self-cleaning glass, a type of architectural glass that keeps itself clean and imparts a brilliant aesthetic effect to buildings.

Green architecture – GRIHA becoming law – Glass. Not just alliteration. A symphony, a necessity, a calling.