He is a big fan of glass and tries his best to use the material in most of his designs. With 6 years of experience under his belt, Anand Raj finds its aesthetics soothing and appealing. “I try to convince clients to use glass in residential buildings as well, not just in offices. I try to provide shade to the glass so that heat is cut out and the indoors remain cool,” says Anand.

“Also now with improved technology, high performance glass is available which can cut out the heat without requiring shading. This also reduces the load on the HVACs in the building as the interior remains cool. Double-glazed glass and other reflective glass save about 80-85% of energy costs,” he says. “Yes, high performance glass is expensive initially. But if you see 5-10 years down the line, it’s definitely worth the initial cost. Because you save on energy costs, you save on maintenance. Glass is very easy to maintain and requires no frequent painting or white-washing,” says Anand.

That’s not the only reason Anand loves glass. “Using glass as the envelope helps reduce the time taken to construct the building. Also people working or living surrounded by glass walls feel one with nature,” he says. “If there’s opaque material separating people in a workplace, they feel like they’re in no man’s island and productivity becomes less.”

Glass is also as strong as any other building material. Anand also feels that it is human nature to treat glass carefully and so constructions made of glass will automatically be treated with more care by the people living and working in them.