Buildotech Magazine - Magazine on Building Technology & Sustainability

Over the past couple of decades, architects and builders looking to green their projects have been turning to the addition of various elements to save water or cut down on electricity. In one of our earlier editions of Buildotech, we discussed how the concept of going beyond just being a green building and becoming a “living building” is emerging as a new ideal for design and construction. A living building is a structure that generates its own energy with renewable nontoxic resources, captures and treats its water and operates efficiently providing maximum aesthetics. The building uses only previously developed sites and innovates new techniques to demonstrate that ecological balance in the built environment is possible using current technology. This issue of Buildotech has two case studies of buildings which have gone beyond achieving net zero energy, one form Taiwan and one from the US.

Many researchers around the world are also trying to create ‘living’ materials that could be used to clad buildings and help combat the effects of climate change. It has been reported that the University of Greenwich is collaborating with the University of Southern Denmark, University of Glasgow and University College London (UCL) to develop materials that could eventually produce water in desert environments or harvest sunlight to produce biofuels. The idea is to use protocells – bubbles of oil in an aqueous fluid sensitive to light or different chemicals – to fix carbon from the atmosphere or to create a coral-like skin, which could protect buildings.

We have brought to you an account of the work done by Bangalore based architects Shrikantaiah Vishwanath and Chitra Vishwanth in the area of rainwater harvesting, perhaps the only viable solution to meet the increasing demand for water.

The Seminar on Integrated Facility Management held in November along with the IFM expo managed to throw lights on various issues which need to be addressed so that the facility management function can achieve the kind of growth it deserves in the corporate set up. Starting from the panel discussion covered in this issue, Buildotech will feature in detail selected presentations and discussions from the two day event in the coming months.