Indian Façade Design: Massive Shifts In Ethos, Materials & Function

Façade Design Trends In India Have Witnessed A Massive Push In Terms Of Design Ethos, Materiality, & The Functionality Façades Embody

Ar. Ravideep strongly believes in the communicative power of design — the ability of empathetically-designed spaces to create uplifting sensory experiences for their inhabitants.

Ar. Ravideep has been a speaker at several eminent panels, such as the discussion on ‘Emerging Trends in Window and Door Designs: Innovative Designs and Materials’ by WFM Media in May 2021.

In an interaction with WFM, Ar. Ravideep Singh elaborates on his journey as an architect, his major projects, his views on the latest façade and fenestration designs, materials & technologies, and on the future of the façade as a sustainable envelope of buildings.

Here Is The Excerpt From The Interview:

Please Tell Us About Your Practice And Its Growth As An Architectural Firm Over The Years?

CDA began its journey as a small architectural studio led by Maninder Kaur and Mohanbir Singh in the early 2000s. Since its inception, the firm’s work ethos has pivoted around designing and delivering projects that integrate innovation, adaptability and sustainability. Over the years, we have slowly and steadily built an influential clientele across the country, with an end goal to create spaces that foster wellness, experience, efficiency, economics and functionality. This ethos has enabled us to expand our presence, reach and capacity to deliver innovative designs to the most complex projects that come on board. Today, CDA has a portfolio of over sixty ongoing projects across India, forty-five of which are healthcare projects of varying scales and specialities.

What Inspired You To Become An Architect?

Having been brought up by architect parents, I gained extensive exposure to architecture from a very early age. Since then, I have always been intrigued by the ethical capacity of architecture and its power to impact the built environment and life. With an innate fondness for spatial planning, I feel a sense of gratification when conceptualising spaces and forms and analysing their impact on the end-user experience, economics and the built environment at large.

Could You Please Talk About A Few Of Your Completed And Ongoing Projects?

Of the several projects that CDA has undertaken within the past few years, the most crucial ones are within the healthcare space. AIIMS Guwahati is one of India’s largest and most comprehensive health campuses. It lays heavy emphasis on patient experience, health, wellness and sustainability. Additionally, the Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala Integrated Medical Campuses were recognised during the pandemic for their responsiveness to COVID-19 and CDA’s underlying sustainability and wellness strategies. Another significant project in the pipeline is the expansion of Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai. Set to be one of the largest private hospitals in the city, it attempts to blur boundaries between healthcare and hospitality and be a beacon of international health tourism in India.

There Are Many Materials For Building Exteriors Available In The Market. How Do You Choose The Apt One For Your Project? What Are The Criteria?

As the awareness around environmental sustainability, human health and operational economics intensifies, building envelopes are looked upon with a completely different spectacle. At CDA, we attribute exterior materials as per site orientation, ease of application, longevity, maintainability, life cycle impact and their impact on human health.

The Façade And Fenestration Industry In India Has Gone Through A Sea Change In The Past Decade. Tell Us About The Latest Use Of Façade & Cladding Material And Technologies?

Façade design trends in India have witnessed a massive push in terms of design ethos, materiality, and the functionality that façades embody. Better thermal performance of newer materials and technologies has been the focus, including higher system insulation, lighter component and assembly weight, improved aesthetics, and life cycle performance.

Prevalent trends include electricity-generating solar glass, lightweight composite terracotta, ceramic claddings and intelligent façade systems integrated with the central BMS. Such systems auto-regulate the light penetration and ventilation based on outdoor air quality and a robust network of IoT (Internet of Things) and analytics.

What Are The Key Factors To Consider While Designing And Installing Façades & Fenestration?

There are several factors to be mindful of while designing and installing façades and fenestrations. The first such factor is building orientation for optimal daylighting design. The desired window-to-wall ratios and shading design must be considered while deciding on building orientation.

The second factor is operational efficiency. The architects and designers must conduct building energy simulations for optimal thermal insulation to regulate the heating and cooling loads and the respective size of HVAC equipment. Lastly, ease of operation and maintenance is an essential factor that should be considered while designing façades to curate elements with better life cycle performance and ease of maintenance.

Please Brief On The Design And Technical Details Of A Safe Façade, Considering Fire Safety, And Wind, Rain And Earthquake Resistance?

Specialised expertise in façade design, engineering and execution is indispensable in today’s data-driven world. To ensure optimal stability in the structure, the façade system should be designed for all components of lateral loads, including wind and earthquake loads, along with all dead and live loads. Further, in glazing and cladding systems, careful detailing towards climate proofing should incorporate water drainage through built-in gutter sections, weather seals and designed slopes. Similarly, for fire compliance and safety, fire sealants on floor junctions at each level should be incorporated along with an appropriate design for requisite openings in the façade for smoke extraction.

How Would The Façade Design And Other Elements Of The Façade Help The Building To Be Energy Efficient, At The Same Time Providing A Better Interior Environment?

While it might sound paradoxical to ensure optimal comfort for all building users, this aspect has been gradually mastered during the past decade. It has been achieved by instilling a certain degree of flexibility in the building envelope, allowing occupants to control their environments through responsive shading devices, acoustic finishes, etc., to regulate optimal daylighting, glare and acoustics.

Apart from the building users, the building operators and managers are another set of crucial occupants who function as a relay between the users and the operation of other building systems. Therefore, the synchronisation of this ecosystem with the BMS is possibly the most plausible answer to curating a high-performance enclosure system today.

What About Sustainability And Environmental Considerations When Choosing Materials For A Project?

The façade is the first interface of the building with the environment and its adversities. Based on the latitude and longitude of the site, the building envelope should be capable of dynamically modulating the climatic extremes, such as temperature fluctuations, wind pressures, seismic forces, etc., in an integrated manner. The material constituents that make up the façade assembly should be selected on a macro level based on their embodied energy and their life cycle impacts. Further, it is also crucial to analyse how the façade interacts with other components of the ecosystem, avoiding adversities such as bird strikes, blinding glare, etc., using appropriate fenestration sizing, design and treatments.

What Are Your Views On Future Façades & Fenestration Technologies, And Materials?

Like other building components, a future façade must be integrated and intelligent. In the future, façades are expected to embody a certain degree of flexibility towards the percentage of openings, location and configuration of sharing devices, besides being an intelligent link between the building indoors, its mechanical systems and the outdoor environment. Therefore, a robust IoT ecosystem integrated with the components of the façade that self-learns based on analytics, user and environment behaviour and improves performance seems likely in the future.

According To You, What Is An Intelligent Building? How Can Intelligent And Sustainable Façades Bring In The Greenhouse Effect, And Also Restrict The Intensive Use Of Air Conditioners?

In simple terms, intelligent buildings are assemblies that have the innate ability to acquire data and strategically apply it for enhanced outcomes. An intelligent façade is expected to operate with a high degree of flexibility in carefully regulating the interaction between the building indoors and the external environment. For example, a holistically designed smart building would utilise air conditioning only when needed by intensifying natural ventilation whenever the weather allows. This feature will curate a realm where mechanical systems are employed when required without compromising occupant thermal comfort and indoor air quality.

What Is Your Advice To Young, Aspiring Architects?

The only advice would be to think ahead, always. We are amidst a fast-moving technological tide that is dynamically impacting how industries have operated conventionally. Such a milieu necessitates an inquisitive, data-driven and responsive outlook toward different aspects of design. This mindset would engineer resilience in designers, the project and the environment at large.