The Energy Hall is placed towards the center of the 25 hectare expo site, just in front of the Kazakhstan pavilion or Science museum. The overall goal of the project was to create a cultural hub connecting the main central pavilion with two commercial buildings and the theater in between, all along the covered street. The venue was aimed to feel and be active regardless of its programming and daily “theatrical” activity. Ideally, the venue would be active any day of the week, any time, and expo or legacy mode. The outer skin of the main hall was designed as an active programmable surface that would allow artists to enrich it with digital art. The potential of being programmable, or ideally also interactive was an important goal. We called this surface “digital active canvas”. The space between this “digital active canvas” and the outer glass layer becomes a very active...

No doubt, façades are the most important building element from both the user's and the architect’s point of view. They are the most difficult to design too since the perception of iconic and technologically advanced facades is changing frequently. Designers are researching and experimenting with new and complex façade forms and patterns. The glass aluminium facades are bygones now as we see a lot more new materials in the market such as rusted iron panels, zinc, copper and steel, and even high-pressure laminates. Along with the materials that furnish the look and feel of a building, technologies applied to facades are also changing. Leading-edge technologies play a crucial role in terms of sustainability and operational cost-effectiveness. Truly successful facades do far more than merely project an iconic image, they play a vital role in driving or transforming building performance, engaging with the external environment, significantly enhancing durability, and reducing energy...

The building façade, also known as the building skin and/or building envelope, has become popular in recent times. It is, however, not always considered an important and necessary exterior element of a building with aesthetic and functional purposes. Historically, the facade has been just a concrete cover of façade material on the structure. Only in the last decade, architects and designers have started to think or consider about this aspect of the building and focus on sustainable material procurement. Façade is an independent frame made of Aluminium Composite Panel, double-glazed glass, pre-cast stone, natural stones or metal panels mounted and fixed in Galvanized Iron or on an Aluminium structure. The frame could be of a material alone or a combination of two materials. It is fixed with stainless steel components along with rubber gaskets, sealant, silicone gel, metal screws etc., on the beams. The architect/designers divide the face of the...

Global market for Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is projected to grow from a current low of US$5B to a high of US$26B by 2022. This represents an exponential growth of 27 per cent CAGR. There appears to be a sudden surge of interest in BIPV. It is not driven by the finite space available for rack mounted rooftop PV. BIPV, as applied to the façade, will offer the best option to increase solar integration into the built environment. This appears to be consistent with the big rush for decentralised building and nett zero energy buildings. While we can certainly afford to be optimistic about the surging interest in BIPV, there remain certain fundamental real world challenges which need to be overcome before BIPV can be expected to take traction within the building sector. The complexity of these challenges, aesthetical, efficiency and commercial in nature, are the primary reasons why BIPV has...

Green” seems to be the buzzword these days. All building components need to conform to green design principles, and the façade is no exception. The building envelope falls under heavy scrutiny, as it is generally seen, often justifiably, as a very significant element in the design of a green building. In fact, this is recognised by the majority of green building rating systems (LEED®, Greenmark, BREEAM, etc.). But prior to delving into the subject of whether it is possible to design and build a green façade, the first question to tackle is what is meant by “green façade”. The term can be taken literally as referring to a façade that includes an element of greenery, such as plants that creep up the façade or large planters running along the building envelope. While these strategies help provide a pleasant natural appearance to the buildings, allowing them to blend within their environment...

The enormous economic and population growth worldwide over the last four decades has together driven the impacts that threaten the health and well-being of our communities and nations. To name a few -  ozone depletion, climate change, fouling of natural resources and extensive loss of biodiversity and habitat. Amidst this, one word that drives all activities across the globe in today’s time and age is Sustainability. Ranging from ecosystems to buildings, from commercial buildings to urban habitats, you name it and it strives to be sustainable. Leaders in business, government, academia, public interest organizations, and communities are responding with innovative new solutions to sustainability. Large corporations, as well as small businesses, are progressing beyond simple regulatory compliance in favour of more proactive roles in finding solutions to sustainability issues. The Indian building and construction industry is not far behind in this race run for the cause. “For most urban projects,...

Knowing how to do things not just with the head, but with the hands as well, might seem a programmatic and ideological goal. It is not. It is a way of safeguarding creative freedom. We envision a workshop against a studio to Build. The Green Revolution Tall buildings are getting greener. Or green buildings are getting taller. Either way, you slice it, the sustainability movement in the world has gone large-scale and skyward, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Mumbai or in other metro cities of India. By the end of this decade, several green high-rises vis-à-vis apartment buildings, and office towers for financial institutions which are now being planned or are under construction will pepper the skyline. Why the surge? Owners and developers say they’ve discussed green design for years, but no one wanted to be the first to take the plunge. Within a year’s time from...