With a view to transform our urban centres into smarter and high-performance habitats, the GRIHA hosted a summit from 16 to 20 February, 2016 at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Many interesting discussions took place over four days on vital sustainability issues including energy and water management, innovation in transport and recovery of waste at buildings.

On the inaugural day, the welcome address was delivered by Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General,TERI and President, GRIHA Council. He said that dovetailing between Bureau of Energy Efficiency(BEE) and GRIHA’s work has given us examples of good, clean, and liveable buildings. Considering that two-thirds of infrastructure that will exist in 2030 is yet to be built, it presents us with a huge opportunity to ensure that all new buildings are ‘green’, he added.

Dr A K Tripathi, Senior Director, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India congratulated the GRIHA team for creating a 100 per cent indigenous green building rating system. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms Mili Majumdar, Secretary cum Treasurer, GRIHA Council.

The Keynote address were given by Dr. Bimal Patel, President & Acting Director, CEPT University and the noted architect, Manit Rastogi, Founder Partner, Morphogenesis. Dr. Patel addressed on the ideology of cities of the future. Architect Manit Rastogi pointed out that sustainability and intelligence are driving the industry to come up with innovative solutions for resource efficiency in energy, air, and water. He presented viable design solutions through examples of his projects where cost-effective sustainability solutions were incorporated.

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The event saw 4 Plenary Sessions on Turning Waste to Building Blocks, Social Upliftment and Income Equality, Indoor Environment Quality, and Sensored Habitat. Many eminent professionals were part of panel discussions including J P Shrff (Chairman and Managing Director, Shroff Group), Neeraj Bansal (Partner and India Head BCRE Sector, KPMG), , Selvam Ramanathan (Director,Geotrix Building Envelope Pvt Ltd), Dr Radha Goyal (Executive Director-Operations, CISCO Systems), Gautami Palanki (Building Performance Specialist, US Green Building Council), Kamal Meattle (Paharpur Business Centre), Corey Enck (US Green Building Council), Maija Virta (Founder and Director, Santrupti Engineers), Varun Pahwa (Executive Vice President, DRI), Dr Satish Kumar(Executive Chairman at the Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy), Prasad Vaidya (Professor – CEPT University) and Ashish Rakheja (MD, Aeon Integrated Building Design Consultant).

The GRIHA summit
Griha Conference
Facade conference

The Facade Conference

On the first day of the event, ‘The Façade Conference’ saw many delegates and interesting speeches by many experts in this field. The theme was ‘Sustainable Façade Building in India’. The session commenced with a welcome address by Mili Majumdar who introduced the audience to the term ‘façade’. Dr Ajay Mathur in his special address said that though energy efficiency is the key focus area for the government, it is only a component of green buildings on the whole, which are essential for achieving sustainability in India. Minni Sastry delivered the vote of thanks.

The keynote address by Ar Ashok B Lall, Principal Architect, Ashok B Lall Architects on the cumulative effect of all policies and regulations on buildings by GRIHA, grabbed attention of the delegates. He dwelled on the definition of a ‘smart city’ too. This was followed by 2interesting Technical Sessions in which eminent speakers like Spondon Bhagowati, Sr Green Building Analyst, Environmental Design Solutions;Ar Shaon Sikta Sengupta, Director, Edifice Consultants Pvt. Ltd; Ar Sonali Rastogi, Founder Partner, Morphogenesis; Prof. Ashok B Lall andmany experts from TERI discussed various key points associated with energy efficient façades,challenges in designing and constructing them,and the solutions for the same.

Six side events focusing on the issues concerning Water, solutions at building/campus and city level, innovation in sustainable living by start-ups,sustainable building materials – all themed on vital sustainability issues – spread over the four days saw many eminent speakers discussing interesting topics. The session ‘Reconnect’ discussed GRIHA Council’s endeavours and its journey. The conference also showcased the winning entries of the GRIHA Trophy at the 58thannual NASA (National Association of Students of Architecture).

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