An exciting start for us with the New Year 2022!

 

Bangalore’s very own News Daily Deccan Herald has a new section that goes by the name “DH Design Story”. Their Correspondent Asra Fathima Mavad had an email interview with Etagi Design Collaborative’s Prashanth Nandiprasad for her latest Article. Here is a full excerpt of the conversation.

 

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Hi Prashanth,

 

Asra Fathima Mavad (AFM): The story I'm working on is called 'How to incorporate nature into your home the right way'. Here are the questions I have for you regarding the same:

 

AFM: Are there any benefits to incorporating nature into your home? 

Prashanth Nandiprasad (PNP): Yes. There are immense benefits in incorporating nature into one's home. One could do this in some of the following ways:

• Consider the sun's path in a given geography (also known as "Daylighting" in architecture parlance) and the time of the year. This can help locate the Building's rooms, determine the size of openings for these rooms, (to take in / control sunlight), so that the building can gain / loose heat naturally, as would be required for the season of the year.
• Consider the prevailing wind movement in a given geography and the time of the year. This can help in naturally ventilating the Building and its rooms. Again... these Building Apertures can be designed to control / allow for the ideal air flow / best air movements.
• These above ideas may also be considered for Larger Buildings that are intensive with Artificial / Mechanical Lighting and Ventilation, such as Hospitals, Hotels, Malls & Office Complexes etc. However, it is best if it is a point of commencing the design, rather than looking into it as an afterthought.

 

AFM: What are some biophilic design elements that work best for homes in India?

PNP: India being a Sub Tropical Sub Continent, the variation in geography, climate (...and therefore culture) is large & wide across the length & breadth of the Country. Therefore are a variety of needs and approaches for incorporating Building Solutions (viz. Biophilic Design Elements). Generally speaking... Courtyards, Water-bodies, Ventilated Building Skin Walls, Controlled Light / Ventilation and Roofing Element Treatments are the areas which work best for homes and buildings here. However, it is important to note that merely incorporating such elements will not give us the desired results of climatic comfort inside a building. It would be the appropriate mix, size and proportion of these elements that will help achieve it.

 

AFM: Are there any popular themes in biophilic design that are currently trending? 

PNP: There is a growing trend in incorporating nature (flora and fauna) and natural construction materials (such as Stone, Brick, Wood, Terracotta etc). We even have look-alike alternatives to these being used into the Buildings now. However, in order to make any actual impact ecologically, one would have to grow out of these trend tokenisms and look into these designs holistically (viz. not just from a mere aesthetics / economics point of view), but with a deeper understanding of the underlying principles of energy consumption and climatically sustainable design. Interior Design in comparison has a relatively lesser life cycle. Buildings tend to outlive most of us, consume a huge amount of resources, generate a lot of waste and so and we responsibly should not treat it like Fast Fashion.

 

AFM: What are some do's and don’ts one should keep in mind while incorporating elements of nature into their home? 

PNP: When we look into nature, we find most solutions within itself. It has had the time to refine itself. (Even in the most ravaged regions of the earth, nature finds a way to evolve and survive. And if anything that has evolved in nature is an aberration, it becomes unstable and has a natural death). Human Cultural History, (....although much shorter when compared to natural history) has also given us some clues in incorporating nature into our Built Environment. 

• While incorporating elements of nature into your home, read up on it as much as you can and inform yourself about what you are actually looking at.
• Incorporating natural elements is definitely not about recreating natural forms (of say such as say a bird / flower / animal etc.) and trying to live in it. At best they serve as an inspiration in spirit and not in (literal) form.
• Find out about the nearest and the best Professional (Architect / Engineer / Interior) Designer who shares your enthusiasm on this subject and work with them.
• Remember that while you are looking at getting Building Elements (such as Plants, Water-bodies, Light & Ventilation etc) you are also inevitably making way for Nature (such as insects, birds, reptiles, fish & small mammals etc) along with it. Please be ready for it.
• Biophilic Designs often incorporate Sustainable Building Materials. Since they are not a popular building construction material of choice, they tend to be relatively more expensive in comparison.
•  As Buildings with Sustainable Materials are often labor intensive, identify a suitable resource (viz. Contractor / Skilled Worker) who can help you build / put together this nest of yours.
• Do have a rain check on the Overall Costing of the Project. Note that the immediate Economic Costs and the projected Environmental Costs are different criteria. The dichotomy lies here and one needs to understand that.
• Your Professional Consultant should be able to guide you on all these matters as they are generally better connected, better informed and impartial to the matter.

 

AFM: Does biophilic designs go hand in hand with sustainable/eco-friendly design? 

PNP: In principle they walk together side by side, guiding, informing and influencing each other. The true essence of Nature is to leave nothing behind. But while we make Buildings, most of us design for posterity and so sustainability becomes tokenism. Suppose we leave a building unattended ...for say 50 years, can it decompose back into the Earth it was built on? Would that then not be a true Biophilic Design?

 

AFM: Any Indian Architects or Interior Designs doing good work in biophilic design? 

PNP: There are many Architects and Interior Designers working on this in India for many years in the country now. Architect Laurie Baker and Architect Nari Gandhi arguably first set out to design Modern Biophilic Architecture in India. Architect Ashok Lall & Architect Yatin Pandya have been practicing Sustainable Architecture on larger scale projects. Architect Anupama Kundoo and Architect Dharmesh Jadeja have been working in Auroville on this. Architect KR Ganesh and Architect Supriya BS have been working for many years in this field in Bangalore. All these Architects continue to inspire the present and the forthcoming generation of people who are interested to know about their work, with their incredible work in Architecture.

 

The published article can be accessed here online: <https://www.deccanherald.com/special-features/biophilia-bring-nature-home-1066614.html>

 

#deccanherald #biophilicdesign #ecosensitivearchitecture #dhdesignstory