Orchid Square, Gurgaon

The design of Orchid Square showcases an interesting interspersing of green glass against amuted brown wall. Saint-Gobain Reflectasol Green was used for the facade to reduce the total heat gain in the building and there by cut down on the cooling costs. The building houses truly world class offices and retail spaces. The design of the Orchid Square includes well planned structures like a brilliantly landscaped terrace. Situated at Sushant Lok, Gurgaon, the complex houses some leading Indian and Multi-National companies.

Through the design of the Orchid Park, the architect attempts to show a way to combine materials in conjunction with global aesthetics and technologies in a cost efficient manner. The towers stand out in terms of architectural style, materials specifications, technical features and the quality of work environment in the complex.

Project Highlights:
Location: Sushant Lok, B-Block, Gurgaon
Area: 2.762 acres - 40,000sqft of retail and 150,000sqft of
commercial space.
Amenities: State-of-the-art retail cum office complex, contemporary utilities and intelligent building features, ample parking space with two-tier parking and service bays with service corridors among others.

Saint-Gobain is actively involved in training to improve energy efficiency

The home of the future will be built in partnership with the entire construction industry, led by a new generation of contractors skilled in energy-efficient construction techniques. To help customers and partners embrace green principles, a broad-based program has been introduced to train builders in emerging energy-saving techniques and solutions.

According to the European Trade Union Confederation, an ambitious policy to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030 would create 2.5 million jobs in the European building industry.

Saint-Gobain has lobbied public authorities to establish clear, precise standards for environmental protection and energy efficiency in buildings. These standards need to take effect in the medium and long term so that all industry professionals can prepare and implement the most efficient solutions.

For the past several years, Saint-Gobain has introduced a number of initiatives to raise awareness among building industry professionals, public officials and the public about the impact of CO2 emissions from buildings. In 2003, the Group helped create an association in France called Isolons la Terre Contre le CO2 (or Insulate the Earth from CO2). Similar groups sprouted up across Europe, including Isoterra in Belgium, Spaar het klimaat in the Netherlands, CO2NTRA in Germany and Isolando in Italy. The Group is also involved in many other associations, such as Club de l’Amélioration de l’Habitat and Promodul.

Green Colleges

Nowadays, not only the factories, industries start their journey towards the green future but also many educational institutions like schools and colleges started to prepare their students towards the energy efficient green buildings, green economy and green jobs. Some of the colleges started to offer green building courses for the students as a part of their contribution to the eco-friendliness. By this the colleges  can  create  good  citizens  for  the  future  with  the greater knowledge about the environmentally-friendly features. Here are three colleges that include various excellent the green practices:

Berea College

Berea College at Berea, Kentucky, amazingly locates an Ecovillage that occupying a 5 acre ecofriendly community. The Ecological machine, wetlands, permaculture food forest and individual gardens are the other community features. This energy efficient Ecovillage reduces the energy usage by 75 percent, water usage by 75 percent. The complex includes 50 apartments, a state-of-the-art Child Development Laboratory, a common house and a Sustainability and Environmental Studies (SENS) demonstration house.

The roof top captures the rain water used for the landscape irrigation and for the production of fruits and vegetables. Berea college maintains its own farm to provide the organic produce, beef and pork. Ecovillage recycle and reuse 50 percent of the sewage and waste water. Skillfully, Ecological machines are used to convert the sewage water to swimmable quality water.  This village also incorporates passive solar heating, photovoltaic panels and wind-powered.

Evergreen State College

Green roof of the new building is a greatest highlight of Evergreen State College at Olympia, Washington. This building is being evaluated for the LEED-Gold rating under the USGBC. This tremendous green roof builds 24,000 square-feet on 13 separate green roof areas. This green roof is a live visual representation to develop the sustainability. Roughly, $18 is incorporated for a square-foot with polyisocyanurate insulation with an R-value of 21, bitumen roof system which incorporates recycled materials and stainless steel flashings.

The green roof collects, filters the rain water incident on it and  allow  it  to  flow  into  a  20,000 gallons  reservoir  tank,  which  is  designed  in  such  a  way  to  release  water  back  to  the environment. The students of this college use benches and patio areas, arranged around these green roofs as an interaction place with their staff members. Green Roof uses Garland’s filterdrain 110 as the drainage layer. It is a very high density polyethylene filter fabric fused to a geotextile filter fabric. A drip irrigation system will be used only during the severe drought periods.  Important  advantage  of  this  green  roof  is  it  reduces  the  size  of  the  storm  water preservation ponds.

College of the Atlantic

College of the Atlantic  (COA)  at  Bar Harbor, Maine, USA was inaugurated on Oct 8, 2006 by the resident David Hales had taken an  oath to be a Carbon NetZero  college  by  the  end  of  2007,  to achieve that mission, the students, faculties and the staff worked together and carried out many researches and analyses to offset the greenhouse gas emission.  As on Dec 19, 2007,  COA invested in a greenhouse gas reduction project operated by The Climate Trust of Oregon to offset the 2,488 tons of carbon output over the past 15 months.

COA  uses  only  certified woods,  not  from  the  old-growth  forest  and  no materials  that  emit  gas-chemicals.  COA  uses  a  renewable wood  pellet  boiler  to  heat  20  percent  of  the  college  campus. It  keeps  the  temperature  as  65  during  the  day  time  and  50  at  night  time. Coolant from air-conditioning in library stacks and kitchen used to preheat the hot water.  All toilets, urinals, faucets and shower heads use less than three gallons of water.

By obtaining the electricity through a low-impact hydroelectric generator in Maine, COA reduced its annual greenhouse gas emission and this will be further reduced by 22 percent or about 450 tons by next year. Incandescent light bulbs have been replaced by compact fluorescent where possible. This college makes use of the natural light by installing light shelves, which bounces the light from the windows to ceiling to lights the interior of the rooms. Commuting methods such as carpooling and biking promotes the employees to work from the home.

Modern Indian Palace

Adhra Pradesh has recently announced the finalization of a unique project with a long name LEED Gold Certified Hotel Park Hotel in Hydrabad, India. It is a unique complex, also called the Modern Indian palace. This new hotel has been designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merill studio (SOM). They combined ultra modern elements with traditional popular Indian architecture. Impressive facade is made from perforated metal that serves as window protection as well. Architects took into account local conditions: daylight, orientation, solar gains and climate. The aim was to maximize the amount of the natural sunlight and protect the building from reheating. The inner atrium is taken in by a hotel swimming pool. Around the pool guests can visit a number of restaurants, bars, stores in total privacy. All rooms are viewing the lakes and surrounding country.SOM have cooperated with Stevens Institute of Technology`s Product Architecture Lap in Honoken, New Jersey to find the best way to minimize the energy consumption which was cut down by 20%. Also the sewerage plant was constructed in cooperation with scientists. The hotel is first in India to be awarded Leed Gold certificate and marked as the best new project of the year 2010 in India.

Modern Architecture

Modern architecture is a style found in the buildings that have simple form without any ornamental structures to them. This style of architecture first came up around 1900. By 1940, modern architecture was identified as an international style and became the dominant way to build for many decades in the 20th century. Modern architects apply scientific and analytical methods to design.

Many historians relate the origins of this style of architecture to the social and political revolution of the time, though others see modern architecture as primarily driven by technological and engineering developments. The availability of new materials such as iron, steel, concrete, and glass brought about new building techniques as part of the industrial revolution. Some regard modern architecture as a reaction against ancient building style. Above all, it is widely accepted as a matter of taste.

For the international style, the most commonly used materials are glass for the facade, steel for exterior support, and concrete for the floors and interior supports. The floor plans are functional and logical. But, many people are not fond of the modern style. They find its stark, uncompromisingly rectangular geometrical designs quite inhumane. They think this universal style is sterile, elitist, and lacks meaning.

Modern architecture challenged traditional ideas about the types of structures suitable for architectural design. Only important civic buildings, aristocratic palaces, churches, and public institutions had long been the mainstay of architectural practices. But, modernist designers argued that architects should design everything that was necessary for society, even the most humble buildings.

Architects began to plan low-cost housing, railroad stations, factories, warehouses, and commercial spaces. In the first half of the 20th century, modern architects produced furniture, textiles, and wallpaper - as well as designing houses - to create a totally designed domestic environment. The aesthetics used by modern architects celebrated function in all forms of design, from household furnishings to massive ocean liners and new flying machines.

Modern architecture originated in the United States and Europe and spread across the rest of the world. The characteristic features that made modern architecture possible were buildings, stylistic movements, technology, and modern materials.

New Changing Trends in Architecture in the 21st Century

Architecture has transformed from a complex creative process of integrating diverse functions, structural systems, myriad services and utilities, inter-related spaces and exterior-interior visual connections into a game of appliqué where one cuts and pastes decorations and ornament onto four sides of dull boxes.

Building having Exterior Metal finish with diffused Lighting Techniques
The building in the picture above has a facade that is completely covered with sheets of perforated metal and acryllic translucent sheets….

Diffused lighting techniques have been used to illuminate the facade of the building….

All of us agree that when we evaluate a building for its overall appeal, the exterior facade takes the first place. The exterior aesthetics has gained more importance than the interior functionality. The building has to be made look good.

Ornamentation without function is otiose. But the trend has changed which has changed the definition of Ornamentation…

According to the new trend, “Ornamentation is the function”.
• Much in the same manner that effetism killed the early modern movement with the World Exhibition in Chicago in 1893 overshadowing the likes of Sullivan and Richardson. All the changes and want for external beauty of the structure has made Architecture commercial graphic art of decoration.

• Architecture is the art of connecting interior spaces to the exterior. But unfortunately this definition is no more viable.

• I thought cladding was some kind of finish done with a specific material to achieve certain function or add an element to the aesthetics of the building… But I now know that cladding is architecture.

• What happens behind that velvet covered box is out of scope of total Architecture and is relegated to structural and services designers who the architects need never ever meet.

• The role of architects is becoming limited to the design of outer envelope of buildings. If you do anything more, you are insulting art!

• The aesthetic revolution was caused by several transformational factors that are redefining the meaning of architecture.

• Cold shells whose functions are not known, or even clear during the design stage are replacing buildings with specific functions.

• Installation of Air-conditioning systems is leading to hermetically sealed buildings with no fenestration.

• Artificial illumination is supposed to be better than daylight and people inside working for 24/7 aren’t supposed to know what is it anyway.

• Many new building types have no relationship between what is happening inside of a building and outside it. The client wants blank walls to be decorated later.

These new building types could be:
• Shopping Malls
• Multiplexes
• Business Parks
• Museums
• Exhibition Halls
• Libraries

The designing system has undergone a diverse change. Architect is not sole person who creates the total design along with functional and aesthetic aspects of the interior as well as the exterior.

The design profession is becoming atomized that is divided into fragments;
• Framework – Structural Designer
• Outside – Landscape Designer
• Networks – Utility Designer
• Inside – Interior Designer
• Illumination – Lighting Designer
• Sound and Acoustics – Audio Designer
• Signage and Graphics – Branding experience Designers


The Architect is left only to create volumetric box and to decorate the skin. His sights should be set on creating the most beautiful velvet box where the interiors and exteriors need not necessarily bear connections.

• More and more, the only role of architects is to create volumes that achieve maximum FSI and achieve maximum saleable area.
• Highly articulate and determined spaces, structures and elevations are often considered dangerous, or bad investments, as they could limit the types and numbers of buyers, users, leasers and renters. Architecture in the modernist sense is bad business.

• Even new environmental considerations have made designers see the skin of a building more in terms of its insulation, reflection qualities and radiation factors. To many architects these new restrictions are in fact a kind of liberation. They no longer bother between the relationship of the interiors and the exteriors.

• This trend is responsible for the emergence of new facade technologies. Stainless steel clips allow us to paste thin sheets of stone across broad strips of wall.

• Various materials have been discovered for the cladding of the exterior facades of the building…

• The commercialism has replaced creativity in architecture. Various shapes and forms that is Freeform Architecture is no more in an ideal way of design…

• Architecture is a spiritual field of art. These technological advances have brought a great change in the field of architecture. Commercialism has become the core of design.

• We future architects must try to preserve the integrity of the Architecture. We should help preserve the principles of architecture that invoke creativity in the designer…

Creativity is the soul of Architecture and should not be replaced by commercialism.