Buildings, even simple ones, use up immense resources. The world’s construction industry consumes well over 60 Gigatons of building materials per year.
That is 60,000,000,000,000 Kilograms per year!
It is estimated that 40% of this comes from raw materials! Our natural systems are irrevocably being changed to accommodate human settlements and enterprise. Most of these materials are transported over vast distances to reach the construction sites, adding further to the environmental costs of doing so.
Quite understandably, these numbers are large, abstract and difficult for us to comprehend or visualize. But let’s break this down to the scale and size of a small, average residence of about 200 sq.m. (2200 sq.ft.) built as an RCC framed structure with burnt brick infill walls. This would be typical of the majority of construction happening in India. A more elaborate building will of course weigh more.
With rapid economic growth and an even faster change in our lifestyles, the lifespan of our buildings is also decreasing at an alarming rate. More buildings are demolished much earlier than their natural life spans, further increasing the amount of construction & demolition waste (CDW). India produces 150,000,000 tonnes of CDW of which only 1% is recycled
What can we do?
While a lot of systematic change is required to tackle this, we – as architects, constructors, and clients – can start and contribute in every small way possible.
By being judicious in our material use.
- This can be done by careful design where enough time is spent on achieving material efficiency
- By finalising most design decisions before construction even starts and by keeping any changes after that to a minimum
- Opt for light-weight alternatives. For instance, internal partition walls can be dry-wall constructions instead of conventional brick construction
- Embrace technologies such as BIM (Building Information Modelling) to design and project management
- By reusing and opting for recycled materials. Doors, windows, bricks, and even steel from RCC can be recovered and reused
- By sticking to locally available materials as much as possible and wherever feasible
By building for the long term with a focus on flexibility and adaptability by design.
Buildings are invariably going to consume materials, a lot of materials. A sustainable building is also one that has been in use for a very long time. This can be achieved by being diligent with demolishing old buildings. Instead, opportunities for adaptive reuse can be explored. Where new buildings are concerned, designing with the intent of making them flexible and adaptable to future needs with minimum modifications is a sensible approach.
These are by no means a comprehensive list. We will discuss the material consumption and innovative architectural design responses to address the same!
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