The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Workshop on `Green Buildings'

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Sunday, May 06, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Workshop on `Green Buildings'

Staff Reporter

Sustainable designs favoured

Hyderabad: Speakers at a seminar here called for reducing the impact of natural resource consumption. They advocated designing of sustainable, energy efficient and water efficient buildings to eliminate negative impact on environment and occupants.

The workshop on `Green Buildings' was organised jointly by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), South India Chapter and the Indian Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ISHRAE), Hyderabad Chapter, on Saturday. A large number of architects, consultants, builders, developers and other end users attended the workshop.

Yeshwant Ramamurthy, noted landscape and interior designer, said the ideal house was one which was built of materials found within five miles radius. A house should be eco-friendly and comfortable to live, he said.

Making a powerpoint presentation, Mr. Ramamurthy said it was the British-born architect Lawrence Wilfred Baker, who first introduced the green building concept long before the terminology entered the lexicon.

Indigenous buildings

Mr. Baker promoted indigenous building construction and brought about sweeping changes in the building construction concept of Keralites. He was hostile to glass, steel and plaster. He loved bricks and used lime as alternative to cement and bamboo reinforcement as a substitute to steel.

Murali Ramanathan, president, ISHRAE, said the workshop was intended to create awareness and foster a greater understanding on green buildings.

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