Sustainable Building

Introduction

“Building sustainable cities - and a sustainable future - will need open dialogue among all branches of national, regional and local government.”- Ban Ki-moon. The quote by a renowned diplomat speaks volume about the significance of sustainable development. It has gained much importance now because of the fast rate of depletion of earth’s natural resources which is triggered by an exponential rise in human population and their increased need for resources. Due to global environmental problems that encompass climate change, excess deforestation and loss of bio-diversity, it has been realized that in future building cities will turn into an uphill task to accommodate people and it is time to design sustainable buildings that can

According to Kim & Rigdon (1998), “ Architectural professionals have to accept the fact that as a society’s economic status improves, its demand for architectural resources-land, buildings or building products, energy, and other resources-will increase” ( p.7). Consequently, sustainable design principles have evolved over the years that are intended to protect the environment, but have not yet obtained a wide acceptance in the industry. However, some of these principles that are considered important for successfully constructing a sustainable building are including but not limited to maximizing the use of renewable energy sources, improving air quality of indoor spaces, making use of land responsibly and maximizing usage of bio-based construction materials. Here, use of land responsibly mean causing minimum disturbance to its associated eco-system during construction work. It is believed that indoor air pollution is sometimes more harmful than exposure to outdoor pollution as in such an environment, pollutants reach a high level of density Hence, it is essential to ensure clean air in an indoor environment ( Bonda, Sosnowchik & Minchew,

There is a popular myth that such construction materials last less than traditional construction materials like steel, concrete, etc. Bamboo has emerged as one such sustainable building material which is extremely durable and regenerates quickly unlike wood. According Callahan ( 2005), “ In Asia, bamboo is lashed together to make multi-storey scaffolding for building projects….are very strong, durable, and flexible-all properties that make bamboo extremely useful in construction” (p. 435). In fact in countries like India and China, bamboo has been used for construction of bridges, housing facility for rural communities, fencing and many more things due to its abundance availability in these countries and the sheer strength of bamboo which is more than even the traditional building material-steel. In Japan, it is mainly used for flooring and in the west too, the acceptance of bamboo as a strong building material has gained a momentum because of increased environmental