26 Sep : Archana Chaudhary, a city based architect working as Architect Planner in Housing Board Haryana has been invited for the International Conference on “Sustainability in Design: NOW!” from 29 September, 2010 to 1 October, 2010 at Bangalore. It is being organized by the LenS, Learning Network on Sustainability, an Asian-European multi-polar network. This Conference is promoted and organized as the conclusive event of the LeNS project, funded by European Commission under the Asia-Link program that aims at the development and diffusion of design for sustainability in design institutions.
Archana shall be giving her presentation on”Nanotechnology as a Futuristic Approach to Architecture”. She shall dwell on how the materials will behave in different ways as we are able to more precisely control their properties at the nano scale. Nanotechnology, the understanding and control of matter at a scale of one-to one hundred-billionths of a meter, is bringing incredible changes to the materials and processes of buildings.
Talking about the futuristic architecture of Chandigarh, Chaudhary said, ” On the near horizon, the architecture of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh is set for a change. If Le Corbusier had been conversant with nanotechnology at the time Chandigarh was built, his buildings in exposed concrete would have been very different. The concrete facades would not have weathered with time and the elevations would not have been so gigantic. He would have used self-cleansing, smog-eating concrete panels which consist of photocatalytic titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the precast panels. This concrete has a marble-like finish and remains unaffected by the weathering of time as the airborne pollutants are trapped in a nanoparticle matrix on the surface and then gets decomposed.”
Archana further added that the use of ‘brise-soleil’ on the exterior of the buildings of the Capitol Complex and Government Arts and Architecture College would have been avoided. The horizontal and vertical louvers were used to provide adequate shading to the windows from the harsh sun of the composite climate. The heat absorbing glass produced by the nanotechnology would have been the alternative. This glass controls heat and energy loads in buildings due to the solar interlayer which blocks upto 99% of the sun’s UV rays while allowing the important visible light to pass through.
She adds, “The huge columns used in the Capitol buildings and those in the City Centre, Sector 17 shall have been minimized by the use of Carbon Nanotubes (one of the materials of nanotechnology). These sheets of graphite, just one atom thick, if formed into a cylindrical column are not only 50 times stronger than conventional steel but ten times lighter also. The conventional steel to be used in a ten-storeyed Secretariat building would have been reduced drastically by using carbon nanotubes intead. Only paper thin sheets of column might have been able to hold up the entire load of the buildings. Interestingly, the architecture of the buildings designed by Le Corbusier would have been totally unusual.”
Archana said,”The tiny embedded nanosensors in the building materials will make the architectural features responsive and will be able to track the movement and detect temperature changes, humidity, toxins, weapons and even money. Communication will occur between object and object, between occupant and object, between object and environment and between occupant and environment, making ‘fields of interaction’ a major focus. Thus, all the security personnel installed at the Capitol Complex and other buildings shall no more be required. The buildings shall be self-secured and self-sufficient.”
These dynamic environments will be organic in their ability to respond to changes, so the architects will need to learn to design for change.
The LenS, Learning Network on Sustainability, is an Asian-European multi-polar network for curricula development on design for sustainability focused on Product-Service System innovations. It is a 3 years project (Dec/2007 – Dec/2010) funded by the European Commission (Asia Link Programme, EuropAid), involving seven design schools in Europe and Asia. The programme is supported by Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, India; King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand ; Politecnico di Milano, INDACO Department, Milan, Italy (Co-ordinator) ; Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India; Tsinghua University, Academy of Arts & Design, Beijing, China; Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands and Aalto University, School of Art and Design, Department of Design,Helsinki, Finland. It is endorsed by United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) ; International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media; Lifestyle Design Research Network of China ;
ADI (Italian Association for Industrial Design) Lombardia ; The Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo and DESIS NETWORK( Design for social innovation and sustainability).
The scope of the conference is to make a significant contribution to catalyzing the learning and dissemination process of an emergent design knowledge-base, theory and practice, on design for sustainability, within the design community; a contribution to take up the challenge of Sustainability in Design, NOW!
In this context, the conference aims at offering an understanding of the worldwide challenges and the opportunities so that designer-participants can be more active and effective in the transition towards a sustainable society. The conference aims to be both visionary and pragmatic, and to stimulate new ways of thinking.
Furthermore a Bangalore 2010 Manifesto on Sustainability in Design will be discussed, agreed upon and signed.
The conference shall be held at J N Tata Auditorium of the National Science Seminar Complex which was the first of its knid in India through the generous support from Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India, House of Tatas and the IISc.
Very nice. This is such a novel idea.