CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, Hyderabad is one of the substantial examples of green buildings in the world. The design of this building includes the above three points along with few other features. This is the first LEED Platinum-certified building outside of the US. It is a commercial business building consists of an office area, research labs, and conference rooms. These are the three main functions of the building. However, the building deals with two significant concepts of architecture which are green architecture and passive architecture.

Most of us think that green building is having a greener area in a building. We simply refer every building as a green building which has roof gardens or vertical green wall or which comprises more percentage of green space than usual. But the fact is a green building or green architecture is something which is more than just vegetation. Let’s get a glimpse of what actually green building is?

CII Sohrabji Godrej Case study

The following three qualities are the essential characters of green building.

• Location: Hyderabad
• Site area: 4.5 acres
• Built-up Area: 20,000 Sq. ft
• Architect: Ar. Karan Grover
• Building type: Commercial office building
• Award: LEED Platinum Rating

Also read: Top 5 Examples of Sustainability in modern architecture forms in the world

• Environment friendly – Efficiently using the natural resources, pollution reduction in its surroundings, and minimal generation of wastage comparatively.
• Economical – Using local materials which cut downs the transportation rate also affordable
• Energy-saving – Using more daylight into the building and utilizing electricity efficiently.

Green elements of CII Sohrabji Godrej:

• Solar PV panels
• A wind tower is a prominent element use to cool the inside building and to improve indoor air quality.
• More than 600 floras are replacing during excavation, and all those are native trees and the ones which are capable of adapting themselves with that local climatic conditions.
• Roof gardens
• The traditional technique of rainwater harvesting
• 60% of the materials that used in this building are recycled.

Enforcing sustainable and passive design:

Site preservation:

This building is constructed by maintaining the natural elements and conditions of the site like topography, rocks, landscape, etc. 70% of the existing site landscape is retained and the tress which are lopped during excavation are replanted inside the site itself. Also, preventing site’s natural condition and designing in accordance with the surrounding environment is one the important quality in architecture which is achieved brilliantly here. Soil erosion inside the site is refrained by using honey comb trays in areas where the soil is loose and has high possibilities for soil erosion. These trays are further covered by turf. They used the soil which is discarded during excavation for landscape.

Passive architecture:

Wind towers are generally a traditional technique to maintain the circulation of natural air inside the building. This is basically, a tall tower with an opening at the top to catch prevailing winds and bring it down to cool the interior of the building.  As a result, this is one of the best strategies for heat management. In this building wind tower’s role is to pass the pre-cooled air directly to the Air Handling Unit, so that the mechanism burden of AHU can be controlled.

Another traditional element used is the jaali wall. Jaali walls act us a screen wall also provides sufficient amount of natural ventilation and daylight inside the building. This also performs aesthetically in the building’s exterior. Huge trees are planting near the jaali wall to block and prevent the heat from direct sunlight. 90% of daylight is using efficiently inside the building which results in the reduction of electricity usage during day times. The North light concept is using to block heat gain inside the building. IBMS (Integrated Building Management System) is using to control the whole building. This is for automation of lights which again controls the wastage of electricity.

• Urban heat island – The heat island effect is controlled by using a greater number of floras, and SRI tiles on roofs and roof gardens.

• Universal design concept – This building can easily accessible to physically challenged and senior citizens. There is a separate car parking space for them which is nearer to the main entrance.

Water conservation and wastewater treatment in CII Sohrabji Godrej

As turfs consume more water, the site has less than 10% of the turf area to conserve water. Drip systems and sprinkler systems are used for the irrigation of turf and plants. Therefore soil moisture sensors are installed which automatically sense the moisture content in soil and shut down the water supply to plants. 100% of wastewater is recycled by the phytoremediation technique. It is a natural remediation technique that living plants are using to uptake the contaminants in water through their roots.

Energy efficient:

As the wind tower directly connects to the AHU. Its burden is reduced and electrical energy is saved. Glazing is used in Northside to capture the indirect sunlight and illuminate the interior. 20% of energy is produced by the solar panels installed on the roof. Remote control fans use from which 50% of electricity is saved.

CII Sohrabji Godrej Building materials:

Materials used in the construction of a building create a great impact on the site as well as inside the building. The whole building is made up of fly-ash bricks and cement. Fly ash is nothing but industrial waste. For interiors, they used Argo boards instead of plywood or wood. Agro boards are manufactured by compressing sugarcane waste bagasse. 90% percentage of the materials are transported and manufactured within a radius of 500 miles from the site. The entire site is a non-smoking area. Also, low-volatile organic compound paints and adhesives are used. The ceramic tiles used for flooring are of culets, broken tiles, paper, etc,

This building sets a milestone in green architecture and promotes the green movement all over the world especially in India. This is the perfect blend of architecture and technology.

Also Read the related article: 10 Examples of amalgamation of nature and architecture