Md. Mahamudur Rahman Papon
Architect & Environmentalist
Eco-friendly architecture is a creation that is built through a process that balances the environment with the natural environment and social activities. This process involves minimizing the loss of natural resources, design, construction, materials, maintenance, renovation, etc. in harmony with the environment and nature. This is a long process; I will briefly highlight the main topics in front of you today.
At present, Bangladesh is many times ahead of other countries in the world in the textile industry. And the most noticeable thing in this industry is the creation of hazard-free industrial factories. Many people are now rebuilding their factories, one thing is for sure, they are all very interested in building eco-friendly architecture. For this, they are forgetting the cost and constructing low-risk buildings and obtaining building certificates from different places in the country and abroad to gain the full confidence of the buyers. If they want to get LEED CERTIFICATE from USGBC, then what they need to do to make eco-friendly architecture is the main point of today’s writing.
The basic policy of eco-friendly architecture is 3R and to implement this policy one has to go through some integrated process. Those processes are briefly discussed below:
First of all, you have to choose a site considering the location and transportation. Building on sites that are unsuitable and too far to travel should be avoided. It is best not to use environmentally sensitive land and to ensure that the building does not adversely affect the environment. Buildings should be constructed by protecting paddy lands, forests and the surrounding settlements should also be kept in mind. They have to make sure that there is no damage. The site should be selected considering the number of facilities available around the site to meet the basic needs of the people.
After selecting the site, one thing to keep in mind is that the contaminants caused by the construction process can in no way contaminate the site. The remaining pieces of iron, tin pieces, forks, etc. of the parts used should be stored separately in the designated place. The sand and gravel should be kept in one place and surrounded with bricks so that the site does not get dirty by scattering here and there. Empty bags of cement should be used without wasting them and every work should be photographed and saved with the specified date as proof. During rains, the site’s stagnant water should be removed through a sedimentation tank so that sediment does not mix with the water. Arrangements should be made to reduce dust on the site and to ensure that there is a large open space on the site designed following the BNBC code.
The use of water at the construction site is a very important matter. Be careful in using water. Excess water use inside and outside the site should be reduced and used water should be purified and reused. Water used without purification can never be released into nature. This will not maintain the balance of nature. It is important to keep track of how much water is being used and to increase the tendency to use rainwater.
How to reduce the cost of building management, how to get more work done by wasting less energy on a building, and how to use alternative energy in a building should be considered from the beginning. The cost of operating a building can be greatly reduced by using natural forces. In this case, it is necessary to keep an account of how much energy is being expended to manage a building. Then will we get an accurate picture of how much alternative energy is being used and how much energy is being used or growing? By using battery-powered cars and bicycles for internal use of the site, we are now able to reduce transportation costs in many places.
All the raw materials we use to build a new building must be recyclable (RECYCLE MATERIAL). Certificates must be obtained from the companies that supply these raw materials that their products are reusable. All raw materials must be stored in a designated warehouse before use and for reuse once used and accounted for with a picture of the amount of raw material being reused. There should be a waste management plan and arrangements should be made for dumping waste at specific places on the site. The use of readily available and environmentally friendly raw materials should be increased.
We need to ensure the quality of the internal environment of the building to eco-friendly installations. Natural light and air should be used as much as possible and a healthy and comfortable environment should be created for the user even if it is not possible to maintain the quality naturally. Arrangements should be made for the emission of smoke and gas and for the air to enter and exit from one side to the other which is called cross ventilation. If necessary, new air should be introduced by pulling out the inner air. A designer must accurately calculate the amount of air that needs to be ventilated inside the room when designing ventilation. How many lux lights there will be, where the air pressure is, how much room temperature it is, how much oxygen is in the air, how much moisture there is, etc. must be kept in constant account.
To build an eco-friendly architecture, we have to go through some processes, to build a risk-free building, we must follow the rules and regulations of the building. It is our responsibility and duty to construct the building through an authorized Architect & Engineer for constructing building on our own. We will all build risk-free buildings in compliance with the law and live in a beautiful, prosperous and fully livable green, natural and pleasant environment in the future, this is what we all want.
