A Dummies GUIDE on HOW NOT TO DO SUSTAINABILITY

The earth has been slowly dying as we all know, Because of our exemplary rate of breeding like rabbits along with the need of class toppers to take extra sheets just to cut trees (Like we get it Vikas, but those trees have feelings). Eventually the hipster valley girl, big evil corporates and now architects have started championing the term sustainability, most of them having no idea how vast the whole topic is. Now I’m going to zone in on the architects for today, especially those who add in a garden the size of a brick and call it a green haven (Come on Vikas be Better). Sustainability is a challenge, like most things in life.

But let’s break it down and ask the question, “Why is it so challenging to make something out of earth?” Let’s look at a term synonymous with sustainability – Bio-degradability which is used as a flash word in the industry. Of course, the noble idea of everything being built up, can be put back on earth with minimal damage is poetic, it brings a person living in the said space closer to their roots and live one with the environment around them. But flip the coin and notice, Biodegradability doesn’t equate to permanency and besides we don’t live in the stone ages where we keep shifting from settlement to settlement.

The current world requires a certain stability with housing and with rising land and material prices, revamping continuously isn’t the best of options especially for the general public for whom a home is a dream. Even if we look at a rural/grassroots level, people living in traditional mud houses are shifting to more solid concrete or artificial material-based housing for a sense of permanence, so as to accommodate amenities which are basic such as electricity and better water supply to name a few. And honestly, why would someone who spent all of their life savings to build their dream home want to save the earth in the process?

They aren’t obligated or obliged to. Sustainability in the current scenario sounds like the moans of the privileged – a lot of fluff with little substance. The human element of it all is taken away. For a second let’s close our eyes and imagine this, our feet on soft earth, the sprinkles of drizzling raining caressing the water body in front of us, the gentle gust of wind which flows through and breezes across our skin calming and cooling us down. This is what we should aim at while promoting sustainability.

The human aspect of the experience. We as humans crave for our roots through nature, we try to ground ourselves with nature, and post some Ranbir Kapoor movies, we look to escape our monotony by reconnecting with nature. So why not take that sentiment and bring it to our homes. Of course the practicality of it needs to be analysed, and forcing down complete sustainability is ironically, not Sustainable. An example we can look into is the use of Rammed Earth in projects, an aggregate of cement is added to provide permanence, and reduce a risk of quick biodegradability. Think of it like Body Builders adding in steroids for the purpose of performance enhancement, its frowned Apon yes, but it is an industry standard at this point.

We can’t expect someone who has lived with the luxury of an indoor toilet, to use the fields outside to do the deeds, looking at the context, geography and need is very important. Hence, A marriage of traditional technology and materials along with modern contemporary spaces and situation is the need of the hour in order to warm a wider audience towards this movement. It’s a sweet spot, the marriage of the concept of sustainability and effective usability of it.

With strides taken within the industry by many pioneers of the movement such as Rebecca Reubens who founded the Rhizome, India’s first multidisciplinary sustainability design studio – with their experimentation with bamboo, the possibilities of finding out of box solutions is endless. Like they say, the world is our oyster. And to save it, we as architects are required some deep diving to find the pearls to our roots and inevitably safe keeping the planet which we owe a lot to.