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Systems How sustainable is the process of designing a
Approach to building? What is the role of a stakeholder in the
design ecosystem? In this article, Lavanya P ArunLavanya P Arun
addresses these questions while highlighting
Goal-Setting for the principles of green architecture that aims to
realize the goals of environmental sustainability,
Sustainability in economic sustainability, and social sustainability.
Building Design Sustainability as the
Common Goal
It is common knowledge that several stakeholders
are involved in designing a building. The builder,
architect, and the buyer are at the core of the design
ecosystem; experts and specialists such as green
consultants, certification consultants, energy
experts, and material experts are brought on board
to fulfil specific requirements based on needs such as
Lavanya P. Arun believes strongly certifications, net zero goals, low-cost architecture,
in the impact of public policy in and so on.
sustainable development. Her work
at Smarter Dharma revolves around The question is, ‘Do the stakeholders work together
towards a common goal?’ Not quite. This system
influencing public discourse and essentially follows a linear workflow. A design is
guiding public policy to strengthen first created by the architect, prioritizing either
institutional frameworks to foster and comfort, aesthetics, economics or efficiency. The
protect social and environmental other stakeholders are then forced to tweak their
sustainability. Her approach to interventions around that design. So, the other
work is data-driven and bolstered considerations become mere add-ons and are not
by evidence-based research. She integral to the design process. This paradigm leads to
started her career in a consulting the sub-optimal utilization of available resources as it
firm, specializing in macroeconomics is predisposed to the various professionals working in
and analytics. She then wanted to be silos, and therefore, it does not lend itself to common
on the other side of consulting and goal-setting. This limits the possibilities that can be
on the field, so she moved to a wind achieved through a synergistic approach (Figure 1).
turbine manufacturing company
and worked as a strategist. She also Systems Approach for a
has experience in writing discussion Holistic View of Challenges
papers commissioned by the MoEF
on policy issues. To illustrate this point, we will look at an example of
fenestration design. If we consider the fenestration
She has a Master’s degree in design of a building, an architect while designing
Economics, and is a UN volunteer the fenestration would primarily base it on the
who teaches ESL in her spare time. building orientation and required ventilation. And if
energy efficiency is a priority, the architect will give
most attention to the building envelope design. The