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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
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