www.wfm.co.in
WINDOW& FACADE MAGAZINE
Volume 1 | Issue 1 November - December 2013
Cover Story :
Rise & Rise of GLASS WALL SYSTEMS Building Maintenance Units (BMU)
Selecting Fenestration Solutions
Overview of Green Fenestration Design
A Necessity for upcoming infrastructure
Ar. Rahul Ajeet Kadam
Ar. Ravindra Kumar
PREFACE
Contents
WINDOW& FACADE
It gives us a great pleasure to release the first edition of the Window and Façade Magazine (WFM). The magazine’s editorial and technical team as well as the entire façade and fenestration industry in India have shown commendable cooperation as well as devotion in realizing this dream.
MAGAZINE
Volume 1 | Issue 1 November - December 2013
Published by: Sustainability – A mass movement
Overview of Green Fenestration Design 08
04 An insight into industry of what they perceive sustainability as
F & F Media and Publications C-55, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase - 1, New Delhi 110 020 T: +91-11-42576205
Architect Ravindra Kumar – VA Group
Co-Founders:
AMIT MALHOTRA amit@wfm.co.in
Syed Ahad Ahmed Amit Malhotra Building Maintenance Units
Healthy Buildings 22
16
Honest effort has been put to ensure that this magazine proves to be a delightful experience of learning from Indian and global practices in facade and fenestration. This magazine is designed to bring out the real and correct picture of emerging technologies and market trends from around the world. It shall showcase the concerns about common practices, the need for development of standards and shall raise the voice towards bringing quality and efficiency to the Indian façade and fenestration industry.
Editorial & Advertising: Esha Sharma esha@wfm.co.in
A necessity for upcoming infrastructure
+91 9811986040
Role of effective fenestration
Concept Design: Ekta Manchanda Selecting Fenestration Solutions
Rashmi K
Rise & Rise of Glass Wall 26
On behalf of the magazine’s team I would like to express our deepest gratitude to the numerous industry professionals who shared our fervor and have beautifully contributed to our maiden edition.
(for Idiom Design & Consulting) 30
Architect Rahul Ajeet Kadam – Edifice
Energy Efficient Window Systems
J Rajendran
Face to Face with Ajay Tenany 38
34
Exploring the benefit of thermal break solutions
Interview with Ajay Tenany, Director, Reynaers Aluminium
Cover page image courtesy Glass Wall Systems | Project: Vasukamal
Design Head: Honest revelations on the rise of Glass Wall Systems
WFM was born at the initiative of two creative minds – Syed Ahad Ahmed, Director at Zak Trade Fairs & Exhibitions and Amit Malhotra, Leader at McCoy Group. The words “WFM” were chosen to indicate the specific aim for which this magazine has been designed for simple, technical and practically oriented content that is developed to detail specific subjects regarding different fields within the façade and fenestration industry. The ideation was taken further by our editor Esha Sharma. Credit also goes to our design partner Idiom Designs from Bangalore for showcasing the content in a right manner and helping us in putting up a high quality journal.
For the interest of the industry our continuous endeavor will be to bring out editions which will be oriented to the windows, doors, glass, façades and other related subjects. More so, each edition shall talk about specific subject and elaborate on technical and commercial challenges and solutions thereof around the same with respect to Indian context. Any suggestion and feedback that could assist us with the second edition is more than welcome and we shall strive to leave no stone unturned in order to live up to your expectations.
DISCLAIMER: With regret we wish to say that publishers cannot be held responsible or liable for error or omission contained in this publication. The opinions and views contained in this publication are not necessarily those of the publishers. Readers are advised to seek expert advice before acting on any information contained in this publication which are very generic in nature. The ownership of trademarks is acknowledged. No part of this publication or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced in any form or context without the permission of publishers in writing. WRITE TO THE EDITOR Please address your suggestions to: The Editor, Window & Façade Magazine, C55, Okhla Industrial Area, Phase – 1, New Delhi, 110020 or email esha@wfm.co.in. Please provide your full name and address, stating clearly if you do not wish us to print them. Alternatively log on to www.wfm.co.in and air your views. The opinions expressed in this section are of particular individuals and are in no way a reflection of the publisher’s views.
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SUSTAINABILITY – A Mass Movement
The enormous economic and population growth worldwide over the last four decades have together driven the impacts that threaten the health and well-being of our communities and nations. To name a few - ozone depletion, climate change, fouling of natural resources, and extensive loss of biodiversity and habitat.
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Amidst this, one word that drives all activities across the globe in today’s time and age is Sustainability. Ranging from eco-systems to buildings, from commercial buildings to urban habitats, you name it and it strives to be sustainable. Leaders in business, government, academia, public-interest organizations, and communities are responding with innovative new solutions to sustainability. Large corporations, as well as small businesses are progressing beyond simple regulatory compliance in favor of more proactive roles in finding solutions to sustainability issues. The Indian building and construction industry is not far behind in this run for the cause. “For most urban projects, there are design charettes where sustainability consultant, structural consultant, architect and client get together and lay down the blueprint for the building which is conceived to be the epitome of sustainable methods and processes”, says Mr. KR Suresh, Regional Director, Axis Façade
Each component of a building contributes in achieving the much sought after sustainability and so does the building envelop. The building skin affects both the appearance and performance of a building like no other building system. Façade and fenestration in a building are thus of paramount importance when considering issues of green building and sustainable design. WFM conducted a survey where they asked the general public or end user, what they understand by sustainability. Following pie chart describes their views: (Fig1)
14% agree that Sustainability is the essence of Social, Economic and Environmental viability – also described as three pillars of sustainability.
(The respondents comprise of the internet users who choose to participate in the poll only and not the general public) There are a number of design drivers that account for developing and executing a high performance, sustainable façade vis-à-vis water – [rain, humidity, condensation],
Air – [wind, ventilation],
Sound – [desired, undesired],
Light – [Sunlight, artificial],
View – [Public & Private],
20% believe it’s no more than a marketing gimmick
heat – [solar radiation, air temperature],
8% of the respondents have no idea as to what sustainability actually means
58% of the respondents feel sustainability corresponds to Energy Efficiency
A sustainable façade is the one which considers all these and still does not imbalance the environment, social equity and economic viability in the long run. There are various ways to enhance environmental gains and make a façade sustainable, ranging from low cost passive systems to phenomenally expensive dynamic ones.
Natural ventilation.
Solar shading through basic structural shading ornaments on the envelop.
Maximize day lighting at the same time minimizing glare.
Evaporative cooling and thermal banking.
Strategically planted trees for window shading and roof plantation etc.
Passive methods
The results of the survey are as follows:
Optimized form/orientation – where building’s axis is aligned after analyzing the sun path diagram for that specific zone and the façade is angled to a certain degree so as to minimize the heat gain.
Technological intervention: “These are one time smart moves taken in order to enhance building performance by selecting the high performance façade components and technologies and integrating them to the building design”, – says Sharanjit Singh, Chairman, GSC Glass
High performance insulated glazing – with especially selective low-E glass.
Double skin façade – this emergent technology is
fire – [flames, heat, smoke],
Pollution, security, safety, explosions etc.
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finding increased appication in building projects where the attributes of transparent facades are desired the performance of the building skin is paramount. These sophisticated facade designs can compensate for the inherently poor insulating properties of glass. In addition to providing a thermal barrier, the systems can also provide an effective means of ventilation, and often involve shading devices for the control of solar penetration and glare
BIPV - Building-integrated photo-voltaic (BIPV) is an increasingly popular approach for using the building skin as a means to harvest solar energy
Dynamic Methods:
Heat Recovery Equipment Sensors and Actuators – that respond to conditions like fire, smoke and inhabitation or lack of it Responsive shading – dynamic louvers, photochromic shading devices which respond to position of solar position and help in light shelving as well to enable penetration of sunlight deep into the building
A sustainable façade helps in reduced consumption of resources and lowers the carbon footprint of the buildings. WFM confronted leading stakeholders from the industry ranging from architects, developers, consultants and so on, asked them how they perceive
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sustainability and what measures do they take to ensure that the window system or façade of their building will positively contribute in making their building eternally sustainable. We got various interesting responses: Excerpts:“Sustainability has become much more relevant now with increase in sheer scale of the projects with the advent of various options available today.” says Architect Raman Sikka of Sikka Associates. As per him, good planning was the key 15 years back and now as well. Now it’s being demanded that the building is sustainable, envelop is energy efficient. For instance in the commonwealth games village all the residential high-rises were specified to be GRIHA rated. The windows for each of them were designed considering the same. “Strategizing the whole process properly and doing the right things at the right time and the right place is the key to the whole sustainable story.”says Architect Alok Kumar, Chief Architect, DLF Limited
they incorporate sustainable development practices.”Their residential development – International City in Gurgaon, which is a joint venture with Sobha is one such example. Kangkan Chakraborty, President - Projects, Vatika Group, which was responsible for changing the face of NCR, maintains that they go an extra mile while designing and specifying engineered façade for their commercial buildings “Sustainability goes beyond thermal efficiency. The building has to be viable; every building is different and has its own sustainability requirements. Orientation, location, application of the building, comfort of the occupants – all these have to be considered, new innovations to be devised and tested in order to validate it. The façade needs to be evaluated on all aspects – comfort level, energy, orientation, day lighting, heat island effect and overall running and maintenance cycles and should eventually minimize the cost of running the building. Then only it can be deemed sustainable ”says KR Suresh.
Vasudevan D, CEO, Chintels reiterates that “depending on the market conditions and demands,
“The façade needs to be evaluated on all aspects – comfort level, energy, orientation, day lighting, heat island effect and overall running and maintenance cycles”
“Strategizing the whole process properly and doing the right things at the right time and the right place is the key to the whole sustainable story” Ar. Alok Kumar, Chief Architect, DLF Limited To all these views there was a counter view which is worth mentioning here: The most sustainable building is one without windows. We are creating a problem and then we are solving it by creating more sustainable windows and façade. The most sustainable place to live in is a cave. But at the same time windows and façade bring in much needed air and light. There is a symbolic modern-ness about glass façades. So the need of the times is to design them so that they don’t pose a threat to our already depleting resources. Most important thing is to design windows where they matter. “For Indian climate having windows on the north façade makes sense. Having windows on the west doesn’t make sense. Use of DGUs wherever required, specialty films etc. are the measures worth considering and adopting” says Architect Gopinath Akalkotkar, Managing Leader, Statec Consultants. In words of Mahesh Arumugam, Director, Meinhardt Façade “façade is an element that interacts with all other elements of a building. It acts as a skin between interior and exterior. It
has to be designed in sustainable way so as to allow maximum natural ventilation and natural lighting. A building Façade is normally designed for minimum of 25 years and aiming up to 50 years. All recyclable material should be used – aluminium, glass. The chemicals and coatings should be VOC free and should blend with natural environment. The design should keep in view the maintenance requirements that will come up in the lifespan of the façade vis-à-vis cleaning, repair for the normal wear and tear etc” Thus we see sustainability is not just a myth or a marketing gimmick. There have been various qualitative researches that have identified that sustainable practices by the firms have in turn provided a few financial benefits to them in the long run. Environmental performance produces financial gain to the
building subsequently. A lot has changed in past decade in India – the client is more aware, the industry has evolved, but as the basic rule of physics say – ideal can’t be achieved. There are design challenges, conflicting requirements, quality cost and time balancing, problems with implementing and even if all this goes well there are performance inefficiencies. It is a long path to be treaded on. REFERENCES:
Journal of Industrial ecology – Stern School of Business
A sustainable technical system for ventilated façades
J. Avellaneda, J.M. Gonzalez, A. Carbonnel & D. López
Departament Construccions Arquitectòniques 1. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Zak World of Façades - 6
“Sustainability has become much more relevant now with increase in sheer scale of the projects with the advent of various options available today” Ar. Raman Sikka, Associate Principal, Sikka Associates
KR Suresh, Regional Director, Axis Facades
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