A Study of Passive and Active Strategies through Case Studies for the Composite Climate Zone of India

Abstract

There are only 4500 buildings and about 4.17 billion square feet of the area under green buildings till 2016. It is only around 5% of India's total construction, and there is considerable potential for sustainable design in the Indian market. Sustainable building design requires passive and active techniques. It is vital to design a sustainable building that uses passive strategies to its fullest because they are cheaper and more efficient than active strategies. The designer emphasizes active features and neglects passive features to obtain sustainable building ratings in the current context. The whole purpose of sustainable design has been defeated. To achieve a sustainable design in a real sense, passive strategies should be formed in response to the local climate and given primary importance. Active strategies are only bound to complement passive strategies. This study focuses on understanding the passive design strategies for India's composite climate in response to the local climate through case studies of buildings. This paper deals with passive design strategies such as orientation, fenestration, shading devices, earth touch, roof garden, water, landscaping, and active strategies, often include solar panels, solar water heaters and wind towers. The two studies, i.e., the American Institute of Indian Studies and the Solar Energy Center, use the sunken courtyard, orientation, shading devices, water bodies, a verandah inspired by traditional passive features, and another study, the PEDA Complex, use the southern dome structure, shading devices, water bodies as modern passive features. All studies use active strategies to complement passive strategies. The study concludes that all three case studies use passive strategies as primary ones, either influenced by traditional architecture or modern perception and that active strategies complement passive strategies.