Sustainability, A Way Of Life: Towards Timeless, Humane And Sustainable Architecture

At a point in our adolescence, as the company began expanding and evolving into the multidisciplinary and multi-locational entity it is today, we began to suffer from a crisis of identity and focus.

- Yatin Pandya

It was thus felt that a set of common guiding principles was becoming necessary to achieve alignment and provide focus to the increasingly diverse group. Thus, a core philosophy evolved with two parts: an over-arching core purpose and a set of core values to guide this purpose.

Sustainability is a phenomenon. It is a concept that stems from and culminates in the way of life. It is about contextual adjustments for the maximum gain, with the least disturbance or imbalance. It is meant to bring appropriateness to the milieu, wherein milieu implies place, people and programme. Architecture too, is a sum total of culture, climate and construction. Sustainable built form thus, refers to a holistic approach to design, and not just environmental management.

Truly sustainable architecture has to go through five fundamental tenets of space making, including: Timeless aesthetics, because buildings last longer than their creators; socio-cultural appropriateness, as spaces are created for the end users; environmental sustainability, since resources are frugal and consumption is high; economic affordability, because only then the resolution would be viable to realise; and structural strength and stability, which will make the built environment last for centuries. The uniqueness of this combination of criteria demands unique solutions over time and space. Therefore, any attempt at converting a phenomenon into a formula—by universalisation of norms and quantification of quality—remains an inherent contradiction to the idea. Phenomenon turned into formula ends up becoming a fashion. And fashion is always appliqué, cursory and temporal.