It is romantic to use resources available to you and create something of astonishing value, and it is equally unromantic not to preserve that which has been created. Nilanjan Bhowal, 49, is a preserver of all good things. The architect and urban planner did his postgraduate specialisation in energy-efficient building design from the Istanbul Technical University, with the purpose of making Delhi a more sustainable city.
“Development needs to begin with the honest admission that our waste is our own,” he says, as he talks about the need to minimise wastage.
“If you take a walk around Nizamuddin or Sarai Kale Khan, you will see a large mountain of waste from the city. There are two ways in which this can be dealt with; the first is by taking little steps like reducing the usage of disposable plastic and the other is recycling whatever organic and inorganic waste we generate in our homes,” says Bhowal.
The green homes that he constructs are totally powered by solar-energy. Each kitchen is fitted with a recycling mechanism developed by Teri, wherein the waste is collected in seven pots, one pot for each day of the week. So, by the time the seventh pot fills up, the bio-chemical waste in the first pot turns into manure and can be used in gardening. Bhowal is the recipient of several national-level awards for architecture and interiors.
He has designed several urban development plans (for instance masterplans for Chitrakoot, Bastar, Chhattisgarh) and urban conservation projects (Sirpur Temple Site, Chhattisgarh; Kangla Fort, Imphal, Manipur) for ICOMOS, lake district plan for Uttarakhand, resorts for JKTDC and institutional projects in the Andamans, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Chhattisgarh, Kolkata, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Haryana, using sustainable technology. His advice to Delhi wallas is to use local materials and believe in reusing them.