CHENNAI: Just like charity begins at home, environmental consciousness should too. With more people believing in that concept, there is a demand for eco-friendly homes. For professionals interested in expanding their architectural knowledge to further green initiatives, Shilpa architects in association with Ela Green Building Consultants is holding short-term workshops. The course also includes Indian Green Building Council Accredited Professional Examination (IGBC AP) certification. Edex spoke to Pavitra Sriprakash, an architect with the company, to find out more.
“These courses started last summer after we moved to our new facility in Taramani, Chennai. We wanted to teach people about sustainability and what it means to create sustainable homes and other buildings. These courses were initially offered to our clients who were curious to know how we created their sustainable projects, and later expanded to students of Architecture and Civil Engineering, recent graduates and working professionals,” begins Pavitra.
The topics deal with how to optimise energy usage in buildings, use materials smartly, recycling and renew raw material, make efficient use of power with respect to air-conditioning and lighting, how to create efficient sustainable designs, looking at its life-cycle as a whole,” she says.
Specialised courses centered on topics like lighting cost `1,500-2,000 while intensive two-three day workshops cost `6,000-8,000. “These courses are an excellent bet for a round-up of basics in sustainable architecture,” says Pavitra.
The tutors are from the industry — sustainability experts and industry leaders in their respective domains. Specialists from the industry also give guest lectures. Pavitra, who has an urban design background, is one of the instructors. She is clearly overwhelmed by the response Shilpa Architects aims to make the firm a full-fledged technical training and learning institute. “The classes are interactive and, so far, we haven’t experienced the need to repeat any modules. We also restrict the class size to 15-20 participants,” she says.
About participant feedback, she says, “Most participants were gushing about how learning in a sustainable building made a world of difference. We could actually use real-life examples to explain concepts to them,” she says.
Future plans include taking the training to other States. Details at www.shilpaarchitects.com.
— shilpa.vasudevan@newindianexpress.com