Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
A green building with deep shading and planting — sustainability built into the architecture.
Unit V25ART203 · Environmental Studies in Architecture

Architecture & the Built Environment

The architect's own subject — sustainability, climate and energy.

≈ 35 min + calculator

Here the course becomes the architect's daily work. Everything before — ecosystems, resources, biodiversity, pollution — converges on one question: how do we build well within the living world? The answer is sustainability: designing with climate, easing the city's heat, and cutting the energy a building consumes.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to — mapped to the course outcomes for Environmental Studies in Architecture:

1
CO5 · Understand

Explain the three pillars of sustainability and how they apply to building.

2
CO5 · Analyse

Describe how climate shapes the built environment and the urban heat island.

3
CO5 · Create

Estimate a building's annual energy use and carbon, and how to cut it.

4
CO6 · Evaluate

Judge a real building's environmental impact and energy efficiency.

What sustainability means

The three pillars

Sustainability balances the environmental, the economic and the social — a green building serves all three, not one at the cost of the others. Climate is the first design input; passive design cuts energy before any machine is switched on.[1, 2]

The three pillars of sustainability Sustainable architecture Environ- mental Economic Social a green building serves all three pillars together — not one at the cost of the others.
DiagramThe three pillars of sustainability — environmental, economic and social — supporting sustainable architecture

The three pillars

Sustainability balances the environmental (resources, emissions, ecology), the economic (affordable, durable, low running cost) and the social (health, equity, comfort). A truly green building serves all three, not one.[1, 4]

Cities make their own climate

The urban heat island

Dense, dark, vegetation-poor cities run several degrees hotter than the countryside around them — the urban heat island. Cool roofs, trees, water and lighter surfaces bring it down.[2, 3]

The urban heat island temperature ruralsuburbancity centreparkrural peak over dense, dark, dry city eased by cool roofs, trees, water and lighter surfaces.
DiagramThe urban heat island temperature profile, peaking over the dense city centre and dipping over a park
A dense city of concrete and glass under a hot sky — the urban heat island.
PhotoA dense city of concrete and glass under a hot sky — the urban heat island.PattayaPatrol · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
Rooftop solar panels on a building — on-site renewable energy.
PhotoRooftop solar panels on a building — on-site renewable energy.MassDOT · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Try it

A building's energy & carbon

A building's annual energy is roughly its floor area times its Energy Performance Index (EPI); the carbon follows from the grid. Set the area and EPI and see how an efficient, ECBC-class design compares.[3]

Building energy & carbon

Annual energy = area × EPI; carbon = energy × 0.71 kg/kWh (India grid, indicative). An efficient ECBC-class building targets an EPI around 100.

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Annual energy (kWh/yr)

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Annual carbon (t CO₂/yr)

An efficient design would use about 44% less.

The difference design makes

Conventional vs green

AspectConventionalGreen building
Energy demandConventional: high, machine-ledGreen: low, passive-first
Envelopethin, poorly shadedinsulated, shaded, daylit
Running costhigh (power, water)low over the life
Comfortdepends on HVACcomfortable passively, most of the year
Benchmarkabove ECBC baselinemeets/beats ECBC, low EPI
Apply it

Study task

Take a building you know and list three passive moves that would lower its energy use — shading, orientation, ventilation, lighter roof, planting. Estimate its energy with the calculator above, then again at an efficient EPI, and note the saving.

Check your understanding

Self-assessment

1. The three pillars of sustainability are —

2. The urban heat island effect means that —

3. In Indian practice, building energy efficiency is governed by the —

In a nutshell

Recap

Sustainability balances three pillars: environmental, economic and social.
Climate is the first design input; passive design cuts energy before machines are used.
Cities create an urban heat island — eased by cool roofs, trees, water and lighter surfaces.
Buildings use much of our energy; the ECBC sets efficiency norms — aim for a low energy performance index.
The evidence

References & further reading

  1. [1]Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future (the origin of 'sustainable development'). Oxford University Press, 1987.
  2. [2]Arvind Krishan et al., Climate Responsive Architecture: A Design Handbook for Energy Efficient Buildings. McGraw-Hill.
  3. [3]Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). Government of India. https://beeindia.gov.in/
  4. [4]Anubha Kaushik & C.P. Kaushik, Perspectives in Environmental Studies. New Age International.
  5. [5]GRIHA Council / IGBC — green building rating references. https://www.grihaindia.org/

Further reading

  • Arvind Krishan et al., Climate Responsive Architecture.
  • Brundtland Commission, Our Common Future.
  • Ken Yeang, Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design.

Sources gathered and fact-checked June 2026. Published values vary by source, sample and method — treat as indicative and confirm against the cited standard before structural use.