21ST Aug’2021

Report on Sustainable Architecture as

per GRIHA V-2019
Prepared for
URC Construction Pvt. Ltd.

Prepared By
Sustainable Buildings & Habitat (SBH)
 © Sustainable Buildings & Habitat
A Complete Environmental Design Solution…

CONTACT:

Sudipta Singh, Architect, Green Building Consultant (Founder),

Sustainable Buildings & Habitat (SBH)
1146-Vinayak Nagar, Mahanadi Vihar, Cuttack-753004
HIG-61, II-Floor, KananVihar, Phase-I, Patia, Bhubaneswar-751024
Mob. No. 8984156729, E Mail: sbhdesign2015@gmail.com, Website: www.sbhdesign.co.in
 Contents

Report on Sustainable Architecture as per GRIHA V-2019........................................................ 4

.............................................................................................................................................................. 4
I. Introduction: .......................................................................................................................... 4
II. Criterion-2: Low-Impact (Passive) Design Strategies: ................................................ 4
III. Criterion-2: Low-Impact (Active) Design Strategies: .................................................. 8
IV. Criterion 3: Design to mitigate UHIE: ........................................................................... 9
V. Criterion 10: Visual Comfort Requirement: ............................................................... 10
VI. Criterion 24: Universal Accessibility: .......................................................................... 13
VII. Criterion 25: Dedicated Facilities for Service Staff: .................................................. 13
Annexure-01: Harmonized guidelines and space standards: ................................................. 14
Annexure-02: Key Recommendations for Dedicated Facilities for Service Staff ................. 19
ROOMS ....................................................................................................................................... 19
TOILETS ....................................................................................................................................... 19
Report on Sustainable Architecture as per GRIHA
V-2019

I. Introduction:
Buildings are responsible for about 40% of global energy consumption. With the
recent boom in the construction sector, a sudden spurt in energy consumption has
occurred, especially in countries like India and China. Design is the most important
factor in ensuring energy efficiency in buildings. The design of an existing building
cannot be altered without demolition. Thus, it is imperative to pay attention to the
crucial aspect of energy efficiency at the design stage itself. Buildings with climate-
responsive design can consume around 10%–15% less energy as compared to
conventional buildings, and that, too, without incurring any incremental cost. Thus,
climate-responsive design of buildings becomes an extremely important aspect in the
process of constructing an energy efficient building. Currently, the construction sector
consists of buildings, which are designed with full glass walls. The building designs
do not respond to macro- or micro-climatic parameters, urban context, and so on. The
windows do not have shading devices to reduce direct sunlight. Ill-designed openings
force building occupants to close the blinds/curtains, even during the day, and turn
on artificial lights. This substantially increases the heat gain inside the building. Such
buildings require utilization of energy-intensive mechanical systems for providing
visual and thermal comfort to the occupants. Since the buildings have not been
designed to reduce their energy requirements, the consumption of energy and impacts
on natural resources are massive.

II. Criterion-2: Low-Impact (Passive) Design Strategies:

1. Strategy-01: Control annual heat gain through favourable orientation:
The optimum orientation for buildings in India is with the longer façades facing north
and south to avoid summer heat gain, and allow maximum winter radiation. The basic
objective is to minimize the building exposure along east and west.

2. Strategy-02: Internal zoning/ layout of the floor plate:

It is recommended to design the internal layout of the building in such a way that
most of the living/ regularly occupied spaces are placed along the northern or
southern façades and the less functional spaces such as storage and service areas like
toilets, staircases, and so on should be allocated along critical orientations like south-
west, west, south east and east respectively.
 3. Strategy-03: Facilitate Cross-Ventilation in Non-AC areas:
Facilitate cross-ventilation in naturally ventilated and mixed mode ventilation spaces
through the building plan & window design.

4. Strategy-04: Solar access for solar PV installation:

Building design has been done in a manner to not obstruct the solar access to the
neighbouring buildings, especially if the neighbouring building has solar
photovoltaics and solar water heaters installed on the roof.

5. Strategy-05: Building massing should create mutual shading:

The massing of the buildings should be done in a manner to reduce the solar insolation
through “self-shading”. The building
mass should aim to create self-shading
primarily on eastern and western
facades.

6. Strategy-06: Vegetative cover to

control glare:
Design the landscape planning in such a
manner to demonstrate trees next to
critical facades (such as- west, east,
south-west and south-east). Note that the distance between the building and tree is
less than the height of the tree at maturity (5years old).

7. Strategy-07: Site planning should follow site contours (if slope>1:4):

The surface to volume ratio and the perimeter to area ratio largely determine its
potential to exploit solar passive design features effectively. Both these ratios, if kept
to a minimum in hot climates lead to an efficient design. Sewer lines can be so
designed as complement the natural slope of the land and contours. This can ensure
that no pumping energy shall be required to carry sewage across the site and into the
municipal sewers. Altering the levels of the site via cutting and filling activities must
be done to the minimum and very judiciously. This is because altering the slope often
leads to increased flow of water and erosion of soil. This requires further construction
of appropriate drainage interventions to contain and control the storm/sewage water.
This may also compromise the bearing capacity of the soil over a period of time and
lead to land-slides and slippages.

8. Strategy-08: Preserve the existing natural features of site:

Demonstrate that at least 25% of the site area is “Un-Disturbed” during and post-
construction. This can be achieved by reducing the building footprint and containing
the construction activities within a limited area on-site.
 9. Strategy-09: Courtyard Planning for Naturally Ventilated Building:
Due to incident solar radiation in a courtyard, the air gets warmer and rises. Cool air
from the ground level flow through the louvered openings of the rooms surrounding
a courtyard, thus producing air flow.

10. Strategy-10: Wind Tower in Naturally Ventilated Buildings:

In a wind tower, the hot air enters the tower through the openings in the tower, gets
cooled down, becomes heavier and sinks down. The inlet and outlet of the rooms
induce cool air movement. In the presence of wind, the air is cooled more effectively
and flows faster down the tower, into the living area. The tower wall absorbs the heat
during daytime and releases it at night, warming the cool night air in the tower.

11. Strategy-12: Enhance Natural Ventilation in Building Design:

Ventilation due to Stack Effect by using strategies such as - high-ceiling ventilated
roof, clerestory windows, etc. The hot air rises and escapes through the ventilators
letting the cooler air to take its place. Higher ceilings induce the aforementioned effect
to a higher extent.

12. Strategy-13: Solar Chimney Design for Naturally Ventilated Building:

Solar chimneys enhance stack ventilation by providing additional height and well-
designed air passages that increase the air pressure differential. Warmed by solar
radiation, chimneys heat up the rising air and increase the difference in temperature
between the incoming and out-flowing air. The increase in natural convection from
these measures enhances the draw of air through the building.

13. Strategy-11: Integration of Light Shelfs in Window Design:

Light shelves usually refer to horizontal surfaces mounted inside a building. These
interior light shelves divide the windows between the viewable portion and the part
that lets in additional natural light, bouncing it upward and reflecting it off the ceiling
to aid in deeper penetration of daylight in the interior space.

14. Strategy-14: Cavity Wall Construction:

A cavity wall is a wall formed by an inner skin and an outer skin of masonry
(sometimes referred to as ‘leaves’), connected by ties but separated by a cavity. The
cavity could utilize the air insulation material. The heat gets stored in the cavity, which
acts as a thermal barrier, bouncing it back into the room and holding it for a longer
time.
 15. Strategy-15: Passive Evaporative
Cooling Structures:
A roof pond uses a store of water above
the roof to mediate internal
temperatures, usually in hot desert
environments. At night, the insulation is
removed and the exposed water loses a
significant amount of heat by radiation to
the night sky. Early in the morning,
insulating panels are replaced to protect
the water from the heat of the day and
solar radiation.

16. Strategy-16: Airlock to prevent

heat loss:

Heat loss occurs in a building when the

heat escapes from inside the building to outside, typically through the roofs, walls,
windows, and floor. An airlock between two entities reduces the amount of air
infiltration and heat loss.

17. Strategy-17: Implementation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Strategies SUDS:

Sustainable urban drainage strategy (SUDS) requires maximum utilization of the
natural site features to integrate as benign a sewage management system as possible
on site. This requires retaining as many natural features as possible and trying to
design an architectural intervention that does the least to compromise/ drastically
alter the existing conditions on site. The architectural design can be made to respond
to the existing site conditions to the maximum possible extent. Please note that this
also requires minimum economic investment and minimum expenditure on energy
consumption over the life cycle of the building. Drainage strategies should be based
on sustainable urban drainage systems or SUDS. Conventional systems direct all the
water during heavy downpour into a drainage system, often leading to flooding or
clogging. SUDS ensure that the flow is attenuated using natural means so as to slow
the flow as also employ natural systems that can purify and filter the water. This water
can then be suitably used on the site to cater to the building’s demand. These often-
cost lesser money to construct and are can be designed in a manner as to not require
connection to a main city sewer system. (Eg. Swales, Soakaways, holding ponds,
pervious surfaces, optimally-designed pervious pavement systems, etc.)
 III. Criterion-2: Low-Impact (Active) Design Strategies:

No Strategy Description/Analysis Required

1 Earth air An earth air tunnel or earth air heat exchanger is a pre-cooling or pre-heating system
tunnel that consists of a pipe or network of pipes buried at a reasonable depth below the
ground surface. It either cools down the air by rejecting heat to the ground or heats
up the air absorbing heat from the ground. It utilizes the fact that the deep earth
temperature remains almost the same as the annual average mean air temperature of
the location.
2 Evaporative An evaporative cooler (also swamp cooler, swamp box, desert cooler, and wet air
cooling cooler) is a device that cools the air through the evaporation of water. Evaporative
cooling differs from typical air-conditioning systems that use vapour-compression
or absorption refrigeration cycles. The evaporative cooling technique uses the fact
that water will absorb a relatively large amount of heat in order to evaporate (i.e., it
has a large enthalpy of vapourization).
The temperature of dry air can be dropped significantly through the phase
transition of liquid water to water vapour (evaporation). This can cool the air
using much less energy than refrigeration. In extremely dry climates,
evaporative cooling of air has the added benefit of conditioning the air with
more moisture for the comfort of the building occupants.
3 Desiccant Desiccant cooling systems are open cycle systems, using water as refrigerant in
cooling direct contact with air. The thermally driven cooling cycle is a combination of
system evaporative cooling with air dehumidification by a desiccant, that is, a hygroscopic
material. For this purpose, liquid or solid materials can be employed. The term
‘open’ is used to indicate that the refrigerant is discarded from the system after
providing the cooling effect, and a new refrigerant is supplied in its place in an
open-ended loop. Therefore, only water is possible as a refrigerant with direct
contact to the surrounding air. The common technology applied today uses rotating
desiccant wheels, equipped either with silica gel or lithium-chloride as sorption
material.
4 Solar air- Active solar cooling uses solar thermal collectors to provide solar energy to
conditioning thermally driven chillers (usually adsorption or absorption chillers). Solar energy
heats a fluid that provides heat to the generator of an absorption chiller and is
recirculated back to the collectors. The heat provided to the generator drives a
cooling cycle that produces chilled water. The chilled water produced is used for
large commercial and industrial cooling.
5 Trigeneratio Trigeneration is the simultaneous process of cooling, heating, and power
n (waste- generation from only one fuel input. Typically, gas-fired generators are used to
toheat) produce electricity. The byproduct is waste heat, which is then directed to
absorption chillers and boilers for space cooling, hot water, and related purposes.
India’s growing access to natural gas, a typical input for trigeneration systems and
the cleanest burning hydrocarbon, will greatly enable wider adoption of
trigeneration.
 6 Radiant Radiant cooling is the use of cooled surfaces to remove sensible heat primarily by
cooling thermal radiation and only secondarily by other methods such as convection.
system ASHRAE defines radiant systems as temperature-controlled surfaces where 50% or
more of the design heat transfer takes place by thermal radiation.
7 Ground A geothermal heat pump or GSHP is a central heating and/or cooling system that
source heat transfers heat to or from the ground.
pump
It uses the earth all the time, without any intermittency, as a heat source (in winter)
or a heat sink (in summer). This design takes advantage of the moderate
temperatures in the ground to boost efficiency and reduce the operational costs of
heating and cooling systems, and it could be combined with solar heating to form a
geosolar system with even greater efficiency.
8 Adiabatic Adiabatic cooling is the process of reducing heat through a change in air pressure
cooling caused by volume expansion. In data centres and other facilities, adiabatic processes
system have enabled free cooling methods, which use freely available natural phenomena to
regulate the temperatures.
9 Geothermal Unlike ordinary heating and cooling systems, geothermal HVAC systems do not
heating/ burn fossil fuels to generate heat. They simply transfer heat to and from the earth.
cooling Typically, electric power is used only to operate the unit’s fan, compressor, and
pump.
10 Thermal These are heat transfer fluids that contain stably suspended nanoparticles to
efficiency increase the speed of heat transfer when mixed in a certain ratio with
fluid (nano refrigerant/water.
fluid)

IV. Criterion 3: Design to mitigate UHIE:

It focuses on reducing the total paved area on site such that it does not exceed 25% of
the site area. This would ensure that the majority of the open surfaces on site are either
landscaped or soft paved. This reduces their contribution to UHIE. Hence, it is
recommended to install all the solar panels on roof top and the remaining area need
to be painted with high solar reflective coating (with > 0.5 SRI value). The entire
parking space need to be treated with pervious paving (such as – grass pavers or open-
grid pavements). The area under green cover need to be increased as maximum as
feasible in this project site.

Most of the open surfaces have a low run-off coefficient which reduces the flow of
storm water into the city drains. Every surface has a different run-off coefficient. Run-
off coefficient of a surface indicates the rate of flow of water precipitating on top of the
surface. Surfaces with lower run-off coefficients reduce the rate of flow of water,
thereby reducing flooding of the city drains. By adopting more surfaces with lower
run-off coefficients, the overall imperviousness factor can be reduced. Hence, design
paved surfaces like roads and pedestrian walkways for minimum standards than peak
loads. This step reduces the use of construction materials while simultaneously
reducing site disturbance and reducing the impervious area on site.

This is recommended to implement a rainwater harvesting system in order to ensure

zero storm water discharge from this site during operation of this hospital building.
The collected storm water may be re-used (in landscaping/ flushing) or can be
recharged in to the ground. The details of the rainwater harvesting system shall be
provided in the water & waste-water management report.

V. Criterion 10: Visual Comfort Requirement:

1. Building Openings:
a) Ensure that the WWR (Window to Wall Ratio) does not exceed 60% -
Mandatory as per GRIHA. However; it is always recommended to keep
the WWR below 40%.
b) Ensure that the SRR (Skylight to Roof Ratio) does not exceed 5% and
SHGC for skylights glazing does not exceed 0.35. (Mandatory)

2. Window Glazing:
a) The vertical fenestration (window glazing) should comply with minimum
VLT of 0.27-Mandatory as per GRIHA. However, it is always
recommended to keep the VLT always more than 30%.

b) Ensure that the project meets the SHGC for each orientation (as per
following table /weighted façade average SHGC) OR

Maximum SHGC for vertical fenestration for different climate typologies (based on ECBC 2017, Clause 4.3.3,
Tables 4–10)

Warm and Humid

Maximum SHGC non-North 0.27

Maximum SHGC North 0.5

3. Shading Design:

In order to reduce insolation and heat gain, two strategies can be adopted,
namely, façade shading and fenestration shading.
 a) Façade shading:
It is always advisable to block direct solar radiation at source, that is, before it
heats up the building surface. If the critical surfaces of the proposed building can
be shaded externally, then the cooling load of the building can be reduced
drastically. In the orientation analysis, it has been observed that maximum incident
heat gain occurs through the roof,
followed by walls to the west and
east. Therefore, these façades need
appropriate shading devices that
can cut incident radiation
throughout summer. The western
and eastern walls of buildings are
subject to very low angle solar
radiation due to lower altitude
position of the sun, with respect to
the wall surface. Therefore, these
walls are difficult to shade with horizontal shading device, and these façades
require complete vertical shading or vertical screening. There are various types of
façade-shading strategies, which can be incorporated in building design such as
the following–

a. Roof pergola
b. Space frame/ tensile structure
c. Green wall
d. Wall/ window pergola
e. False wall/jaalis
f. Plantation on east and west sides etc.

b) Fenestration shading:
The openings / fenestrations are the prime source of heat gain in the building
envelope. Therefore, if façade shading is not possible, then it becomes important to
shade the exposed fenestrations of the building from direct solar exposure. Use of
external shading devices is the most effective way to prevent unwanted heat gain
during summer. However, the shading devices need to be optimized as per the solar
angle, so that the shading device can keep the summer sunlight out and allow the
winter sunshine in.

The shading devices can be broadly categorized under the following three heads.
a) Horizontal type (H);
b) Vertical type (V); and
c) Mixed (M)—combination of types H and V
 4. Adequate Daylighting:

Daylight is a natural source of light, which meets all the requirements of good lighting
while enhancing user efficiency and productivity. In India, daylight is available in
plenty under clear sky conditions, and can be used for satisfactory indoor illumination
during the day. By proper design of windows in terms of their orientation, size, and
shape, one can eliminate the use of artificial lighting in most buildings during
daytime. Building spaces with poor daylight availability and spaces with night time
usage can be provided with supplementary artificial lighting, as per requirement.
Direct sunlight is excluded from the definition of daylight factor, as it is not desirable
from the viewpoint of lighting quality. It creates problems of harsh shadows, and
severe brightness imbalances resulting in glare. Direct sunlight also results in
undesirable heat in summer. Therefore, adequate shading devices are recommended
not only for thermal comfort but also for visual comfort.

Daylight penetration inside the living space depends entirely on the building design,
that is, the orientation, internal space arrangement, and distribution of openings, size
and shape of the openings, shading design and glazing properties, and so on. An
optimum building design allows for maximum penetration of daylight available in
the building’s surroundings. Therefore, GRIHA mandates the daylight clause and
even encourages increasing the daylighted area inside the building by awarding
additional points for the same. Sometimes, given the diverse site constraints, building
designers mayface certain limitations with respect to sufficient daylight integration in
the buildings

Energy efficient glazing is cost intensive solution to achieve high standards of GRIHA
rating. Hence, it is always recommended to adopt optimum shading design and
innovative daylighting strategies as described below to achieve adequate thermal as
well as visual comforts and at the same time meet GRIHA benchmarks.

GRIHA Benchmark

OR
 VI. Criterion 24: Universal Accessibility:

The intent of this criterion is to encourage adoption of measures that make the built-
environment barrier free and accessible to all, including differently abled and elderly
persons.

Ensure that the project complies with the provisions of Harmonised Guidelines and
Space Standards for Barrier Free Built Environment for Persons with Disability and
Elderly Persons, 2016 (Refer to Annexure-01).

VII. Criterion 25: Dedicated Facilities for Service Staff:

The intent of this criterion is to promote a better working environment for service staff
by providing dedicated rooms (for resting) and toilets for them.

 Ensure provision of dedicated rooms (for resting) for service staff on-site. AND
 Ensure provision of toilets on-site for the service staff as per NBC 2016 (Volume
2, Part 9, Section 2, and Clause 4.2) (Refer to Annexure-02).
Annexure-01: Harmonized guidelines and space
standards:

With the intention of ensuring universal accessibility, the Ministry of Urban

Development (MoUD), Government of India, has worked out special guidelines for a
barrier-free environment: “Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards for Barrier-
Free Built Environment for Persons with Disability and Elderly Persons.” The
guidelines are applicable to all building typologies; the parameters could vary
depending on the categories mentioned in them.
Following are some of the design recommendations from “Harmonised Guidelines
and Space Standards for Barrier-Free Built Environment for Persons with Disability
and Elderly Persons”.

S. Building Topic Barrier-Free Pictorial Depiction

No. Elements Guidelines by
MoUD
1. Reach Forward 1200 mm high
ma
reach 380 mm low x
120
1300 mm max 0

Side reach 250 mm low

ma
x
150
0

Forward 1000 mm
reach with High with
obstruction 500 mm max
arm
stretch
2. Space Clear space 1800 mm
allowance for passing
two ≥20

wheelchairs ≥15
00
00

For rotating 1500 × 2000 mm

one
wheelchair

180 degree 180 degree turn

turn
3. Controls Door handles, Shall not be
lift buttons, higher than 1000
handrails mm
switches, etc. Shall be placed
between 900
and 1000 mm
Power points
shall be
between 600
and 1100 mm
from finished
floor level.
4. Level & Maximum 1:12 -
ramp gradient
Minimum width 900 mm
Maximum 9m
length of ramp
in one go
Height of 760–900 mm
handrail
Minimum 50 mm
gap
between
handrail and
wall
Diameter of 38–45 mm
handrail
5. Entrance & Minimum clear 900 mm
exit door openings
Threshold level Not more than
difference 12
 mm

Height of door 850–1100 mm

handle from
floor level
Door handle 100 mm
length

6. Parking Parking bay 2400 mm wide

500
0

Unloading 1200 mm
platform

min
200
0

7. Lift No. of lifts One lift is

provided
Clear internal 1500 × 1500 mm
dimensions
Entrance door 900 mm
widths
Lift control 800–1000 mm
heights high
8. Toilet Size of toilet 2200 × 2000 mm

WallA

Flooring Non-slip surface

material without level
difference
Door shutter Light-weight
door shutter
Door shutter 900 mm
opening Bathroom doors
to have outward
opening/two-
way
swing/sliding
door/folding
doors
Grab bars 40 mm diameter
vertical grab bar
up to 700–800
mm
WC height 450–480 mm
Urinal height 430 mm
Signage Braille signage at
1400 mm along
with illuminated
symbol for
disabled at 1500
mm
9. Signage Height of Depends on
letters viewing distance
(2–50 m) ranges
from 6 to 150
mm
Height for 750 mm
notices/signs
for wheelchair
users
Height for door, 1200 mm
safety, or other
notices for
ambulant users
Minimum 2000 mm
clearance for
suspended or
projected signs
10. Staircase Tread 300 mm deep
Not more than
Riser 150 mm
1500 mm clear
Width Not more than
12 risers
No. of steps in
one flight Extend not less
Handrail than 300 mm
beyond the top
and bottom step
Annexure-02: Key Recommendations for
Dedicated Facilities for Service Staff

ROOMS
 The area of service staff room shall not be less than 9.5 m2 with a minimum
width of 2.4 m.
 Daylight and ventilation: Room with mechanical or natural ventilation and
minimum 50 lux ~ 0.625 DF (daylight factor) levels along with provision of
artificial lighting maintaining a minimum 50 lux levels.

TOILETS
Guidance for estimation of the number of toilets for service staff, as explained in
following tables, should be as per NBC 2016, Volume 2, Part 9, Section 2, Clause 4.2.

Estimation of number of toilets for service staff at institutions

Fixtures Male Female
WCs 1 for 15 1 for 12
2 for 16–35 2 for 13–25
Washbasins 1 per 15 1 per 12
2 for 16–35 2 for 13–25
Urinals Nil up to 6 –
1 for 7–20
2 for 21–45
Add 3% over 45

Estimation of number of toilets for service staff at an office building

Fixtures Male Female
WCs 1 per 25 1 per 15
Washbasins 1 per 25 1 per 25
Urinals Nil up to 6 –
1 for 7–20
2 for 21–45
3 for 46–70
4 for 71–100
Add 3% over 101–200
Add 2.5% over 200
Estimation of number of toilets for service staff at retail buildings
Fixtures Male Female
WCs 1 per 15 1 per 12
2 for 16–35 2 for 13–25
3 for 36–65 3 for 26–40
4 for 66–100 4 for 41–57
5 for 58–77
6 for 78–100
Washbasins 1 per 15 1 per 12
2 for 16–35 2 for 13–25
3 for 36–65 3 for 26–40
4 for 66–100 4 for 41–57
Urinals Nil up to 6 –
1 for 7–20
2 for 21–45
3 for 46–70
4 for 71–100
Add 3% over 101–200

Note: Total service staff population should be considered as 5% of total fixed building
occupancy. If the staff members work in shifts, count the position only once.