Restorative architecture: ideals vs reality

Buildings occupy a growing percentage of land on earth. Buildings also account for a large share of energy consumption; as global warming intensifies demand for cooling, this share will increase. Given the impact of buildings on land-use change and power use, greener buildings are key to a greener future.

A green building aims to reduce a building’s carbon impact through the use of local, recycled, or sustainable building materials; rooftop solar and energy-efficient appliances; rainwater harvesting and on-site wastewater management; and locally appropriate architecture that reduces the need for artificial lighting and cooling.

Going beyond green architecture, restorative and regenerative architecture can minimise or even reverse a building’s impacts on local ecologies. For instance, a building with green walls or green roofs grows food while sheltering local flora and fauna.

After 35-plus years living in flats in big cities, I’m now living in a countryside house that follows many principles of green design. My housemate and I try to live low-impact lifestyles and coexist with nature. My experience has been enjoyable, but also full of unforeseen challenges.

The green building features of this house include arches in the foundation instead of spread footings (for more efficient material use); reflective roof tiles (to reduce heat absorption and the need for air conditioning); a solar-panel pavilion, a rainwater harvesting tank, a bird bath, and on-site wastewater treatment; wide balconies (to keep rooms cooler); use of locally produced bricks and lime; and the prominence of local food-yielding species in the garden plan (to help feed both human and non-human residents in and around the house).

In terms of day-to-day green behaviours, our efforts include encouraging weeds and other local plants, watering the garden in the early morning to reduce water waste, and mindful use of electricity (opening windows whenever possible for a cross-breeze). We are currently getting rooftop solar and creating a compost pit.

But green living is not without its challenges.

Ants invade constantly. Large brown ants spawn hundreds of rice-grain-looking eggs in every available cranny: from an unused drawer to the root system of our favourite lime tree. Drop a single crumb, and tiny red biting ants turn up within minutes: the world’s fastest most efficient crew.

Rats nest on the cool white roof and raid our kitchen nightly, taking one nibble out of every banana in a hand of 15 bananas. Out of humanity, we refuse to set traps, leaving the two expert stray dogs to dispose of the rats swiftly and painlessly.

We leave doors open for light and ventilation. Frogs of every kind, from tiny and spotted to enormous and white-bellied, turn up in toilet bowls, kitchen sinks, and squat on curtain rods. My housemate catches them with great dexterity and relocates them to the lotus pond.

Where there are rats and frogs, there will be snakes. Sure enough, snakes of various kinds regularly appear indoors, sheltering among our groceries or diving into our waste bin in pursuit of a garbage-raiding rat.

Flies build nests inside unused wall sockets, and drill holes in the exposed-brick walls. Living in a low-crime area, we leave our doors unlocked. Inside the unused keyhole of our front door, some kind of insect had built a small but deep nest, gumming up the keyhole. We spent a whole morning spraying it with hydrogen peroxide, then blowing into the keyhole to clear away the dissolved material. Finally, we were able to insert the key into the lock. Just a regular Godrej lock. (Sometimes, fact is stranger than fiction.)

Winged creatures of all kinds, from jewel bugs to dragonflies, flock to lightbulbs, rest on walls, and provide food for wall lizards equally varied: pale and dark, striped and plain, infantile and geriatric.

Living in a green building poses unexpected challenges. Our days seldom run according to plan. On the other hand, I’ve quickly lost my intense lifelong phobia of snakes. It’s hard to be afraid of a creature when you repeatedly see it running away from you! From my bedroom window, I regularly spot lapwings, orioles, little olive sunbirds, hawk cuckoos, bee-eaters, and numerous other birds which, when I lived back in Bangalore, I had to make a day trip to sight. And, as is generally the case when humans live close to nature, my physical and mental health have improved dramatically.

Restorative architecture is not just about materials and design principles. It’s also about a mindset that allows room for the unplanned challenges and joys of living with nature. I say: bring it on. For, as the African saying goes: if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far: go together.

eltumbillon@gmail.com