Greening Asia: Emerging Principles for Sustainable Architecture / Nirmal Kishnani

In the past decade Asia’s building sector has slowly come around to the idea of the Green building. The movement has picked up pace since 2005 with the introduction of, at last count, 13 national Green building assessment tools. Despite a steep rise in the number of certified buildings, the approach to Greening is fragmented and cautious at best. The Asian Green building does not do enough to mitigate impact nor do the conventions of Greening address the diverse needs of the region and its people.

An urgent rethink is needed. Asia must get past the current do-less-harm approach—often coupled with a case for short-term returns—towards long-term, locale- and community-specific outcomes. The author investigates over 30 recent projects, extracting from them six principles for sustainable architecture that are Asia-centric and scalable. This book is a must-have guide for building professionals, developers and operators—essentially any stakeholder in Asia’s building industry—and a reference text for academia. The well-illustrated layout will also appeal to the non-technical reader interested in the rising tide of Green in Asia.

Content 006 Preamble 012 Greening Asia: Rebooting the conversation 042 Convention of Greening: Five questions 054 Limits of the Greening: Rethinking system boundaries

Six Principles of Sustainable Architecture: Emerging Ideas for Asia 064 Efficacy: Seeking long-term effectiveness 070 Ecology: Respecting and repairing networks 078 Wellness: Connection with outdoors, community, nature 086 Embeddedness: Local reliance and self-sufficiency 092 Advocacy: Building as a cultural force 100 Integration: Aligning process towards performance 108 From Green to Sustainable: Minding the gaps

The Projects 114 Alila Villas Uluwatu: Bali, Indonesia 132 Green School: Bali, Indonesia 150 Headquarters Energy Commission of Malaysia: Putrajaya, Malaysia 166 Khoo Teck Puat Hospital: Singapore 184 Pearl Academy of Fashion: Jaipur, India

200 Safe Heaven Bathhouse & Library-Old Market Library: Thailand 218 Sau Mau Ping South Estate: Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China 234 Soneva Kiri: Koh Kood, Thailand 252 The Met: Bangkok, Thailand 268 Vanke Centre: Shenzhen, People´s Republic of China 302 Zero Energy Building BCA Academy of the Built Environment: Singapore