While environmental pollution is a major concern today, there is also a greater consideration to create safe and sustainable indoor environments too. Researchers have discovered that indoor environments today can contain two to five times more pollutants than outdoor environments. In conversation with Dinesh Vyas, Akshat Bhatt, Sonali Bhagwati and Anand Sharma, we discuss the state of our internal and external environments, and how it can be improved through various innovations by H & R Johnson (India).
Today, it has become crucial to address the conversations around the quality of our indoor environments, especially once we consider that 90% of our time is spent in these spaces, whether it be at our homes, workspaces, or even transport facilities.
If left unchecked, these spaces become areas in which harmful microorganisms can thrive, causing a deterioration of the physical and emotional health of its residents.
If the last year it has taught us anything, it surely has to be that our habitat, be it our homes, our work spaces or our cities, have to become healthier places to live, and this is the only way they will support humankind over the long run.
Akshat Bhatt (Principal Architect, Architecture Discipline)
In the last few years, there has been a paradigm shift in our society, forming a new understanding about the necessities of sanitized and hygienic spaces. Sustainable and eco-friendly materials and construction techniques have also become integral conversations in any development. The indoor and outdoor surfaces of any structure must be maintained and protected, curbing the growth of adverse microbes.
The floors and walls of any building account for the majority of our indoor surfaces – and hence the choice of materials for these surfaces becomes a critical decision.
What kind of materials do we choose for our spaces? Are we looking at man-made materials or natural materials? We love Stone, but stones are mined, which leaves a scar on Mother Earth, and depletes the green-cover. In that sense, man-made materials are something that we have been looking at extensively, whether it be boards, which replaces plywood, or tiles that replaces stones.
Sonali Bhagwati (President, Designplus Architecture Pvt. Ltd.)
Over the last decade, H & R Johnson (India) has strived to create innovative products which safeguard our health. A good example of this is the Germ-Free tile catalogue, which uses an inorganic compound patented by H & R Johnson in 2010, and releases silver ions in the presence of moisture, thereby killing any microbes which come into contact with the tiles surface.
Air-conditioned buildings and indoor environments are not completely in the users’ hands, but what one can do is to select the appropriate indoor materials, by choosing which inhibit accumulation of harmful mites, dust particles and microbes.
Anand Sharma (Founder & Partner, Design Forum International)
Another sensitive and effective innovation are the Cool Roof Tiles, an ingenious glazing process patented by H & R Johnson (India), enables reduction in solar gain thus creating an efficient and passive mechanism to reduce temperatures and helping with thermal comfort. It was discovered that these tiles reflect about 75% of the solar rays which reach the surface of the roof, enabling the surface temperature to drop by about 15 degrees Celsius.
It’s important that we start focusing on how to address outdoor and indoor environments, because there is a certain amount of inter-dependence. If we have greener and healthier outdoor spaces that have more shade in the summer months, we will have a more comfortable climate outside, and thereby reduce the need for excessive cooling on the inside.
Akshat Bhatt
Not only does this reduce the ambient temperature of individual houses, but it also translates to minimizing electrical consumption through artificial cooling technology – which lessens the pollutants which harm the atmosphere and the ozone layer.
Better ventilation, natural lighting, minimum consumption of energy, avoiding usage of chemically active substances – these are some of the measures which can help indoor environment become healthier. However, unless we ensure that our environment is healthier outside too, we are not safe. In the last few decades, we have caused huge damage and deterioration to the environment. I do believe that perhaps we are the last generation who can save this Earth.
Dinesh Vyas (Building Material Expert Advisor, H & R Johnson India)
Through research, science and technology, H & R Johnson (India)’s innovations aim to find solutions to long-term and large-scale dilemmas – which pertain not only to the health and safety of our societies, but also addresses the sustainable protection and longevity of our natural environments ⊗
