Biome Environmental Solutions: Integrating ecology into architecture

Ecology and Sustainability are the two pillars that Biome stands on. Their uniqueness lies in their strength to constantly analyse the impact of their intervention on site and consideration factors like embodied energy of materials, energy efficiency of building, climatic tolerance and response, water management, waste water treatment, greywater recycling and social impact. Emphasis is put on reducing the carbon footprint of the building. The materials used in construction are renewable and sourced locally to reduce energy spent in transportation. They believe, “focus of green architecture is to incorporate the indigenous wisdom of vernacular design into forms that can accommodate modern tastes and lifestyles.” Their design process includes consultation from experts specialized in biodiversity, tourism, hydrogeology and material science and discussions with clients to ensure that the final result fairs well on the scale of sustainability as well as client’s aspirations. 

Biome believes in making bricks at site instead of fetching bricks from far away distance. It avoids exploitation of a distant resource, air pollution and energy spent in transportation. To make the bricks they utilize mud excavated for building the foundation. Houses with basements provide additional mud for building these blocks. The excavated soil is first tested and a mixture is derived of required strength. A little amount of cement or lime is mixed to stabalise the earth against shrinking and water damage. They call is Stabalised Mud Blocks. They are comparable to concrete columns in strength and can be used to do wall as well as roof. The walls of Residences for Krupa and Shreesha Kadambi, Sans Souci and Chandola houses are few testimonies of construction using such earth blocks.

In an effort to reduce the waste generated by demolishing a house, Raghavan house was dismantled instead of demolishing. The clients previous house was no longer suiting their lifestyle and needed an upgrade, but they insisted on reducing the waste generated in the process. As a solution, Biome, carefully segregated the building material and reused it for construction. They retained elements like tinnai or raised seat near the entrance and the Mutram or open to sky courtyard in the design of the house, as per the client brief. 

The team at Biome strongly believes in using waste management and are constantly researching new techniques in the subject. One way of dealing with waste innovated by them is to bury the waste in building foundation, plinth and sunken floors. The thought behind this is that these spaces cannot sustain biodiversity not grow food and is a waste space so rather use it to hold waste generated by us. For instance, the house for Charis, held in its foundation and plinth, roughly 10,000 plastic bags, sachets and bottles gathered around the locality. Another example is the Rajagopalan house which stores 50,000 plastic bags in its foundation and vaults.

Using filler slab is a popular concept where concrete below the neutrall axis is replaced by cheaper and lighter materials. Apart from saving cost and raw material it reduces the weight of the slab. Commonly mangalore tiles, mud pots, thermocol and coconut shells are used. At the Rajagopalan houses they infilled the slab with discarded keyboards. This becomes an interesting feature in the house when broken flooring tiles and stones are used avoiding the need to plaster and repaint.

In case of construction where old buildings are taken down before new construction, the debris can be reused. Broken bricks can replace aggregate of concrete in floor base and flagging. It can also be powdered and replace sand in mortar, plinth and lintel bands. Currently sand is an expensive raw material and they believe this technique can at least be employed for non-structural work.

All their houses employ a rainwater harvesting system that reduces the dependence on the grid for water supply. The Chandola house done by them doesn’t have a municipal supply and hence all its household needs are met using Rainwater Harvesting. They also extensively experiment with waste water treatment and reuse for gardening and carwash. They use a root zone treatment system which is simple, natural and utilizes less energy. In case of larger sites, they make blend it with the landscape and for smaller sites like in Vishwanath’s residence they utilize the roof. They recycle black water i.e. water from toilets also in this system.

The design work of Biome Environmental Solutions is not only experimental in nature, visually appealing, architecturally beautiful, environmentally sound but also heartwarming in spatial quality. The warmth of brick and natural materials and finishes lend a sense of peace and comfort; with design elements like courtyards, skylights, gardens, and open terraces helping you connect emotionally with the outside.