UTSAV GANDHI

campus@technewsiit.com

 

TechNews | Tuesday, March 6,2012

 

 
 

Ecosystem management, river conservation

By Utsav Gandhi
CAMPUS EDITOR

As part of a joint lecture presented by the
IIT Armour College and the CAB department,
Dr. Venkatesh Dutta, Fulbright Scholar and
assistant professor of Environmental Sciences
and Management at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar
University in India, presented a heartfelt
and passionate talk about his intended and
ongoing efforts to clean up the Gomti, a
tributary of the mighty Indian river Ganga.

Over 40 drains discharge untreated waste
from the metro city of Lucknow directly into
the river; the urban sprawl on the banks of
the river has increased five folds over the last
100 years.

Due to the misallocation/
mismanagement in the sharing of water
resources among the 400 million people
residing along its catchment area, there is
tremendous pressure on the demand for water.

This leads to the logical question of how
much developmental impact is acceptable.
For what purposes can a river be used and
should this be regulated? What is the final
tradeoff between economic development and
environmental impact?

Dr. Dutta is slowly but surely charting a
small success story based on the pillars of an
organized appeal to the local authorities—but
even then, a lot of work needs to be done. To us
budding engineers, scientists and even public
policymakers, he provided an excellent example
of where the skills and lessons we pick up in our
classes today can be applied to bring about real
change affecting world communities.

The river Ganga is considered a mother
goddess in Indian cultural mythology, and Dr.
Dutta introduced the audience to the spiritual
significance of the river, appealing for its
declaration as a World Heritage Site.

He compared the current exploitation of
its ground water resources to the inconsiderate
cash withdrawal from a bank account owned

by multiple users. He said that the forest cover
thriving near its origin is slowly dwindling,
and its fish are dying due to asphyxiation from
the organochlorine agricultural pesticide waste
accumulation.

While this has led to significant concern
from the local/ national media and authorities
alike, the results, if any, are barely visible. He
says that better scientific information, political
will and efficient government machinery will
likely serve as a starting point in reversing the
problem.

He then spoke extensively about an
interestingly coined “social engineering”
expedition he recently undertook to the river
along with another scientist, some journalists,
monks, a few social activists and retired

College of Architecture

By Swasti Khuntia
LAYOUT EDITOR

IIT’s College of Architecture organized a
guest lecture on Merritt Bucholz’s current work.
Merritt Bucholz is an American architect who
has set up a practice in Ireland with his partner
Karen McEvoy. He’s also the Dean and Professor
of Architecture at the University of Limerick,
Ireland. He delivered an interesting presentation
on his recent work. The presentation was
accompanied by amazing pictures of his
projects. Some of his notable works were
Elm Park Green Urban Quarter, Westmeath
County Council, and Limerick County Council
Headquarters.

Dr. Bucholz started the presentation with
one of his finest creations: the high design
and energy-efficient scheme at Elm Park. The
landmark building designed by Bucholz McEvoy
at Elm Park has created a new skyline for south
Dublin. But the most important characteristic of
this building is that it’s energy efficient. He said
“Letting nature do the work, Elm Park’s buildings
use natural ventilation and day lighting to
radically reduce energy use even as they reinvent
the suburbs with new ideas about density.” The
building’s innovative environmental features
place it among the more advanced green
developments in Europe. The buildings merge
form and function, making beautiful use of the
site’s microclimate for ventilation. In Dublin,
according to Bucholz, prevailing winds drive
design more than sunlight. As a result, the long,
narrow buildings are oriented on a north-south
axis to take advantage of the westerly winds.
On top of this structure, seven acres of green
space tie the site and its buildings together. Far
from flat, constructed slopes provide visual
interest and drainage, directing runoff to large
pine, maple, oak, walnut, birch, and ash trees.
Stretches of grass are broken up by large shrubs
and native grasses, as well as rain shelters that
mimic the large supports on the buildings.
Bucholz calls the landscape a “giant sponge” that

absorbs rainwater, keeping it from entering an
overburdened stream that collects runoff from
a bordering golf course.

He then talked about another landmark,
the Siopa at Leinster House, a staff shop
that exists between tree roots with pile caps
supporting its fully waterproofed structural
steel base. The outer shell is of glass and the
roof beams support a glass canopy to one side.
Both the inner finishes and the external decking
are made of timber and the complete structure
is built around existing, well-established trees.

The Westmeath County Council and
Limerick County Council headquarters are more
energy-efficient buildings designed by Bucholz.
The Westmeath site is an open and transparent
public service building and is carefully woven
into the historical archaeological context,
creating an ensemble of new and old buildings,
which together bring new meaning and civic
values to this site. It is created primarily
with glass, timber, and concrete. The entirely
naturally ventilated building maximizes passive
design principles and creates an environment in
balance with nature. The design of a structure
in its construction and operation consumes less
of the environment’s natural non-renewable
resources. A double facade combined with an
atrium lung serve to impact all of the ventilation
in the office building.

Similarly, the Limerick building is fully
naturally ventilated with a bespoke structural
timber brise soliel, combining environmental
control and structural stability to the southwest
facade. The cross ventilation of the office spaces
is driven by the thermal buoyancy of the
atrium behind. The exposed concrete frame
of the office spaces acts as a thermal sink to
keep temperatures constant, and the envelope
of the building was the first to be tested for
air tightness in Ireland, achieving twice the
standard of new building regulations.

At the end, Bucholz answered a lot of
students’ questions. Overall, it was an interactive
and interesting lecture which was enjoyed by
the audience.

engineers—emphasizing that a problem of this
scale and magnitude can only be tackled with
the interdisciplinary co-operation extended by
various interest groups.

A spiritual movement was initiated,
5,000 youths were made to sign a pledge
undertaking a promise to stop polluting the
river, a press report was sent out each night—
and slowly the group managed to gauge more
complete information about the river—like the
actual number of its tributaries and its real,
meandering length.

Such statistics, previously recorded
innacurately, were essential if the government
was to scale the true scope and measure of the
work to be done. The “River Conservation

 

Committee” became a political manifesto—
and now the elected officials are answerable to
the public regarding the reversal of the river
degradation.

Dr. Dutta remains hopeful that the river
will flow back in its prime sometime in the
future—he has declared his personal goal to
see so in his lifetime.

His future goals include appealing to
national and international interest groups
such as the EPA, UNESCO, the Stockholm
Environment Institute and the National
Science Foundation for additional funding, and
strengthening the movement he has initialized
in the Indian heartland where the river Gomti
flows.

Photo by Swasti Khuntia

sponsors guest lecturer

 

 

Photo by Swasti Khuntia