Actor Robert Redford poses a challenge to India's Green title

By Chidanand Rajghatta
Times News Network

Washington: America wants it back. No, not the outsourced jobs. And not the GE-404 engines, or the fire-finding radars. It wants to win back a title that has, against all form, unexpectedly come India's way-the honour of hosting the world's greenest building.

That champion designation for the most environment-friendly building in the world was won earlier this month by the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Center in Hyderabad, an acclaim that went largely unnoticed in India. Awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the designation recognizes structures which combine new technologies and materials with energy-efficient architecture.

Among the unique features of the Hyderabad structure is the use of wind towers to reduce ambient temperature, making air conditioners virtually redundant. The entire buildings electrical fixtures have been automated to save power and 90 per cent of the 20,000 sq. ft. building does not require lights during daytime because of the way it is designed. The building uses water harvesting and most of material used is recycled stuff. Carpets and paints are all non-toxic.

In fact, the Indian design is considered so revolutionary that USGBC had to upgrade its rating system to recognize its unique features. Designed by Vadodara architect Karan Grover, among others, the project is rated a Version 2 Platinum, the highest possible award for sustainable design, ahead of the Version 1 Platinum won by only three other buildings in the US.

"We have hundreds of years of legacy in such construction which we have all but forgotten. We decided to revive all our traditional methods and present it in the modern idiom," Mr. Grover, who came to the Pittsburg to receive the USG BC award on November 14, said in an interview on Wednesday.

The Hyderabad building was conceived during President Clinton's 2000 visit to the city by the CII-Godrej combine. CII's former head Jamshed Godrej funded it and named the project after his uncle, an ardent environmentalist, after hiring Mr. Grover.

Mr. Grover, went on a design study tour of the U.S. to see the best the country had to of-

fer. What the Indian team came up with bettered anything they had seen. From using a traditional Indian circular courtyard design to enhance air and light features, to installing photovoltaic cells to generate power, it combined the best of both worlds. After stringent auditing, USGBC finally decided earlier this year that the design scored 52 out of a possible 69 points on its Green scale, the highest ever given to a building anywhere in the world.

But the Americans haven't been sitting on their Green haunches. Within days of the Godrej-CII-Grover combine receiving the award, Hollywood legend Robert Redford in augurated a 15,000 sq. ft. building in Santa Monica. California, which also uses some revolutionary techniques and is now bidding to become only the second building to get a Version 2 Platinum award. Named after the actor himself, the refurbished building also uses recycled and recyclable material, natural light, rain water harvesting, etc. Compared to a typical building of its size, it uses 60 per cent less water 60 to 75 per cent less electricity Construction and design costs totalled $4.5 million, compared to Rs 6 crore (about $1.25 million) for the Hyderabad building. The planners behind the Robert Redford building make no secret or their desire to have it designated as the only Version 2 Platinum structure in the U.S. and move ahead of the CII-Godrej venture on the Green scale. The design is green to the door-knobs, architect Elizabeth Moule said. "What's going on here is so transparent it almost doesn't have to be talked about," added Redford a passionate environmentalist.