Reva University, Classroom and Administration Building
The Client
Reva University, a unit of Divyasree, was established in the year 2004 at Rukmini Knowledge Park under the aegis of Rukmini Educational Charitable Trust. This institution has the distinction of being the Youngest Educational Institute in the country to have been accorded University Status. Reva Campus is one of the largest residential campuses in Karnataka with state-of-art infrastructure and environment for higher learning. Located 22 kms away from the Bangalore International Airport on the way towards Bangalore city, this university has 35 acres of sprawling green campus.
The Challenge
To demonstrate the University’s commitment to sustainable living, Mr. P Shyama Raju, Founder & Chairman, expressed their aspiration for highest green building rating for any construction i.e. PLATINUM.
The client wanted to develop the most active and engaged building in the campus i.e. administrative block as per internationally accepted sustainability norms and green building standards. As most of the areas in the project fall under the category of educational classrooms, the classrooms were required to be naturally ventilated as well as minimize the dependence on artificial light. The natural ventilation in turn would ensure minimum CO2 and VOC levels for facilitating highest student cognitive performance. [Refer to Study by Harvard University : http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/15-10037/
The Solution
- To achieve natural ventilation compliance as per ASHRAE guideline is indeed a challenge. Conserve team worked along with the Architect, Mr. Dinesh Verma, ACE Group, Bangalore. A zone by zone analysis was done to meet the natural and cross ventilation norms, and subsequently exceed them.
- A holistic sustainability approach was adopted to ensure that we get credit points in for all the modules in order to achieve the status of Platinum Rating. All compliance norms towards Sustainable Site, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Material & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation in Design. The table of credit points achieved across all sustainability parameters will demonstrate this 360 Degree Sustainability Approach.
- Rain water harvesting, recycled water usage, drip irrigation, low flow water fixtures, etc. makes the project achieve lowest per capita potable water consumption.
- Recycled and locally sourced materials, waste management, reduced heat island effect strategies, low volatile organic compounds for all paints, adhesives and sealants to ensure best indoor air quality has been adopted.
- Special buses have been arranged to connect all occupants with nearest public transportation. A fleet of buses have also been provided for pickup and drop of all students and faculty to and fro from the city. Cycle stands has been provided to encourage use of cycles by student within the campus.
- Solar Photovoltaic Cells of 55 pKW have been installed to ensure Zero electric energy consumption during the daytime.
The Benefits
- The most active and engaged building in the campus i.e. Classroom & Administration block is now developed on the basis of sustainable building guidelines and finally achieved a LEED India Platinum. It is the First Naturally Ventilated Building in India to achieve this feat.
- As per design the Energy Performance Index (EPI) of the project is supposed to be 6.34 KWh/ sqft. As per the current occupancy (60% occupied) during the winter season the building has a surplus generation of 1100 KWh per month which is being used by other buildings within campus.
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Conserve Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (CONSERVE) is a global consulting firm in the business of planning, design, development and maintenance of Energy Efficient, Sustainable, High Performance Green Buildings and Organizations. CONSERVE expertise lies in Certification(Green Building Rating Systems eg. LEED, IGBC, GRIHA etc.) and CertificationPlus(Design, Construction and Operations) of Built-Environment Projects. We also offer SustainabilityPlus services at organizational level.
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