GREEN

is
RED

anil laul
the only way to live life is by living it
Contents

1.why Green is Red a pre-ramble

................................... ....................................................................... 9

2. Going GREEN is COMMON SENSE 13

3.Seeing the Obvious but the Invisible......with Eyes wide shut 19

4. A "broken civilisation"... 25

5. The Witches’ Cauldron 28

6. Urban Red Herrings 33

7. Crowing, Cut short & Too many questions 72

8. Carpenter Laul 77

9. Some mouth shooting 99

10. The basics 103

5
1.why Green is Red a pre-ramble
................................... .......................................................................

This almost ridiculous title draws but one question from my friends. “Who is the target audience?” It
continues to be so even as I write. This makes me really livid as any issues of Common Sense cannot be
audience specific. I have an almost instantaneous response which then obviates further discussion.

“Common sense is not a gift, it is a punishment... Because...

You have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it”.

All issues that I have dealt with in my life during this journey to “Common Sense” have been made incredibly
simple. Therefore, defining the targeted readership, for me, becomes increasingly difficult. This is more so
with every solution I fathom, thus making each successive solution even simpler than the earlier one, which
on the face of it seemed the simplest one at first. Each is a fresh lesson in learning and with every step the
next one gains further clarity. Further learning, is complex requiring backbreaking research but in my case,
every lesson, with ease, becomes knowledge. I have jettisoned much baggage of the heavy conditioning of the
past and continue to do so even now. This process is now intuitive, instinctive and addictive with strong logical
derivatives. Many still require unravelling and I have no intention of letting go of this addiction. This makes
me itch and tick all at once.

The Judge at the Supreme Court who enforces the legislations and the laws needs to read this book,
the Bureaucrat who invents the rules needs to take a good hard relook, the Builder who markets GREEN
BUILDING at a premium, the Architect or the Planner who plans the Human Settlements, the Activist who
would slogan for the rights of the people, Global Warming and Climate Change etc., the Professionals who
have hidden agendas such as ratings and specialisations, the Media that works towards the single objective
of TRP ratings only, the Housewife who is the soul of a home, the Teacher who refuses to relearn, and most
importantly the Student so as to have him/her ask the appropriate questions, insist on substantive and
reasoned answers, thus compelling change.

Is what I write a prolific literary piece? No…

Is it a novel? No...
Is it about Architecture or Architects? No… But I do figure and matter.
Is it an autobiography? Certainly NOT, but it is my journey and understanding.

It is about HUNTING WHAT HUNTS ME

And this is but the beginning... I hope.

9
 To some this may sound like hunting the Hidden Dimension but to me it is the obvious. It is about compelling
order amongst the seeming chaos. All it requires is strong underwear.

I should have started putting all this together earlier, but then procrastination got the better of me. In spite
of several attempts, no firm direction evolved, as all the pieces of the puzzle did not fit. The issues were too
many, the inter linkages complex and yet all had to be said. I have now managed to create a stream that would
make for easy understanding. Much needs to be said and time is a constraint. This is but an attempt to put
pen to paper and clarity to my ramblings. In the process of writing this, I would have myself defragmented
and recalibrated my Head.

Most are convinced that the concepts of Green, Global Warming and Climate Change and its concomitant
impacts as have been espoused are real, backed with irrefutably sound analysis. Statistics and often coined
data say so. In the scientific temperament of today, traditional practices are to be disregarded as archaic. And
in the process much wisdom of the past is lost or overlooked as inconvenient.

My single objective by the end of this series would be to try and make a beginning for those who DON’T buy
the Green, Climate Change and Global warming bit, as is being sold to the world, but their voices, although
few in number, go unheard.

There is panic in the air and the prices of Carbon Credits have already taken a severe beating, the warning
bells have begun to ring. There are many who raise doubts. Some years ago, we were made to believe that
Global Warming was indeed a reality. With the recent cold waves, the extended winters and increasing blizzards
instead of the onset of spring, the battle cry is one of Climate Change. Not to be caught in a self-contradic-
tory mode, these near freezing conditions are being attributed once again, to Global Warming. The business
of selling these alarmist concepts has seen exponential growth in the recent past. And with each successive
conclave to mitigate these challenges, our problems seem to be spiralling. Therefore My primary fear is that
if this group were to shut shop, then there would be many who would be out of work. Even though livelihood
threatening for some as a business graveyard, if viewed in the larger context, this may benefit many more.

Experts take rigid stands that contradict one another, with each set additionally compounding the chaos.
Adding further fuel to the raging fire, if only to sell sensationalism, is the enormous mass hysteria, created
using the media and activists. In the process there is much business for a wide ranging set of more or less
sinister players and stakeholders who are quick to set up shop. They are usually of the western pedigree,
either subservient or driven by them. This lot of packaging artists also package the art of limiting the capacity
of the human brain to think and are capable of marketing just about anything to the world. Architects and
Planners play to the galleries and quickly fall prey to these groups, sometimes wittingly and sometimes

10
unwittingly and many a time out of little choice but to tow the favoured line. There has to be an attempt at
removing these blinders. With these sensationalists, Back to Basics is not an option.

Human Settlements have always and would continue to be the fulcrum of Sustainability. It is therefore
imperative that these be reintroduced into the mainstream much like the alphabet in a language. It cannot be
the Male Pale and Stale interpretation of a few.

To make capital out of erroneous approaches, we now have various barometers set up. The largest and
the International market leader is the LEED (Leader in Energy and Environment Design) rating system.
Close on the heels is our own Indian Rating system known as the GRIHA Rating (Green Rating for Integrated
Habitat Assessment). Now we have a further addition with the acronym SVAGRIHA (Small Versatile Affordable
Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment) which is intended to rope in the small homes into this ever
tightening noose. All claim that being Green involves more capital to begin with, but it has a payback over
time. They claim that an added investment now is a worthwhile one for the future. So now we have the LCCA
(Life Cycle Cost Analysis) experts to contend with. Yet another is LCPA (Life Cycle Performance Assessment)
experts who determine yet another range of long term benefits. These more often than not, end up promoting
disruptive innovations. My contention is that the investment must be cost effective and appropriate now. What
would I do with payback after reaching “kingdom come”?

The list of these expert agencies and specialists is being extended on a regular and most religious basis.
Certainly there has to be an end to the “My way or Highway Attitude” of these lobbyists. My armament is not
media hype or business as usual. And nor is it a war of words and statistical grenades. It is not a war at all.
In fact it would be my single endeavour to save this class of crisis hunters from themselves. This would be
through sheer logic, good old common sense and traditional wisdom.

With Architects, the concept really comes after the design has been conceived and this is then put out as a
drawing. It has always been this way in my case and I admit it. Others may not agree but they do often follow
this route. The concept is really a story to sell the design to the client or to convince the assessing team in
the case of a student. So it is with this book. The pre-ramble has been written after I had written the draft of
the first sixteen pages or so. I had circulated this to my literary friends as well as others who are on my email
list. Some were downright critical, as in their opinion, this is not how books on Architecture are written. Many
chose to remain silent as they consider it polite to do so. Others love the personal twist and my take of being
on the other side of GREEN.

My mind is made up irrespective.

I Aspire to Inspire before I Expire.

11
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2. Going GREEN is COMMON SENSE
More than Forty years of practicing the discipline of Architecture using the common-sensical Approach,
I am now considered a Green Architect, but I can and will never accept being rated so. Whenever I attend
a GREEN Conference organised by the overly aggressive marketers of the green rating system and all the
verbal diarrhoea of coined terminologies and sloganeering that goes with it, I see RED .The agencies that
need to be approached for this accreditation and the number of questionnaires that one would need to fill in,
only to be rated the fashionable Green Architect, requires a specialist agency that comes at a huge cost, which
then makes me see a deeper shade of RED.

The Colour of the money to be deposited with these agencies is also coincidentally GREEN. However it is
this very country which has the green currency that has flouted all norms of Sustainable Human Settlement
Design or the so called Green Buildings which are then related to Climate Change and the so highly espoused
Global Warming. It is this very country that headquarters agencies that promote corrective action using high
end technologies and standards that is now called the GREEN leader, thus giving it the license to dictate
Green norms to the world. Using traditional corrective action (I shall continue to call it Common Sense) is a
Ph.D. or a Master’s course, which is strictly reserved for the Super rich who are in a position to cough up a
small fortune. All bibliography and references must almost always be made to the authors from this country
thus psyching the researcher into subservience from the word go. This power over the mind is a formidable
weapon indeed and education is no longer a bastion of diversity, but has become one of conformity to dictates
of vested interest groups.The vision of many a country has now become myopic and would end up becoming
a business and political graveyard for some.

This Super Master’s certification requires years of intensive back breaking travel and research in institutions
which are also based in this very country. My office has right from inception, believed in the freedom of speech
and of the written word. All documentation is available to everyone who has ever worked here or has visited
my office. I also am convinced that if indeed the point being made is adding to a thought process of another
then there must exist, a complete freedom to quote. The page numbering is therefore in Devnagari (the Indian
Numeric System) so as to have the student as well as the evaluator break free from the shackles of extensive
bibliography. This confusion would act as a deterrent as reference for page numbers would be a pain. This is
the best that one can do for starters.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are
afraid of the light.” -- Plato

13
 2

3
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1. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
2.Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
3. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
4. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
The Super irony of it is that I have practiced GREEN as Common Sense.
Therefore to ask for a Rating of COMMON SENSE would in itself be absurd.
I therefore do not fall in the Genre of the Scientific Community or the Green
Community but fall into the lowly class of Heretics in as far as the Green
Concepts and co related issues are concerned. This book therefore does
not set out to sermonise the concept of Green or contradict that which is
espoused and as is understood today, but is an attempt to re-rationalise our
present day practices.
“Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.” -- Albert
Einstein
The fact that man’s problems seem to be increasing by the day suggests
that something is amiss and it is clear that the anomalies emanate from
incorrect land policies and urban development is becoming increasingly
clear. Much the same logic would hold true for the issues related to Climate
Change or Global Warming. Be it Green Building or Manmade Global
Warming the commonality is that they can be economical and affordable
and accessible to all provided we are willing to relook and change direction.
It is the marketing of the unaffordable under the garb of affordable that has
become an art. This is the main impediment and continues to be so.
One of the main causes for our environmental problems today is that
validation of technology is subservient to business first and then to
other things like the needs of a society or its environment. If we cannot
abate this process, should we abet it?
For every project that I designed, built and learnt from, I had a lurking
feeling that a major area needed to be re examined, re rationalised and
further simplified. Surely there was more than to a built form than being
dressed up to look PRETTY. (Facade Design, presently a Masters Course, is
a much sought after stream of an advanced studies for Architects). There
had to be more to a building than merely addressing the requirements of a
client and the government regulations. Was profit the principal over-riding
concern? I had tried my hand at a few low cost housing structures for mass
housing, but then architects at that point in time were looking skyward.
17
1

2 3

1 1
1. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
2.Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
3. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970
4. Housing using Catenaries at
Noida,1970

My looking down earthward was not classified as being a visionary and

was often regarded as downright silly. With each project that I designed and
built there were more unanswered questions than answers. The mind was
chaotic.

Coincidently at the same time on the

other side of the world… an award
winning multi-storey…. Slum re-
habitation multi-storey was being torn
down…
“Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen
and four times seven is ...oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at this
rate!” -- Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

Pruitt–Igoe was a large urban housing

project first occupied in 1954[2] in the
U.S. city of St. Louis, Missouri. Living
conditions in Pruitt–Igoe began to
decline soon after its completion in
1956.[3] By the late 1960s, the complex
had become internationally infamous
for its poverty, crime, and segregation.
Its 33 buildings were torn down in
the mid-1970s,[4] and the project has
become an icon of urban renewal and
public-policy planning failure.
The complex was designed by architect
Minoru Yamasaki, who also designed
the World Trade Center towers and the
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
main terminal.

19
3.Seeing the Obvious but the Invisible......with
Eyes wide shut
Top Row from Left: 1 & 2. Bhoomiheen
Camp and 3.Pushkarna Residence,
Chandigarh
Middle Row from left: 4 & 5. Architect
Anil Laul’s House at Anangpur and
6.Pushkarna Residence, Chandigarh
Bottom Row: 7. ArchitectAnil Laul’s
House at Anangpur, 8.Twisted Coloumn,
Pushkarna Residence, Chandigarh
It is not enough to voice concerns about Climate Change, Global Warming
and Green Building unless we understand the difference between Master
Plans for Urban Development, Human Settlement Design and HUMAN’E’
Settlements. Today’s Planning, has just too many self-contradictions that
prove to be impediments in the eventual run up. These begin right from
the land we choose to build on. Unfortunately, the solutions that are being
sought are solely through high end and infinitely complex technologies. If the
answer is simple then the delivery mechanism is deliberately made complex
for the sake of it. The root of the problem is often ignored for the challenge
that it may pose to the supplicants.
“The best part of these lobbyists is that there are different strains
of them—they generate an economy of their own—they provide
employment for many, but the worst part is that one has to put up
with all of them”. -- Fogged out minds
The big picture
My house, the office and the various projects intend to illustrate but a
singular point which is that just about everybody can afford this kind of living.
There is no shortage of land, there is no need for high rise and there is no
dearth of raw material. There however definitely is a shortage of industrially
processed material, which then is the core of the real problem. There is a
collective attempt by a few to assimilate the power and resources of the rest.
Must we recklessly take the route of Process Industry even where it is not
essential and more so in our development strategies? Must we limply accept
the sorties of practices airdropped by drones of the west?
Our approach and belief that the direction that we have come to accept is
indeed the correct way of doing things, is erroneous. It is our development
21
 of Humane Settlements that is bereft of understanding. If we are to save
ourselves from going over the edge into a dismal abyss, then it is this very
belief that needs a rethink. This has to be so, sooner than later. The questions
I raise are very fundamental, to the point that they seem confrontationist and
the solutions seem absurdly simple. At a first glance these may not seem
so, but the arguments and proposed solutions are compelling. I live by them.
It is the inter-linkages of traditional wisdom understood with centuries of
evolved practices that makes them all the more so.

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of

knowledge”. -- Stephen Hawking

The next book of the series, would possibly address Master Planning as
being the direct consequence of Micro Planning. Today, we have the Master
Plan and the Micro detail has to then fit into the Master Plan. But my
experience has shown that the Master Plan should be the direct consequence
Cluster planning of the Micro Plan and not the other way around. Only and only then can a
Master Plan be realistic and people specific. And if the initial Micro plan, the
built form as we call it, is conceived from the inside out (inner spaces to the
outer skin) then we have Architecture in the real sense of the word. In doing
so, we would have defined Architecture, as needs to be defined. Humane
Settlements are the integration of the Architect, the Engineer, the Artist and
the Artisan. Hence there would be little room to have Architecture and Interior
Design as separate streams of study. And if the Micro Plan determined the
Master Plan, once again the difference between the Architect and the Town
Planner would stand bridged. And the issues of Humane Settlement Design
would truly stand addressed.

I am in competition with no one. I run my own race. My race does not

tire me. I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone,
in anyway, or any shape, or form. I am a free man, exploring my
freedom of thought, spirit and deed...riding the wind.

23
 Cluster planning

1 2 3

3 5 6

7 8
4. A "broken civilisation"...
The homes we build for ourselves or our clients must not differ from those
we build for the underprivileged or other sections of society. Their needs
may not be as ostentatious or expansive as ours, but the technologies we use
for them should be based on the same principles and logic that we define for
ourselves. In all their wisdom, would Architects, Engineers, Planners, or the
key Political and Administrative decision makers, live in a home built with
the technologies, logic and values that they propagate for the not-so-privi-
leged? This is largely doubtful, but then there are a few exceptions and they
are far between. In my case I have applied these principles for myself which
then is precisely the purpose of this series. An Architect must first be his
own patron and illustrate this through the home he builds for himself and his
an invention. family. His work must also offer solutions for settlements that provide dignity
They heated the top half
to those who lack it and help them reclaim their lives as well as themselves.
of the furnace and
as soon as the
zinc ore melted it The promotion of traditional arts and crafts in the built form was but a
flowed down in
medium of carrying the people with the state. This additionally ensured
the molten state
through the porcelain equitable distribution of wealth and rewarded excellence. One may safely
filter and fell term these practices as “Future Proofed” and history has it so.The earlier
into a bed of water,
civilisations and their tribal arts celebrated Man and Nature. Then man
celebrated Innovation and his ability to Mould and work with the Natural
Elements. Now Man aspires to subjugate Nature and all within sight,
The promotion of traditional arts and c
including all forms of life.

Be it the Power of the Roman Empire, the Might of the

Pharaohs in Egypt, the rich Architecture of the South
East Asian Region or the Aristocracy of the West,
major statements of power and religious belief have
been Architecture driven. Be it the oppressive regimes of
the Middle East or the Mughal period of India promotion of
Architecture and the Arts was an integral part of
their very existence. The ferocity and brutalism of
Hitler and Nazism with all its oppression, is evident in
the Architecture of Germany during this period. And all

25
at the same time, even though referred to “A failed artist” Hitler’s patronage of
arts has few parallels in the recent past. But invariably these powerful
statements required enormous wealth.
Our ancestors did have their fundamentals right. Through taxation they
always generated a surplus, most of which went back to the people and
provided employment. Our present day policies of deficit financing in our annual
budget the world over, implies imply that the state would always need more
than just taxation to meet its spending needs. So policy makers borrow from the
people once again through bonds, indirect taxation of various kinds and nae
tionalisation of profit making units of the private enterprise. The question that this
form of financing raises is that, “If all countries are in Debt, then who has
the money?” Very pertinent, begs an answer but remains unanswered whenever
asked.

This inscrutable world of the protagonists of this business model is designed to

benefit a few and is aligned to only promoting unsustainable development
policies. They then fund the Social Activists and the Media to push singular
issues that benefit them most through CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and
the fringe benefits that come with this. Even the education system has not been
spared and on the contrary, this now makes for a generation where knowledge
is not an option. In my attempt to address these issues, the series would, when
completed, provide solutions by treading the paths known but now not tread upon
and considered archaic. These present day paths are illusionary and promise
the route to the “Pearly Gates” and we, as lowly mortals, end up chasing
this illusion. My breed could now be a part of the Redundant Architects Tribe
(RAT) and establish a new rating system.

The increasing loss of faith in our urban policies and our lack of convincing directions
can be singly attributed to “Failed Crisis Hunters”. Every “manufactured
crisis” has a new activist and yet another set of problems to contend with.
Their story is more like a headless chicken flapping its wings and running around
before it takes the last breath. The last joggle and the energy expended, is
enormous and this it is but a last attempt to stay alive. We do have the
wherewithal to try and mend this head or even put it back once again to
restore the life being snuffed out. Failed policies need a revisit or we will go down
in history as an ignorant and irrational people. All this in spite of being the
best informed and having an abundance of technological excellence.

26
Failure is not permanent but it is triggered. We have to find the
‘trigger-happy’ that triggered the state we find ourselves in and put
on the safety lock.

The world of today also believes and professes democracy together with
equity but this is far cry. Discord and discontent grows and with it grows
the restlessness of mankind as we hasten our path to being considered a broken
civilisation. Oppressive statements of power of the high rise age feed reckless industrial
consumption and overconsumption in the name of progress.

Before I go further, a very simple but appropriate fact of the history of

development and industrialisation would set the right tone and tenor and put many
a mind on track.

“Elementary my dear Watson”-- Sherlock Holmes

For over four thousand years the extraction of Zinc in the form of a metal was unknown to the rest of
the world. The secret process was existent only in India which was then the singular source of supply. This
process later went to China and only very recently onto the west. Zinc is the base of many an essential metal
in the prelution from today’s engineering giants.

Athis marvel of an invention. They heated the top half

of the furnace and as soon as the zinc ore melted it
flowed down in the molten state through the porcelain
filter and fell into a bed of water, thus receiving and
immediately cooling the pure zinc in its metallic
state.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” -- Leonardo da Vinci

The above is but one case in point. Much is written about experiments with “Truth”, “Living”, “The Unknown”,
“Way Beyond” and other subjects. Mine is but an understanding of the real purpose behind each of the

27
5. The Witches’ Cauldron
Macbeth Witches
By Worm
Thursday October 18, 2012 Macbeth
Source: http://thedabbler.
co.uk/2012/10/the-dabbler-book-club-
review-the-daylight-gate-by-jeanette-
winterson/macbeth-witches/
The title is mild in comparison to the most serious aberration that modern
civilisation has been subjected to. Lack of access to piped drinking water is
touted as a reason for disease and several other ills plaguing the developing
nations. But it is this very access to piped and supposedly “safe drinking
water” that provides absolute access and control of the human mind for the
perpetrators of this agenda.
And the story begins from Aluminium- the wonder material of the
industrial age which is an integral part of our lives. The pans we cook in,
to the aircrafts we fly in. The Automobile Industry, the Building as well as
most other Industries rely on this material. However, it is the by product or
the waste in the form of fluoride that is the problem. This has instead been
misused as an extremely potent and lethal weapon to control all our actions
and reactions.
It is believed that the roots can be traced back to Hitler and the World
War. The Nazi war machinery relied heavily on Aluminium and the extraction
was increased to phenomenal levels during this period. The fluoride as a
residual product also increased likewise and needed to be disposed off.
It is well known and an established practice that fluoride is added to our
piped drinking water to clean it and take care of the e coli. A sinister mind
discovered that added doses could actually reduce the ability of a human mind
to think and evaluate. Thus the mind could be controlled into acceptance and
subjugation leaving man no option but to obey. Germany and its people were
thus brain washed into meekly accepting Hitler’s vision of Nazi Germany.
Mass hysteria through the controlled Media was additionally used to numb
the senses and blast the minds of the Germans making the task even easier.
Water, the very base of life became a weapon destruction of the human mind.
Many European Nations have now banned the use of fluorides for cleaning
drinking water.
It is often averred that the fluorides are good for the enamel of the teeth.
Exploiting the human nature of good looks with a brilliant smile, fluorides
additionally found their way into the toothpastes we use. Toothpastes with
29
6. Urban Red Herrings
A practice that defies rationale is the way we design our roads and drainage
systems. Roads require the minimum slope and drains require the maximum
slope. Yet we persistently build our drains on the side of the roads. Our very
first steps are riddled with contradictions. For some inexplicable reason,
these very basic issues are completely ignored or overlooked but it is this
fundamental contradiction that is ultimatelyinstrumental to setting the pace
for our ever compounding problems. Had the choice of land been correct,
then the two contradictions would never have been. Each should have been
dealt with separately, as was the case when the traditional settlements opted
for the higher lands or for those that had adequate gradients.Building on flat
lands was taboo. This basic decision provided the foundation for Sustainable
Development Strategies.t

We use 20 (now 12 and even 10) Litres of water in our cisterns to take
100gms of POO to the sewage treatment plant and then complain of water
shortage. Waste water from the kitchen and the bath is further added,
Insert road sketch to create self-cleansing velocity only in order to take this to the sewage
treatment plant located on the outskirts of the habitation. This becomes
essential since we identified flat land and therefore ended up with no slope
to efficiently transport the sewage to the desired destination. As a result
we end up utilising close to 50 litres of Water to get rid of 100gms of POO.
Incredible! But true. This unfortunately, is the accepted planning norm. Is
there something amiss?? On one hand, an engineer at the sewage treatment
screams for less water so as to convert the sewage into bio gas. We on the
other hand, perforce have to give him excessive water to contend with owing
to lack of slope. Interestingly, the twenty litres of water required to take the
night soil sewage to the treatment plant was based on the need to take the
stale news down the Water Closet (WC) in the form of newspaper, since it
was this medium that was used for wiping the bottom.

As they say...
“No job is complete until the paper work is done”.

31
 It is all very well my pointing out these contradictions but then the question
one may ask is if I have a solution. Is this criticism for the sake of criticism?
Have I managed to cull out some answers, based on the traditional wisdom
that I claim, did address these very problems and in a far more comprehensive
manner? For this I have elementary examples to cite and in having got to
understand these, a host of very simple solutions emerged. Incorrect choice
of land is but one basic error and this is what I would deal with in the first
instance.

Plot Proportions
Together with this first error and almost as if
to compound it, is the decision of a rectangular
plot often with a ratio of 1:2.5. i.e., awidthof1
with a depth of 2.5.As a deterrent to this norm
of planning, the traditional texts stated
that the owner of a home on a rectangular plot
would suffer from ulcers in his stomach and
constant acidity. Sounds bizarre and almost
ludicrous,but bears merit and I can only get
into detailing this during the course of my
writings in a future book. This is briefly

touched upon inthe Local Agenda 21 document at the end of this

Plot proportions sketch.

book. This statement and its rationalisation form the basis of a fresh insight
into planning for Sustainable Settlements that are Humane. The difference
between Human and Humane may only be a simple “e” but the entire concept
of planning undergoes a world of transformation.

“Conformity is the Jailer of Freedom and the Enemy of Growth” --

John F Graves

Translating this Myth into simple mathematical terms (This Myth of stomach
ache, acidity & ulcer can be translated in simple mathematical terms)with an
elementary illustration- though exaggerated, would light the spark and reinforce
the belief that there indeed was merit in traditional practices. We just have to make
a concerted effort in trying to unravel these fundamentals.
Taking a rectangle of 5 ft x
80 ft would result in a room
with an area 400 sq ft and so
would a square of 20 ft x 20ft.
And yet the rectangle
would have a built up wall

33
 with a perimeter of 170 r. ft
as opposed to a square with a
perimeter of 80 r. ft. Assuming
a height of 10 ft for each room,
the rectangle would consume
1700 sq ft of masonry and the
square room would consume
only 800 sq. ft of masonry. The
consumption of material would
be lesser and so would be the
heat intake. So elementary
and yet ignored for its
sheer simplicity.
Making the Brick Sick
One of the simplest
components of the building
industry, the brick,
(Collage of Slim bricks including some has been grossly
of the roofs domes etc and also the
courtyards in the office) misunderstood and it is
here that yet another of
the very basics of our
building practices goes
astray. While the pivotal
issue is non-erodability
and therefore the strength
requirements, we have
standardised the brick
around the compressive
strength as the basic
essential requirement. Clay
in separate regions, varies
and therefore it stands
to reason that the size
of the brick must vary
accordingly. However a
brick made of burntclay

35
image
Carpenter Laul
Put in a quick run thru the structural
correction of the oberoi
With a team of carpenters I set up shop for designing and executing
Interiors. I was encouraged by a powerful lady industrialist who I had met
because of her niece I was dating, with serious intent. (It never worked out).
This lady continued to be my fairy godmother so to say. Everyone needs a
patron to set out the path or so it was in my case. I do still regard her as the
single most powerful influence in my career. My very first interiors project
was her residence. I learnt much from my team of carpenters and the unit
expanded. I was referred to as CARPENTER LAUL by my colleagues as
running a furniture unit was considered below the dignity of Architects. A
major impetus came from the Design, Fabricate and Deliver exhibition for
the Warner Brothers Exhibition in India.
Success came my way when I was commissioned to Design a Huge Space
frame for a blue chip company. It took several proposals and a lot of hard
selling to convince the client that this was indeed a state of the Art approach.
The size was a clear space of 55 meters x110 meters. The competition was
against a leading firm of senior architects who could virtually walk into an
assignment. This firm was none other than the one I had trained in. I had
shot my mouth off and convinced the client but then I had to put my money
where my mouth was. Considering my past performance and history in as far
as theory of structures was concerned there was the lurking fear of failure
in the back of my head. Import of jointing systems was not permitted unless
absolutely essential and the import duty would have killed he project. I had
to devise a simple joint if only to save my scalp.
This I did and the test showed that the new joint I had devised performed
far better than the high technology imported joints that were considered
state of the art technology. Whereas the high end technology joint could
accommodate 12 members through the same axis, this system stretched the
limits to 96 members through the same axis. The sophisticated technology
joints required super high tech machines to manufacture and special grade
of steel whereas the very basic home grown technology utilised mild steel all
the way through. My structural engineer had abandoned me or I abandoned
him but there was no love lost. The structural contractor who had been
41

Put in one page of the collage of JCB
with the scanned drawings of the first
concept and the perspectives etc
assigned this contract, against all advice by me, had developed cold feet and
was willing to do likewise. I was left with little choice but to sit at the machine
shop with the fabricator and have the first set of joints made and tested. The
test results surpassed all expectations and further ended up making the
structure and it’s hoisting in position, look like child’s play. Many a hiccup
on and much turbulence later, the project was seen to conclusion and had
many a head spin. I was indeed the cat’s whiskers but no one would take
me seriously in spite of having achieved this dizzying success. I desperately
wanted my hair and Goatie French beard to turn grey if only to add to my
portfolio.
Just as the headiness of success was waning I got a call from the project
manager of a leading five star hotel asking me if I could visit them and
look into some structural problems they were having with their building. I
was there the very next day and make a quick round of the problem ridden
structure. My mind had almost immediately read into the problem. It was as
if the structure was telling me the area that required attention. Two hours
later and after a healthy five star lunch I asked for the maintenance register.
The pattern of the cracks all through the structure had a story to tell and
further reinforced my gut feel. It was not owing to earthquakes and tremors
and nor to the overloading owing to the huge overhead water storage tank
as suspected by many an expert, that the structure was in distress. In my
opinion a simple detail that links the post tensioned column to the pre
stressed beam had been overlooked during the construction of the building
some twenty years earlier.
I needed to support this unit with steel fabrication equipment and so the
unit grew with the addition of hand operated plastic injection moulding.
Starting with some small space frames I managed to understand Geodesics
and devised some simple joints to make geodesics a simple reality. Having
designed and built several hundred domes, I acquired the name DOME LAUL.
Architects do have this habit of classifying others based on their approaches
to the buildings that they design. Why can’t architects experiment with an
array of styles and materials and approaches? I seem to think that there is a
lethargy that sets in after a certain level and it is easier to plaster the same
details with limited variation of approaches. It is easier to talk of higher
43
philosophies and concepts but to dish out the same wine in new bottles. May
be and may be not, but this is my opinion for want of another explanation.

At about the same time I was teaching at Women’s Polytechnic. Interior

design was a rage and just the prettiest and not essentially the smartest opted
for this course. The next preferred option was Textile Design. Every morning
was literally a fashion parade and a feast for a bachelor with a roving eye. But
then I was there to teach and had to put on an extra stern look. Pretending
not to appreciate and admire what I saw quickly earned me the reputation
of being an “It”. I had another even more difficult problem to live with. My
younger sister was being taught by me and the same young ladies would visit
her in the evenings. I loved their being there and paying them attention that
they truly deserved. And yet the very next morning I had to pretend that I did
not know them. I had to fail my younger sister as her work was not up to the
mark. This gave me the reputation of being a terror and unpredictable where
as the attention to my sisters friends in the evening gave me the reputation
of being a sworn bachelor and a romanticist---all in one.
As teaching was a truly remarkable experience in learning, I had my heart
set on it and I took this up later in life. However teaching these pretty women
came to an abrupt end and was no longer an option. This passion was cut
short when I met my heart stopper neighbour and shortly thereafter my wife.
Two years of hot pursuit and to the surprise of many as well as my family,
I was a sober man who wanted to settle down. Hailing from two ends of
India, she from the Southern parts of India and me from the unruly North,
we had no option but to elope. (Much like an Indian Bollywood movie). As if
in a hurry and to fill our lives, my delightful daughter arrived early as she
was a premature child. For over two years she slept on my chest clutching
my French beard. After eight years and with the addition of my son, who had
a loud infectious laugh even as an infant, I was totally transformed from a
social animal to a domesticated one. (For years I called him Thunder Singh
owing to his laugh).

The above story is just to tell students that sometimes in failure lies
success and learning is but one long continuous process. At the end of it
is only the drive that matters. It is all about seeing and not looking. It is all
about listening and not merely hearing. It is about having fun with what you

47
October 2013
Soft launch
GREEN is RED