SUSTAINABILITY
A VU home is designed to fit in seamlessly with its environs, while respecting nature for years to come. Our designs are not complete if they do not respect the land we employ and local cultural practices. Mindful living is a timeless practice for us as living with nature is a luxury in itself. We don’t just build to embrace the now which is why we take every measure to implement constantly evolving sustainable practices.
Passive Architecture Design
Minimizing negative environmental impact is a priority. We adopt passive design features that highlight every home’s orientation, such as optimizing daylight through skylights, light wells, and courtyards. Attention is paid to shaded corridors and other shading devices. Trees, adjacent buildings, pergolas, punched windows, extended louvres, and horizontal and vertical landscaping are all placed with care.
Ground Water Recharge
At VUEE, we understand the importance of water conservation. Our teams have dedicated time to implement special water conservation techniques in every home by incorporating the groundwater recharging technique that is simple, but effective. A recharge well / pit is constructed underground, which allows rainwater to replenish groundwater by recharging the underground aquifers and helps us avoid any potential run-off damages.
Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation
We strive to preserve our water resources by including drip and sprinkler irrigation methods into our landscape. These methods of irrigation provide efficient coverage to small and large areas alike, minimising surface run-off and water loss through evaporation. Every drop of water is used in a timely fashion, thereby reducing water demand.
Water Recycling and Segregation
We have implemented a system of effective organic waste management to avoid domestic waste from being sent to landfills by installing standardised colour-coded German bins that have clear signage and are odour-proof. They come with wheels to ensure easy transportation. Collected wet waste is sent to a private waste treatment facility and the compost is used for gardening.
Recycled and Upcycled Material Use
Our design team inculcates the art of reusing, repurposing and refurbishing. Every home is furnished with antique interior decor elements. Almost all the doors and windows are sourced from heritage buildings, like government offices, post offices, mansions and hospitals. The wooden panels used are refurbished, washed and polished, with care taken to retain their inherent character.
Environment-Friendly and Traditional Building Techniques
VUEE ensures local building practices and (location specific) cultural markers are employed in our construction. For instance, in Goa we use sloping roofs and local materials like laterite stones to encourage weather adaptability. In the Nilgiris, we strive to minimize cutting and filling. We also use traditional Mangalore tiles for the roofs in keeping with the local architectural style.
A Sustainable Landscape
Our sustainable landscaping techniques ensure minimum water consumption. We do this by limiting the use of turf on the site in order to conserve water, or by planting drought-tolerant, native and adaptive species. We maintain the natural topography and vegetation, which helps minimize disturbances, or restore the site to reduce long-term negative environmental impacts, thereby promoting habitat and biodiversity.