Sustainable Architecture in Terms of Building Materials

Abstract

Building materials are the single unit cell of a building and thus are the essential part of construction techniques. It encloses the spaces in a building or acts as an envelope for spaces in architecture. In today’s scenario sustainable architecture is at its pace. Sustainable architecture does not only mean to plant trees or using vernacular materials, but it also means to use eco- friendly building materials since building materials are the first and most important part of a building. Life of a building is dependent on the material being used in that building. Therefore, selection of an eco-friendly material is a rapid step towards sustainable and eco-friendly built environment. Now what material could be ecofriendly? Truly saying materials that result in a more sustainable and affordable construction complying with the comfort standards required today can be termed as eco-friendly materials. So, rather making environment sustainable we could use materials that are sustainable, affordable, low energy consumption and can be recycled or reused easily. This paper deals with how green building materials can sustain our environment by reducing its impact on our mother earth, that could lessen the amount of environmental degradation, have consumes less energy, can be re-used in a building itself and the comparison between other man-made materials and their energy consumption that are presently in use.