Principles of Design for Sustainable Group Housing Projects in India

There are three rating systems available to assess the sustainability of Group Housing in India provided by three agencies, namely the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), and Eco Housing Assessment Criteria's. The parameters for all three rating systems have some differentials. The building rated under one rating system may not obtain a rating under another rating system. It means that designers' attention is restricted to the rating system's criteria and has lost the sustainable design process's true spirit. This paper aims to establish the Principles of Design that meet all the rating system's maximum criteria. The methodology followed for this paper includes a brief review of all rating systems and a comparative analysis of similarity and dissimilarity to understand the key focus areas of all three rating systems. The Principles of Design are applied to fulfill all the three-rating system requirements with each focus area. The applications of design principles in the project indicate that only a certain number of Principles of Design are applied to achieve the rating system in each project, and many Principles of Design are overlooked. This was due to the designer's approach to sustainable buildings as a product based on the rating system. The Principles of Design generated in this paper will be a ready source of guidance for India's sustainable housing design. The designer should initially approach sustainable design as a design process and, later on, achieve a sustainable design for a specific rating system.