Green, not red, in every brick

Aabhas Sharma meets an architect whose designs are eco-friendly.

With the sort of realty boom in the Indian market, especially if one were to go by various media reports, Biley E Menon's casual remark is shocking.

"We have completely stopped doing commercial work," he says. As the chief architect of Idea Design, Menon's statement comes as a surprise but when one looks at the work which this Kochi-based company has been doing, it does make a lot of sense.

While most architects focus on IT parks, huge commercial complexes and shopping malls, Menon and his firm appear content working on designs and buildings that are more nature driven.

"The focus for us is on ecological designs and on how to blend urban aesthetics with natural surroundings," he stresses.

Menon, who is a urban planner and architect, along with his wife Chitra, who is a landscape architect, have been working on projects which are environment friendly and have a natural feel to them.

Be it resorts in various hill stations in south India, or an ecological park that is coming up in Kochi, Idea Design invariably ends up leaving its signature mark on them.

But why is he shying away from commercial work? Menon says that while the big bucks may lie that way, it isn't always creatively challenging. "At the most what one can do is make the exterior design look crafty," he elaborates.

The architect believes that with commercialisation becoming rampant almost all across the country, the idea is to get the maximum out of limited space . "I'm not saying that we are against it but it is something which we don't want to do at the moment," he says.

He reiterates that the idea behind the decision is not to look or sound different. "We aren't standing apart from the rest of the crowd," adds Menon.

"We have been working on landscape architecture for some time now and these are projects which have given us immense creative satisfaction," explains this architect who has worked on select corporate projects like the Info Park in Kochi.

Since the focus is more on eco-friendly design and projects, the use of natural materials is prevalent in the firm's work. The use of materials which conserve energy and have a natural look and feel to them help buildings to be more environmentally sustainable, he says.

As Menon puts it, the first layer of material in their projects is nature, and the rest they choose accordingly. For instance, more emphasis is laid on earth blocks or granite tiles for pavings, while less glass is used in any of the structures that the firm undertakes to design and implement.

Before undertaking any project, site conditions and climatic conditions are taken into account. Aspects such as irrigation system design and drainage system design are closely looked at before a project is flagged off.

Over the years, Menon has been part of quite a few projects, some of which naturally have been close to his heart. But ask him to pick one and he says, "My sister's residence in Palakkad."

He elaborates, "It's a single floor structure where three walls in each room have windows. So, wherever you sit, you are always close to nature." Something which, he says, he can relate to very well. Among his professional commitments, the Cloud 9 resort in Munnar is something that he also enjoyed designing.

The current portfolio for Idea Design includes an ecological park coming up in Kochi and another bio-conservation project in Chennai. Apart from these, there are other urban planning projects in Kochi where Menon is actively involved.

He feels that the current crop of architects and designers is pretty good. Even the work emerging for most professionals is challenging. But he does fear for the future.

"The kind of knowledge being imparted to budding architects is quite theoretical," he says. And that practicing architects are still not allowed to teach is something that he disapproves of strongly. "When practicing surgeons can teach medical students, architects should be able to do the same," he argues.

Idea Design, besides working on many residential projects in Kochi, is also helping restore some important public spaces.

In Chennai, for instance, Menon is actively involved with the ecological restoration of Adayar creek. "We specialise in ecological restoration and yes, Adayar creek, in that sense, is a huge project and will be challenging for us," emphasises Menon.

The architect wants to continue working on environment- friendly buildings and ecological designs in the near future while also working actively on issues concerning urban planning.

Green or ecological design is not just a seasonal architectural trend for this professional. For Menon and his team at Idea Design, it is a mantra that needs to be spread.