Binoy Kumar Das, Managing Director, Façade Concept Design Pvt. Ltd
Façade Concept Design Pvt. Ltd, located at Mahape, Navi Mumbai, provides consulting services to architects, builders and developers as well as expertise on design and implementation of the building envelope. The company has collaborated with French firm VS-A to provide best technical support for Indian and other Asian projects. Binoy Kumar Das shares his outlook on façades with Jibran Buchh.
The emerging economies of Asia, including India and China, are expected to record the fastest growth in demand for roofing and facades.
India happens to be a low-wage economy and cheaper manufacturer of various products. The competition is between India and China and to become No.1 in production, you need to have No.1 infrastructure i.e. great buildings, offices and houses so people can come and live and work in a good atmosphere. Because of the size and need for offices, housing and other infrastructure, the demand for a large number of façades is inevitable.
Infrastructure today needs to fall in current time and current practices. Glass or façade are one of the most important parts of any structure. Façade provides the external beauty and climatic advantage. The climatic advantage is that sun rays get reflected and concrete takes a lot of time if you want to cool your room from inside.
Being the fastest growing economies these countries are rapidly building malls, airports, residential and commercial buildings, hospitals and other structures. Therefore, the demand for the facades is going to be huge.
Have façades attracted the Indian residential sector? How cost effective is it for residential buildings?
We will, in fact, see more growth in façade-based buildings. Now more and more residential buildings are attracted to façades but façades need immense enveloping whether stone cladding or metal cladding or natural finish. There might be a residential project which is more inclined towards the daylight analysis factor where maximum amount of light can be attained while reflecting the heat back. Now this comes in energy efficiency. This not necessarily means the design or the façade may be expensive. This can be a cost-effective design too which may be cute and beautiful that could be further taken into consideration.
The façade of a building is often the most important from a design standpoint. What are the current trends?
Design is dependent on the sector for which the façade project is being built e.g. for hospitals and hotels high performance façade is required. Then the cost and energy efficiency are other aspects which follow up. If one has a proper knowledge of façades, then the sky is the limit. You can go with a variety of options and by simply following the codes and ways one can attain desirable design.
Façades are sealed on the buildings that does not leave many options in case of emergency. How safe are façades?
When we talk of safety measures in façade-based structures the first thing that pops up is fire and the opening of vents. The very first thing is that facade should meet fire norms and then if the building happens to be a high rise every floor should have the smoke shield. The building is to be designed in such a way that in case of fire the smoke produced should not travel to other floors and, most importantly, the staircase in the building. It is also up to the architect that how he or she designs the building or structure.
Tell us about Façade Concept Design Pvt. Ltd.
We are specialising as façade consultancy services, which also include design of RCC (reinforced cement concrete) structures of the building and the concept design in the very beginning of the projects. Since few years there has been a change in the concept buildings with different geometry in context of energy efficiency, heat insulation etc. So we simply design the façade keeping in mind the structure stability compliance to the architect intent requirement and performance.
Which projects is your company executing currently?
Currently, we are executing projects in India, Middle East and Sri Lanka; In Mumbai, Sunshine building situated on Tulsi Pipe Road, Dadar, and a Supreme project which is for an IT park in Gurgaon, Haryana.
We are also providing detail engineering in the Middle East one of which is for a bank called IIB, and also for a building in Algeria.
What is your vision for Façade Concept Design?
Aesthetics, performance, quality and value engineering are the things which we are working hard on and through these traits we will try to grow.
