Palmgrove

eco features
 

Eco-conscience drives our design and choice of materials and techniques such that you and your environment forge a relationship for life. We are committed to creating homes with low or no carbon emissions.

The layout has been planned in a way that helps retain much of the original topography. Thus, we have reduced the road areas and incorporated many of the trees in the landscaping. Houses take on the unique terraced character of the landscape and are built on multi-levels. Spaces within homes are efficiently planned. The amount of space wasted in circulation is saved by reducing the number of walls, light pools are created through a play of single and double height spaces. The density of houses at PalmGrove are low. Your home will be one of the 48 homes in the 8 acres of lush ecoscape. The carbon footprints are greatly reduced by utilising less than the maximum permissible area allowed to build, leading to lower material resources and hence less burden on the land.

Material

We intend to use a combination of energy-efficient and locally available materials in the construction of your homes. This ensures the use of minimal energy in their transportation and manufacture.

 

BURNT BRICK: It has excellent load-bearing properties, minimising the use of steel and cement. Besides, it is a material that breathes and helps keep homes cool.

 

STONE: Another locally available material with excellent insulating properties and aesthetic beauty. Today building with stone is a craft that is slowly disappearing with the increasing dependence on factory-made synthetic materials, and therefore the need to revive its use.

 

WOOD: At PalmGrove, wood is more than just an aesthetic source and is seen as a sustainable resource. To promote its use as a renewable resource, we intend to plant timber species within the community. A warm, intimate material, it replaces high energy consuming steel and aluminium for doors and windows and can be used even for floors. We believe in recycling old timber - from houses that are demolished, from packing cases, and from plantation timber—as opposed to forest timber.

 

NATURAL STONE AND CLAY FOR FLOORS: As natural floor materials, these are good for you and your family’s health. Wood and clay offers better insulation and comfort than synthetic floors. Besides they age beautifully with the years.

 

HOLLOW CLAY BLOCKS IN THE ROOF: The role of natural materials in maintaining a pleasant temperature within your home can never be underestimated. Particularly so the roof. By reducing the use of concrete for your roofing and helping it breathe, we can greatly control the climate within your home, leading to lowered utilization of energy.

PAINTS: At PalmGrove we only use paints that are non-toxic, lead-free and low in VOC. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), commonly found in most indoor and outdoor paints, give out low-level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. Lower VOC paints preserve both the indoor and outdoor air quality of your home and help your family breathe easy!

 

Craft

Traditional crafts like carpentry, stonework and masonry are slowly dying out as they cannot adapt to newer material, technology and requirement. But the value they impart to a space cannot be overlooked. We make a conscious effort to integrate these crafts and their skilled craftsperson's in the building process. In all our work, we emphasise human resource rather than material.

 

Energy

DESIGN FOR NATURAL LIGHT AND VENTILATION: All the homes have been designed with adequate natural light and cross ventilation. Large windows, wide verandahs, air channels to take hot air out, and thermally conducive materials, are all features which reduce the necessity for artificial light and ventilation. Be the proud resident of an energy efficient home!

 

DESIGN FOR SOLAR ENERGY: Sunlight will be greatly sourced upon at PalmGrove to light up your homes during the day and to heat water. This in turn leads to lowered power consumption and greater savings on your energy bills. Provisions for connecting solar water heaters and photo-voltaic panels for power will be made on the roof.

 

ENERGY-EFFICIENT LIGHTING: We have used, wherever possible, say for instance in common areas and streets, low wattage heating elements like CFL and LED lighting systems to ensure prudent use of power. So you can rest assured that PalmGrove doesn’t generate carbon footprints by unrestrained energy use.

 

Water

RAINWATER HARVESTING AND RECHARGING: Rainwater is harvested and the ground water is recharged through well-spread out percolation channels across PalmGrove. Roof water will also be channelled through pipes, passed through a series of filters and collected in the water tank. With intermittent rains in Bangalore, this supplements the supply through bore wells. We are also contemplating digging a small open well at the bore wells and direct the rainwater to it.

 

WATER RECYCLING: An on-campus sewage treatment plant recycles all waste water. The waste water from the kitchens and bathrooms is collected and treated with a series of bio-filters and then passed through planted reed beds, to emerge clean. This water is then used for gardening and for toilet flushing. The planted reed beds merge elegantly into the landscape.

 

Waste

WASTE MANAGEMENT: We propose to have an efficient garbage disposal system that separates solid and non-biodegradable waste from the organic waste. Organic waste can be collected and composted, and the compost reused as manure. Some of the non-biodegradable waste can be incinerated. For the metals and plastics, one could look at recycling agencies which can pick up the waste.

 

 

Ecoscape

 

INTEGRATING ECOLOGY WITH LANDSCAPE: Creating an environment for the land to rejuvenate becomes an important aspect of planning, especially for the psychological and cultural values they impart. You will be happily spared of well-manicured lawns or ornamentation plants that scream out “Touch me not” besides being high on maintenance and water consumption. Your environment at Palm Grove will be more interactive and engaging, after all you are here to forge a relationship with Nature! Your home will be surrounded by a veritable encyclopaedia of plants and trees that are local and indigenous and have medicinal values. Relive the nostalgia of your own childhood as your children discover insects and birds, climb trees and create imaginative worlds in the nooks and corners of PalmGrove. While you also experience the change in seasons as expressed through the flowering and shedding of the trees.

 

Good Earth PalmGrove is an attempt to rebuild our ties with nature by engaging with it. Your home will not compete with nature, instead it will dissolve into the landscape.

 

---