Eco-friendly, green homes help reduce energy usage. Ashwin Architects provide design and architectural services for residential and commercial constructions in Bangalore. The issue of sustainability & green designs gets relegated to the second spot because the first question about construction is the cost. Although most people are aware of environmental issues, still the percentage of people willing to try out new techniques are limited. Ashwin Architects use climatology & building orientation to a great extent to provide natural light & ventilation thus reducing dependency on mechanical means of controlling temperatures. Today, the need is to incorporate green concepts that would only increase the cost by a small percentage. Many who would like to remodel their homes may also want to consider incorporating green concepts like provisions for natural light & ventilation thus reducing dependency on mechanical means of controlling temperatures. Other techniques they can use are borewell recharging with roof water run-off, solar lights for the house, solar geysers, motion-detecting sensors for lights. Address of Ashwin Architects - No. 23, Ratnavilas Rd, Basavanagudi Bangalore - 560004 Website: http://www.ashwinarchitects.com

Hi Mr. Patel Glass heats up in a country like India. There is glass used in abundance on facade in India but is not the most advisable material to use. It will be high maintenance plus will heat up. Use normal walls and windows for the elevation. Small amount of glass on the windows is good.

I am looking for Glass Hob, Vertical Glass Chimney and Built In Oven. I am getting mixed feedback across different forums so thought to reach here (impressed with some of the pointed comments so far). I am planning to choose between Bosch, Elica, Hafele and Faber. Can anyone please help ? I need to finalize it in next 3-4 days. I am purely going by the brand name (plus my previous experience with Bosch) so preferred the following 1). Bosch Glass Hob 2). Bosch Built In Oven (though it has aluminium burner but the one with brass burner 'Hafele/Elica' has the problem of making utensils black) 3). For chimney they do not offer 60cm Filter less chimney hence thinking to choose between Hafele or Elica. Please suggest if this is the right choice. Thanks in advance

vedikaseth Bombay rains are harsh! The one thing you can do is use flexible covers that work similar to roller blinds, and are transparent which allows the light to enter. There are many companies that offer such a product. Just choose one where the installation is easy and taking down the sheets is not an issue once the rains are over. Do keep in mind however that the water will still enter the balcony, you will simply be reducing the force of rains, and will require a water outlet.