Nanotechnology will ‘dramatise’ architecture across the world

Nano is the Greek word for ‘dwarf’. Just as the Nano car is expected to revolutionise the world,Nanoarchitecture too is set to change our perspective on buildings.

Nanotechnology will have profound effects on the way we live. For the profession of architecture,nanotechnology will greatly impact construction materials and their properties. Materials will behave in different ways as we will precisely control their properties at the nano scale.

The architecture of Le Corbusier in Chandigarh is set for a change. If Le Corbusier had been conversant with nanotechnology at the time Chandigarh was built,his buildings would have been very different. The concrete facades would not have weathered with time and the elevations would not have been so gigantic. He could and would have used self-cleansing,smog-eating concrete panels which consist of photocatalytic titanium dioxide nanoparticles in the pre-cast panels. This concrete has a marble-like finish and is immune to weathering as airborne pollutants are trapped in a nanoparticle matrix on the surface where they get decomposed. This concrete has been used in the Ruby Jubilee Church in Rome,Italy.

The use of ‘brise-soleil’ on the exterior of buildings of the Capitol Complex and Government Arts and Architecture College would have been avoided. The horizontal and vertical louvers were used to provide adequate shading to windows. The heat-absorbing glass produced by the use of nanotechnology would have provided an alternative. This glass controls heat and energy loads in buildings by blocking as much as 99 per cent of the ultraviolet rays.

The huge columns used in the Capitol buildings and those in City Centre,Sector 17,shall have been minimised by the use of Carbon Nanotubes (one of the materials used in nanotechnology). These sheets of graphite,just one atom thick,when formed into a cylindrical column are not only 50 times stronger than conventional steel but also ten times lighter. The conventional steel used in the ten-storeyed Secretariat building would have been reduced drastically by using carbon nanotubes instead. Paper-thin sheets of column would have been able to hold up the entire load of buildings.

The tiny nanosensors embedded in building materials will make architectural features responsive and enable one to detect temperature changes,humidity,toxins,weapons and even money. Communication will occur between object and object,occupant and object,object and environment and also between occupant and environment,thereby making the ‘field of interaction’ a major focus.

All the security personnel installed at the Capitol Complex and other buildings will therefore not be required as the buildings will be self-secured and self-sufficient.

Nanotechnology will ‘dramatise’ architecture across the world.