A recent Gurgaon structure cited as India’s first intelligent building is a case in point: Its makers call it intelligent user-friendly architecture. Shining grey, with so much glass exposed to the noon-day sun, the structure could be anywhere - New York, Lima or Manila. Built of materials imported from Italy and erected with American and French technologies under South Korean supervision it is truly global architecture; even though eight times more expensive than the most expensive building in India, its sheer glassiness is impressive. As I neared the entrance one evening, a remote sensor detected my approach and alerted the mechanism in the glass door, connected to the Electronic Identification and Control Center (EICC), that I should be allowed to pass. Sure enough, the plate glass opened and let me in. An e-device and central command panel (CCP), worth Rs 46 lakh had eliminated the need for a Haryanvi guard at Rs 5000 per month.

Inside the lobby, as soon as I stopped near the lift, light flooded in all around. And I heard the white noise of six lifts racing down to pick me up. Activated again by floor sensors, the complicated circuitry, costing some 28 lakhs, was worth it because it defrayed the cost of a 60 watt bulb of light left on throughout the night, and paid for itself in a mere 1200 years. Upstairs, I was in for more surprises. I was told that the double-glass wall had micro-louvers and heat sensors inserted in the glass. At the ridiculously low cost of 2.8 crore. On hot-days, the entire south wall was thus protected without any expenditure of human energy. Outside, on the road below, virtually free human energy floated around and left me wondering how Mahatma Gandhi’s mud house in Wardha would stand up to such sophistication. Would it even qualify as green architecture?

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