Karan Grover is an internationally acclaimed Indian architect who in 2004, became the first architect in the world to win the USGBC “Platinum” Award for the greenest building on earth. Today he is working towards the need for practicing “Green Architecture” inspiring students and fellow architects to build “Beyond Platinum” and set cutting edge benchmarks in the architectural fraternity. Mr. Grover has been passionately advocating the need to look at one’s culture and heritage for clues as to the direction for contemporary architecture and sustainable development. Winner of all five of the Indian awards for Excellence in Architecture and Interior Design, he was nominated as one of the 14 architects from Asia for this Millennium. Mr. Grover aims to spread awareness of sustainable architecture by addressing in excess of 20,000 professionals and students every year - a commitment he made when addressing the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in 2007.

Topic for Green Building Focus

FIRST DO NO HARM, Honoring Diversity, Initiating Action, Invoking Peace

More About the Topic

“FIRST DO NO HARM” is a fundamental principal of the medical profession. It reminds health care providers that they must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do when treating a patient when there is obvious chance of harm, but a less certain chance of benefit.

As we move into the modern age, we as builders of the environment must take up this doctrine to better serve future generations.  Not only to preserve the culture that exists today, but to inspire future generations to figure out ways to do it better than we did. And that is why we gather – to present our efforts, to discuss complex issues, to engage in our diversity so that we can initiate action and bring an active peace – which is not just an absence of violence, but an environment that dispels fear, builds communities, provides for all, and offers reassurances that wider interests will be safeguarded.
 
The very presence of this theme requires us to look at doing more with less. This mixture of ideas creates a new outlook of not only design, but also how we define and conjoin minimalism and minimalistic. Doing more with less is a search for efficiency.  While technology has allowed us to activate this approach, the frenetic activity with which we fill space and time has brought us full circle to now question the multiple manifestations of this approach.  Technology on its own is only a tool, and it’s no good unless we decide what we want to harness and where we want to go. How do we measure the value of contentment?  What is a clear conscience worth?  How do we bring consciousness and contentment to our work and its impact on the environment?
 
We are at a climax in our history, a pressure point of our times, and as we begin to understand and accept the responsibilities of our actions, we are forced to change how we create our built environment.  The changes we make today will help preserve our cities, our cultures, and our world for generations to come.  We are at the crossroads of a major decision.  We are faced with a choice, a chance to change. 

This track will delve into this topic by introducing a timeline consisting of two thousand years of history.  Not to simply discuss the building techniques of the past, but to show how they have directly influenced the buildings of today and the designs of the future.