Low-Carbon Concrete Construction: The Past, Present, and Future of Concrete Design in India

The concrete frame gave freedom to the design of the interior and eliminated the need for external load-bearing walls. Today, due to rapid urbanization and constrained urban space, the concrete frame has become the ubiquitous system of construction in growing cities. As a result, steel-reinforced concrete frames dominate the skylines of Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs) like India. Consequently, the mounting use of concrete in India has garnered concern for the ecological impacts of construction. This suggests an opportunity to reduce the carbon emissions associated with concrete construction through efficient concrete construction, building more with less. Importantly, India has a rich history of efficient concrete architecture that utilized material efficiency when material costs constrained the cost of construction. These designers cultivated a spirit of structural expression and a command of physical forces that informed a new architectural idiom for Modern India. Today, the generally risk-averse nature of development has pushed concrete construction towards standardized typologies of monolithic construction and repeated modules for ease of construction. From a structural mechanics point of view, though, these modular systems of prismatic slabs, beams, and columns, are mate- rially inefficient. In response to the demand for materially efficient concrete construction, this paper looks back at the work of novel designers in India and presents a potential application of their ideas to future urban construction in both India and beyond. The scope of this paper is the use of reinforced concrete as a structural material from the early 20th century up until today. Several key structures and designers will be highlighted for their contributions to concrete architecture’s history before concluding with a proposal for the future of concrete design in LEDC cities. Applying an understanding of concrete mechanics and digital structural design, this research explores structural systems suited to the constraints of Indian construction.