1 MACRO LEVEL greater whole INTENTIONAL IGNORANCE context UNINTENTIONAL BOUNDARY site ARCHITECTONIC ENVELOPE building BASIC ENVELOPE enclosure MICRO LAYER material culture COMMUNITY NEIGHBOUR FAMILY INDIVIDUAL Abstract We are at a very remarkable juncture of our civilization. The realization of nature and its importance on the articulation of life has been acknowledged for the creative designing of our contemporary existence. The very understanding of sustainability is the “ability to sustain”. Our evolution into an advanced being on earth has been a gradual development based on the challenges and impacts faced during each period. With such a higher sensibility to new and growth, we lost our sense of foundations and have drifted away from the basics on which we built vast empires and eternal philosophies- the sense of togetherness. Keywords: Re-Orientation, Stratification, Sustain-ability, Values I. INTRODUCTION “Is the maker of the rose or the tulip an artist or a technician? Both, for in nature utility and beauty are constitutional qualities, mutually and truthfully interdependent… the emotional blocks which bar the development of more organically balanced living must be met at the psychological level,…” Walter Gropius The very understanding of sustainability is the “ability to sustain”. Our evolution into an advanced being on earth has been a gradual development based on the challenges and impacts faced during each period. As human beings we have learnt that lesson so well, that after 200,000 years of the first notion of Homo sapiens we have evolved into something higher with each renaissance. We are at such a super- advanced stage where in unlike an insect, we communicate and regulate our moves with man-made antennae. With such a higher sensibility to new and growth, we lost our sense of foundations and have drifted away from the basics on which we built vast empires and eternal philosophies- the sense of togetherness. Our systems were sustainable, our lifestyles were adaptable, and our philosophy was absorbable. In the frenzy for rapid growth and competition, we separated things which otherwise work together and unify harmoniously. We have learned to deconstruct to have the complete understanding of the parts, but have we learned to put it back for improvising the whole? Through history we have noticed how „nature‟ has influenced architecture. Firstly, as the reason for architectural origins, this slowly shifted into the necessity for architecture to create an environment to piquant requirements of the late 60s. But the present role that nature plays in architecture is towards saving humanity. It has taken, again, a super-human role in moulding our settings for uninterrupted continuation of life as we know it. The primitive approach that man had towards nature was to soften it down with rituals and sacrifices- due to lack of comprehension to the natural phenomenon. These ritualistic attachments developed by the early man turned into rigid systems of order for the common harmonious survival of the community. So called culture, [1] was born. „Mental, physical and social aspects‟ of man have always taken the primary role in the lifestyle. When the Vitruvian trilogy [4] is combined with the above triad, resulting outcome shows the influence of architecture on culture and vice-versa. A possibility of revoking the senses towards sensitivity of culture is an attempt made to make architecture receptive towards accepting it (culture) as a prominent part of its discourse. II. REORIENTATION The possibility of a bridge between a liberal individualistic designers and a whole group of such individuals coming together to reach a high set standard to reach a unified goal of unhindered progress is what Gropius calls “ common expression rather than the pretentious individualism”. This thought will lead to a sustainable system. Sustainability is a structure very similar to the earth stratification- each layer role plays in strengthening the upper layer through either „internal‟ or „external‟ factors- which can help form the bridge to interconnect the layers that can help in remapping. The parameters which are playing an important role are the two systems- architectural intentions and the belief systems. Very similar to the earths‟ topography, these layers react to each other mutually. The left set belongs to architectural intentions towards creating an environment suitable for the right set; whereas the right set belongs to the belief systems we as human beings have developed for ourselves. Both the sets have a Stratum Sustainability Srivalli Pradeepthi Ikkurthy Journal of Architecture Figure 1: The Stratification Diagram