IJSRST184899 | Received : 05 June 2018 | Accepted : 15 June 2018 | May-June-2018 [ 4 (8) : 453-461] © 2018 IJSRST | Volume 4 | Issue 8 | Print ISSN: 2395-6011 | Online ISSN: 2395-602X Themed Section: Science and Technology 453 A Study of Living Roofs and Walls In Indian Context with a Sustainable Approach Ar. Anjali Gupta Department of Architecture, Madhav institute of Technology and science, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India ABSTRACT Due to urbanization and industrialization, increased population is leading to shortage of green spaces. Due to this the world started facing some problems such as – Urban heat island, carbon foot print, storm water runoff etc. Living roofs and walls significantly contribute to sustainability by increasing energy efficiency of a building, helping our cities to mitigate the effect of heat island, provide sound insulation, give us a new ecology for various species and turn the wasted roof into various types of amenities. They are emerging as important addition into the palette of construction techniques. This paper shows the benefit of Living roofs and walls over conventional roofs and walls. Although Living roofs are initially more expensive to construct than conventional roof, they can be more economical over the life span because of the energy saved and the longevity of roof membranes. Green roofs are considered as a solution to improve the urban environment and are an ideal tool as the building choice to increase the environmental sustainability in urban setting. This paper aims to deal with living roof and wall techniques based on the strategies of sustainable development in architecture and its impact on environment and finding solution to the barriers in implementation of living walls and roof. Keywords : Environmental Sustainability, Living Roofs, Living Walls. I. INTRODUCTION Living roofs and walls plays an important role in sustainability through its contribution to the natural ecosystem. The objectives of this study are to identify the barriers in implementation of green roofs and walls and finding out suitable solution to these barrier while implementation. Removing these barriers will contribute not only to the aesthetics but also to the environment. A. Evolution of Vertical Landscape History revels that purpose of vegetated roof were diverse. The earliest documented garden in the 7 th century B.C. was the hanging garden of Babylon In Mesopotamia, near river Euphrates. They are called Hanging Garden because of plants hanging down over the year and looks like floating in the air. In more recent times, Green roof were seen to be as turf roof, which provide insulation and it keeps their home cool in summer and warm in winter. After a lot of researchers taken place, this phenomenon was developed in Germany in 1960 which really help on understanding green roof. After this, further research on different components was carried out including studies on root repelling agents, water proofing membrane growing media, drainage etc. In India the concept has gained popularity only in the metropolitan cities where the horizontal spaces are not meeting the environmental needs. Figure 1 The section drawing of the Hanging Garden of Babylon, circa 500 B.C based on archeologist Robert Koldewey’s description.