ANNOUNCEMENTS
As climate change intensifies urban heat, water scarcity, and ecological fragmentation, sustainable landscape design within green buildings has become increasingly critical. Trees, as multifunctional ecological assets, play a central role in enhancing urban sustainability by improving microclimate, supporting biodiversity, storing carbon, and reducing energy loads. However, their ecological and functional benefits are often underutilised in green building projects due to unscientific species selection, generic placement, and inefficient irrigation practices.
This study presents a comprehensive and structured methodology for tree species evaluation, functional placement, and smart irrigation planning in the context of ITC Green Centre , a green-rated commercial building in Bengaluru, India. The research adopts a multi-criteria evaluation framework, integrating ecological, functional, and aesthetic parameters to assess the suitability of 11 proposed tree species. Each species was rated across seven parameters: water requirement, growth rate, maintenance need, aesthetic value, wind resistance, carbon sequestration potential, and biodiversity support—using a 1 to 5 scale to generate a total score out of 35.
Building on this evaluation, a functional placement strategy was developed to assign species to appropriate landscape zones such as courtyards, lawn edges, boundary walls, entry drives, and rainwater harvesting areas. Species were matched based on their environmental tolerance, spatial characteristics, and ecosystem service potential. To ensure long-term water sustainability, a species-based smart irrigation strategy was also formulated. Trees were grouped into low, moderate, and high-water demand categories, and irrigation techniques were assigned accordingly, ranging from passive rain-fed recharge and mulch-based retention to drip irrigation systems with seasonal scheduling and soil moisture sensors.
The integrated methodology was grounded in global and regional best practices, drawing from bioclimatic models (Boc, 2018), trait-based urban tree selection (TDAG, 2025), and tree-placement frameworks for buildings (Abuseif et al., 2023). Bengaluru’s local climate data, with a defined monsoon and dry season, was used to adapt irrigation needs and species zoning.
The outcome of this research is a replicable model that supports sustainable tree selection and water-efficient landscape planning in green buildings. It contributes directly to green rating goals such as LEED, IGBC, and GRIHA by enhancing resource efficiency, ecological resilience, and occupant comfort. The framework is especially relevant for urban Indian contexts where climate variability, water stress, and urban densification demand intelligent, climate-responsive design approaches.
