BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Architects urged to copy India: "Renowned Indian architect Charles Correa has said housing designs from his home country offer the key to eco-friendly buildings of the future.
Correa, who is famed for design principles based on low-density, low cost architecture at a reduced environmental cost, wants architects to examine low-rise, high-density urban areas such as Rajasthan as a way of best using natural and local resources.
'The basic principle of housing in a country like India is that you have very limited resources,' Correa told BBC World Service's Masterpiece programme.
'Therefore you have to use great ingenuity. That's when you really learn to respect what traditionally is done.
'If you look at a village in Kerala, everything is re-used and recycled. Leaves which fall from palm trees are used again for the roofs."