Page 235 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

ENERGY DESIGN QUESTIONS 211

Craig Watts of MKK Consulting Engineers, Inc., in Denver, was the principal in
charge for the LEED Platinum Signature Centre in Denver, for which Aardex, LLC,
served as the owner, architect, builder, and developer, a very unique situation. He
spoke about working with a multifaceted owner, evaluating technologies and making
the compromises required for a successful project.
Working with owners who assume multiple roles on a project requires the ability to
make distinctions. According to Watts:*

Sometimes it was confusing because we had to identify which hat they were wearing.
Sometimes they were talking as the owner, other times as the general contractor. For
example, they might say, “We have to do this or that because the owner needs to see
the value.” Then they would speak as the general contractor about timeframes for the
project. Sometimes, the objective conflicted. As consultants, we had the opportunity
to help them prioritize their goals.
Despite the confusion about the multiple functions of the project team being from
the same company (if not actually being the same people), Watts says that there was a
major benefit:

We didn’t have to wait for decisions. It really streamlined the process because
Aardex made the decisions as the owner, architect and contractor. It was truly inte-
grated because all three roles were represented at the same time. Things aren’t get-
ting cheaper, and time is money. We didn’t have to wait weeks to get decisions made.

The real lesson learned about this high-performance project relates to the role of the
owner:

If you’re going to do integrated projects, the owners can’t be absent. They have to be
involved in the design process. They have to be there making decisions with the design
team to make it work right. That way they understand the whole process and they don’t
get a filtered version. They see the mechanical engineer, the electrical engineer, the
architect and the general contractor all at the same time making decisions and the own-
ers know how those choices impact each other. The integrated process is really about
having everyone in the same room making decisions that benefit the project as a whole.
If the owners are disengaged from the process, things get lost in translation. The proj-
ect has to be the top priority; everybody else has to feel like they are winning in that
process, but [in the end] it’s all about compromises that make it work.

Compromises affect all aspects of the project including the section of technology:

For example, we used chilled beams in this project. They are installed around the
perimeter of the building, next to windows. That’s where the load is when the sun
comes in [through the windows], and the chilled beams knock down the [heat from
the] solar gain right there. The best thing for that [to be effective] is to use perforated

*Interview with Craig Watts, March 2008.