Page 68 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

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THE PRACTICE OF

INTEGRATED DESIGN

So far, I’ve presented the case for green buildings and shown some outstanding exam-
ples of high-performance building design. Let’s turn now to the subject of how design
teams are actually achieving high-performance results. The basic thesis of this book is
that systems are more powerful than individuals. If design talent is unevenly distrib-
uted, as it surely is, then we need to redesign our project delivery process to get bet-
ter results. We can’t rely on superior design talent alone to get superior results. That’s
why the integrated design process is so important. Otherwise we’re back in the world
of the movie Groundhog Day, where nothing ever changes. The push for LEED Gold
and Platinum high-performance buildings is the driving force, along with the growing
emphasis on carbon-neutral solutions, that gives us a “once in a lifetime” opportunity
to change our project delivery approach for the better. As Leith Sharp wrote in the
Foreword, effective integrated design can produce significant innovations and cost
savings simultaneously.

Elements of the Integrated
Design Process

The key elements of the integrated design process are simple and straightforward.
What’s not obvious is how to implement the process in actual practice. For a high-
performance building project, the process consists of the following steps:

1 Make a commitment to integrated design and hire design team members who want
to participate in a new way of doing things. From the owner’s perspective, this may
mean having to accept new consultants who may not be as familiar with a campus,
development, or institutional setting. Your current “favorite” consultants may not
be willing to commit to the process.

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