Page 71 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

48 THE PRACTICE OF INTEGRATED DESIGN

Figure 3.2 Opportunities for cost savings decrease as the project
goes along, while the cost for making changes increases dramatically.
This is sometimes called the McLeamy Curve, after architect Patrick
McLeamy.

What Integrated Design Is Not

Sometimes, it’s helpful in understanding a slippery concept such as integrated design
by describing what it’s NOT. A leading academic text on design process describes
what integrated design is not, in this way.*
Integrated design is not necessarily “high tech” or specialized technical design, although
it may incorporate such elements, especially for larger projects. The focus instead is on the
long-term functioning and health of an entire building system or group of systems, not just
specific elements, so the interrelation of the various elements is key.
Integrated design is not some sort of a traditional “hand off” or sequence of activi-
ties, proceeding linearly from owner to architect to engineer to general contractor to
subcontractor to occupant; instead there are built-in feedback loops as each step of
design is evaluated against the project’s goals. (This is a point I make many times in
this book.)
Integrated design is not simply design by a committee of peers. Recall the adage
that “a camel is a horse designed by a committee.” There is still a requirement for a
design leader; however, that leader needs to genuinely welcome design input from all
team members.

*Adapted from David Posada, in Alison G. Kwok and Walter T. Grondzik, The Green Studio Handbook, 2007,
Amsterdam: Elsevier/Architectural Press, pp. 16–17.