Page 74 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

THE ROLE OF BHAGS 51

Figure 3.3 When the Oregon Heath & Sciences University’s Center for Health &
Healing in Portland received LEED-NC certification, it was the largest Platinum-rated
project to date at 412,000 square feet. © Uwe Schneider, www.uweschneider.com.

accommodations for it, chances are it’s going to work. But, this project was differ-
ent. This was off the charts from the get-go, so we needed to know things like that
way up front.

Consider another example of the importance of engineers to integrated design.
Steve Straus is a mechanical engineer and president at Glumac, one of the west coast’s
leading building engineering firms, with nearly 50 LEED projects either finished or
underway, and a frequent collaborator of Beyl’s. He says:*

The key to integrated design is finding an owner and architect that value and appre-
ciate the engineer’s input early on in the process and then finding an engineer that
actively wants to participate.
Once you’re engaged on a project, it’s important for the engineer to provide infor-
mation, be proactive and not wait to be asked for it. [In terms of reducing energy
use, for example,] a simple energy model is one way. Secondly, developing an
energy pie [chart] will help the team understand where the energy in the building
going to be used and what can we do to reduce it [Fig. 3.4]. I think also develop-
ing conversations between all of the different engineering teams is important

*Interview with Steven Straus, Glumac, February 2008.