Page 78 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

INTEGRATED DESIGN FROM THE ENGINEER’S PERSPECTIVE 55

project goals, continually repeating the process until the team as a whole arrives at a
final design.

1 The building team should be selected as a group, starting with a blank sheet
of paper. If the architect already has a design in mind, it’s much harder to do
integrated design with everyone contributing as equals. The design team can
then assess the site conditions, the local design and building code require-
ments, and local sources of materials for the building project. The owner’s ini-
tial maximum budget and building intentions (including project scope) should
be established clearly at this stage.
2 The design team and the building owner work together to establish initial project
goals and decide on the make-up of the subsequent design charrettes and design
team members required for the next steps. At this point, the team creates a state-
ment of the design issues that the project goals would generate and determines the
baseline design criteria for the building site, occupancy, and operation and main-
tenance requirements.
3 The design team assembles the initial building toolbox (using input from each spe-
cialty’s toolbox, such as radiant cooling systems from the mechanical engineer’s),
perhaps through one or more “what if” sessions, to see what building design issues
should be prioritized to meet the client’s goals. At this point the team seeks to
resolve major interactions of energy use, occupant comfort, reduced maintenance
and life expectancy of building systems. This is a good point to engage the owner’s
building operations and maintenance group to share their experience with similar
projects.
4 Then the team should engage the energy modeler, the cost consultant, the
owner’s maintenance and operations representative(s), and the construction
representative to create simple models of each system. The team works
together to design and optimize the right set of systems and building design
details that best meet the project goals. The team should expect to generate at
least two or three major iterations in building design concepts, with perhaps
one or two concepts set aside for further detailed design review. Several
options can also be tested at this point, to study HVAC systems types, lighting
design and control systems, daylighting options, natural ventilation strategies,
and building envelope choices.
5 The design team works with the prospective occupants to establish their
requirements and interior spaces, adjacencies, and other programming require-
ments. The design team then has an opportunity to test the building design tool-
box established in the previous step, against what the building occupants
expect.
6 In design development phase, the design team members return to their individual
disciplines to design a more detailed set of systems that are then tested against the
project goals, budget, performance, and constructability issues identified in
the previous steps. At this stage of the integrated design process, there will be
some iterative loops required to go back and hold further study sessions to refine