Page 79 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

56 THE PRACTICE OF INTEGRATED DESIGN

some of the individual toolbox issues with the energy modeler, construction spe-
cialist, cost consultant, and maintenance people. McDonnell says, in this step,
“the idea is that once the basic building design is assembled using everyone’s indi-
vidual ‘toolbox’ ideas, then the team starts refining the ‘whole’ design, to coordi-
nate the design ideas and refine them. This phase chips the edges off everyone’s
individual ideas and fits them into a design whole.”* This step carries forward into
the construction documents phase.
7 During construction, the project team follows through with such steps as proper
building commissioning, monitoring of building performance and maintenance
issues, and establishing a post-occupancy evaluation program with the owner’s
operation and maintenance team.

This sequence of steps indicates how an engineer might view the process. What I
find most interesting is the perspective that the integrated design process continues
through the entire construction, start-up and first-year occupancy.

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE
Toronto and Region Conservation Restoration Services Centre,
Vaughan, Ontario
Serving as office space for 36 occupants and housing a works garage, the
Restoration Services Centre is an 11,700-square-foot, two-story facility. The
Toronto and Region Conservation’s Restoration Services Centre was designed to
reduce energy costs by more than 66 percent compared to Canada’s Model
National Energy Code. The facility estimates a 57 percent reduction in energy
consumption through a ground-source heat pump, radiant slab heating, energy
and heat recovery ventilation, reduced lighting power density, and an improved
building envelope. Composting toilets, water-free urinals, and low-flow lavato-
ries contribute to an 80 percent reduction in potable water use. †

Integrated Design in Practice—
An Architect’s Experience

Now that we’ve heard from the engineers, let’s take a look at how some leading archi-
tectural practitioners of integrated design approach this task. Stephen Kieran is a prin-
cipal at Kieran Timberlake Associates in Philadelphia. His firm worked on the new

*Geoff McDonnell, personal communication, April 26, 2008.
† Canada Green Building Council [online], http://my.cagbc.org/green_building_projects/leed_certified_
buildings.php?id=80&press=1&draw_column=3:3:2, accessed April 2008.