Page 90 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

4 4

THE ECO-CHARRETTE

One of the key elements in the integrated design process is getting people together into
a high-performance work setting. The eco-charrette is a means that adapts the well-
known architectural design charrette specifically to the challenges of high-performance
buildings and even more specifically to achieve high-level results using the LEED per-
formance evaluation system. In my own practice, I prefer to have at least two separate
events: the first is a visioning session that involves perhaps only the architect and the
client’s higher-level decision makers, with the specific task of crafting a vision for the
project. Often I pose the question: “It’s now 2018; looking back on this project from
ten years’ distance, what do you most want it to achieve, what do you most want to be
proud of? What do you hope that the building occupants and other stakeholders will
value most about this project?” Sometimes referred to as “backcasting,” questions like
these are designed to appeal to the higher-level emotions and values that most people
bring to a major building project. They can serve as a guide to detailed design
approaches and especially to making the inevitable tradeoffs that accompany any
building project. Notice that none of these questions uses the word “LEED” or “green
building.”
Second, following the visioning session, which can usually be done in less than a
day, I like to hold a detailed design charrette with a full range of building team par-
ticipants: the architect, the owner’s project manager, sometimes key stakeholders from
the owner’s side, the general contractor (if one has been chosen) and key consultants,
including at least the mechanical/electrical engineer, lighting designer, structural engi-
neer, and civil engineer. The landscape architect and interior designer can be added,
depending on circumstances. This session should focus on design opportunities and
should result in a clear plan of attack to resolve major uncertainties. I try to keep the
LEED “scorecard” in the background. I find it useless to ask someone whether a proj-
ect is within a quarter mile of two or more bus lines, for example, as called for in
LEED-NC sustainable sites credit 4.1. It either is or it isn’t, and that can usually
easily be determined. So there’s no sense in tying up $1000 per hour (or more) of
design talent while someone figures that out. The LEED scorecard is a useful tracking
tool during schematic design, but really doesn’t belong in the eco-charrette. The subject

67
Copyright © 2009 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.