Integrated Design
An object seen in isolation from the whole is not the real thing. By Brett Marlo DeSantis
The building industry has many buzz words and phrases that you may recognize like “green design” and “sustainability.” You may have also heard “integrated design, integrative design or integrated project delivery.” If these phrases are unfamiliar, they won’t be for long.
Integrated design is a collaborative method for designing a building. This holistic process involves a “whole building design” approach. A building, much like an organism, requires all systems to work together in harmony. This design approach creates buildings that support and improve the health of their occupants and the environment.
According to the United States Green Building Council, "70 percent of environmental impacts are made during the first 10 percent of the design process." While this subject might not rock your world, if you don’t know about it, you lose the opportunity to use it. Integrated design requires forethought. Design needs more time in the early stages to save time and money in the later stages.
Conventional building design, residential and commercial, involves a hand-off method, a linear process. This hand-off may take place between owner to architect/designer and builder to occupant. This conventional method does not allow for the expertise of all system designers and their input early on in the decision making process.
Unlike the traditional design process where engineers and contractors enter at the end, integrative design welcomes these key players from the beginning. The result is a high performance building completed with a seamless construction process. Check out these guidelines to understand how an integrated design team would work on your next project.
First, define the project scope. What would you like your integrated design team to achieve? What obstacles will they need to keep in mind?
Second, assemble the right team. Whom will you invite? Will it be engineers, architects, designers, contractors, end-users, facility managers, community members—are all parties engaged?
Next, define project roles with realistic expectations and clear responsibilities. Communicate tasks so that work is divided. Commit to measurable goals. Align team around core goals or purpose. Phase your project and schedule meetings for the beginning and end of these phases.
This web of relationships requires an integrated approach to the process of design and allows for systems integration. Why settle for anything less than a whole design?
