Integrated Design Process Guide

By Alex Zimmerman, P. Eng.

Objectives "We need to use a new The intent of this guide is to explain the numerous advantages of collaborative integrated design the Integrated Design Process (IDP); to provide enough information process that can create new to start applying it to your design projects; and, to help you find approaches and tools, and additional useful sources of IDP tools and information. beautiful environments that After reading this article you will: can restore social, economic, and environmental vitality to Understand what IDP is and how it is different from traditional our communities." approaches; — Bob Berkebile, BNIM, Kansas Understand the benefits of IDP and why it is critical for achieving City, one of the world’s most sustainable design; respected green architects Understand how to generally structure an IDP process;

Understand who needs to be involved, when and why;

Understand key success factors to apply IDP; and

Be able to find additional tools and resources to apply IDP. Integrated Design Process Guide

IDP—What is it? Inclusive—everyone, from the owner to Iterative—to allow for new information the operator, has something critical to to inform or refine previous decisions. Integrated Design Process (IDP) was used contribute to the design and everyone 1 Non-traditional expertise—on the in the early 1990s, by Canada’s C-2000 must be heard. program and IDEAS Challenge2 team, as needed, or brought in at competition to describe a more holistic Collaborative so that the architect is not non-traditional times to contribute approach to building design. This design simply the form-giver, but more the to the process. leader of a broader team collaboration process has been shown to produce more Sustainability is one of the most important with additional active roles earlier in significant results than did investment in issues facing human society today. The 3 the process. capital equipment . There is now no single challenges as they relate to buildings are “right” definition for IDP. Rather, IDP Holistic or systemic thinking with the complex and the solutions are not simple. describes a different, intentional way of intent of producing something where Framing the challenge in terms of approaching sustainable building and the whole is greater than the sum of motivation and means is one way of community design that offers a much the parts, and which may even be clarifying our thinking. Motivation higher likelihood of success than any more economic. proceeds from a source or ground, towards other approach. a goal. The means require some tools and a Whole-building budget setting—allows direction to apply them. The tetrad in There are an increasing number of financial trade-offs, so money is spent Figure 1 illustrates these ideas. practitioners of IDP. Each has a different, where it is most beneficial when a and valid, perspective on how to do it, holistic solution is found. based on their experiences and practices. Most would agree that there are common Why IDP—Getting to What is Important elements to every definition.

Goal-driven with the primary goal DIRECTION being sustainability, but with explicit (compass) subsidiary goals, objectives and targets set as a means to get there.

Facilitated by someone whose primary role is not to produce the building design or parts of it, but to be MOTIVATION accountable for the process of design. GROUND MEANS GOAL

(source of (vision) Structured to deal with issues and motivating force) decisions in the right order, to avoid locking in bad performance by making non-reversible decisions with incomplete input or information.

Clear decision-making for a clearly INSTRUMENT understood methodology for making (means for transformations required to move towards goal) decisions and resolving critical conflicts. tetrad idea by Pamela Mang Figure 1 – Goals and Direction of IDP

1 NRCan’s C-2000 program supporting advanced, energy-efficient commercial building design. 2 IDEAS Challenge design competition for multi-unit residential buildings, CMHC. 3 Ibid, C-2000 program

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Motivation and demolition account for a significant The Natural Step principles are the “system share of the problem—about 30 per cent conditions”8 that society must embrace to The Ground: Sustainability of the energy use and 38 per cent of the be sustainable. greenhouse gases in Canada.5 Buildings are Imperative In the sustainable society, nature is not the source of about 40 per cent of all A host of ecological impacts resulting from subject to the systematic increase of: waste6 worldwide. As building designers, we human activity, have produced ecosystems have both an opportunity and a 1. concentrations of substances degradation that directly threatens our extracted from the Earth's crust responsibility to do something about it. society. In the words of the UN’s 2. concentrations of substances Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, produced by society competed in 2005: The Goal: A Sustainable 3. degradation by physical means We are spending Earth’s natural capital, Society putting such strain on the natural 4. in that society, people are not subject A sustainable human society has been functions of Earth that the ability of to conditions that systematically imagined in many ways. One of these is the planet’s ecosystems to sustain future undermine their capacity to meet generations can no longer be taken the definition of sustainable development their needs. for granted. in the Bruntland Report, Our Common Future (1987) as “development that meets Together, the Bruntland definition and The At the same time, the assessment shows the needs of the present without Natural Step Framework system conditions that the future really is in our hands. compromising the ability of future provide the sustainable development goal We can reverse the degradation of generations to meet their own needs.” that buildings must strive to reach. many ecosystem services over the next 50 years, but the changes in policy and While the Bruntland definition provides a Other decision-making tools for practice required are substantial and high-level vision, more is needed to apply sustainable community development 4 not currently underway. the concept. Basic principles for social and include “Smart Growth” and the “One 9 This is a report worth taking the time to ecological sustainability, based on physics, Planet Living” frameworks. read to understand the scope and scale of have been articulated by the science the global challenge. Closer to home, community and are captured in a building design, construction, operation framework known as The Natural Step.7

4 UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005, http://www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx 5 Based on direct energy numbers from Energy Use Data Handbook, 1990 and 1995 to 2001 June 2003, NRCan and an estimate of the fraction of energy uses from other sub-sectors that are attributable to buildings 6 Lenssen and Roodman, 1995, Worldwatch Paper 124: A Building Revolution: How Ecology and Health Concerns are Transforming Construction, Worldwatch Institute – numbers for Canada not available 7 http://www.naturalstep.ca/systemconditions.html 8 Ibid. 9 http://www.smartgrowth.org and http:///www.oneplanetliving.org

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Means Opportunities for Change The Direction: Green Buildings and the Design Sequence Rating Systems COST Beyond Bruntland and The Natural Step, a SAVINGS strategy for achieving sustainability goals is still needed. We can develop strategies by Cost to Change imagining future success and then take the actions needed to get there.

In the building industry, much preparatory strategy work has been done by the various Potential Synergies & Savings green building rating systems and energy and environmental assessment methods. TIME These systems categorize and detail the Programming Schematic Design Construction Occupancy impacts, actions and indicators required at Design Development a building level. LEED® Canada,10 Green Figure 2 – BC Hydro, IEA Task 23 and others Globes, Go Green and other rating systems give us the compass we need as we steer towards sustainability, and as they are Benefits of Integrated IDP provides the biggest payoff at the beginning of the development curve. The refined over time, they will become more Design effective. And, as we work to refine our IDP kickoff session should bring together building practices, our buildings will also Protecting the world is a necessary and everyone who can make a difference, become more sustainable. laudable goal, but there other much more contributing in a structured way, in immediate benefits to making use of IDP response to the program and in support The Instrument: Integrated on your projects. of the sustainability goals. Although this Design Process as a Tool: might seem like a blinding flash of the Better Designs/Better Buildings obvious, most projects don’t structure their Even with rating systems and energy design development and design processes to tools spelling out the actions needed to Everyone wants to build better buildings actually take advantage of the Integrated proceed, it is still not always clear where to more efficiently at less cost, particularly the Design Process. start and what tools to use. IDP is one of client. Intuitively, we know that the the best tools we have to help define the greatest opportunity for making changes to most appropriate design path. It provides a design at the least cost happens early on. the means to apply the design strategies This is illustrated by a curve that looks and move society towards sustainability, something like Figure 2, where the one project at a time. opportunity to make changes decreases significantly and the costs to change design concepts increase dramatically as the processes advance.

10 http://www.cagbc.org

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Air Emissions Energy,

Material BUILDINGS Solid Wastes and Water Resources Wastewater Effluent

Environment as warehouse of resources . . . and a sink for wastes Figure 3 – Standard Process—Buildings as Transformers of Resources into Wastes

Institutional Policy to perform energy studies and it is about to launch a program to promote IDP. “The key to our success Governments, utilities and many clients with these projects is what want you to use IDP. Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas in Ontario jointly offer a Design Assistance architects and engineers call Natural Resources Canada’s (NRCan) Program13 that provides a fixed incentive the Integrated Design Process” Commercial Building Incentive Program for design activities that improve your MEC website, www.mec.ca (CBIP)11 is expressly designed to provide building’s energy and environmental monetary assistance to owners and design performance. Enbridge also has a New teams to enable them to spend the time to Building Construction Program that implement integrated design on your Green Buildings BC, a program that provides incentives for adding some projects. This program grew out of provided tools and resources to help B.C. efficiency measures. experience that NRCan had in the 1990s education and health care agencies build with C-2000, a demonstration program. Mountain Equipment Co-op, which has green buildings, recognizes the value of The experience was that some additional built some of the most progressive green IDP in its Guide to Value Analysis and the 15 design expertise was needed, but that most buildings in Canada, seeks to improve Integrated Design Process. building performance gains came from a performance with each new store and Clients who do not explicitly ask you to change in the process, and the most requires its design teams to utilize IDP. use IDP likely would do so if they knew successful projects employed the IDP. It was key to achieving the impressive the value that IDP and green design could performance these buildings have Several utilities have programs that support add to their projects. demonstrated to date (LEED Gold, MEC IDP. BC Hydro has its High Performance Winnipeg, C2000, MEC Montréal)14. Building Program12 that provides co-funding

11 http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/financial-assistance/new-buildings/index.cfm 12 http://www.bchydro.com/business/ 13 http://www.cgc.enbridge.com/B/B05-11_building_design.asp 14 http://www.mec.ca, About Us, Sustainability, Green Building Program 15 http://www.greenbuildingsbc.com/new_buildings/pdf_files/value_analysis_dp_guide.pdf

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Sustainability In the 2005–2006 season (the fifth), three-day sustainable design conference in Sustainable Design for Canadian Buildings, Sheperdstown, W.Va., in 2006, with one Green buildings are characterized by SDCB 205, RAIC’s cross-country, day devoted to process, in which IDP performance improvements in a wide range continuing education course, was entitled features prominently. of areas, such as reduced site disturbance, “Green to Green: Opportunities for more minimal non-renewable resource The implication is clear—if you don’t Energy-Efficient Building Retrofits.” It consumption, minimal emissions to water become competent at IDP, you will be left focused on integrated design. Similar or and air, and maximal quality of the indoor behind your competitors. related courses on sustainable design will environment, as well as providing building likely continue to be offered. flexibility and adaptability, generally at no Personally Rewarding or minimal cost increase. Competitive Advantage One of the unanticipated benefits that I have witnessed in integrated design Conventional design processes are generally An advantage of using IDP for design processes is that it is just plain fun. IDP incapable of delivering all of these goals at firms is reputation. Once competent at sessions are generally challenging, creative once. Integrated design has a history of IDP, architects will be able to deliver better and personally rewarding. By setting being able to do so. projects more consistently than their “stretch goals” and finding novel ways to competitors. As a design professional, it Your Association Supports IDP reach them, creativity is unleashed in ways will enhance your reputation, which will that conventional design rarely allows for. In a 2003 study16 carried out for several not only bring more business, but higher- I have seen battle-weary professionals architectural associations, including RAIC end business. An enhanced reputation also become enthusiastic at what they can do and OAA, one of the key findings on makes recruiting and retaining new talent in this context. People rediscover why they sustainable design in Canada17 was: easier. Most of the leading-edge joined the profession in the first place. architectural and engineering consultancies Integrated Design Process (IDP) is that have gained a reputation for delivering essential for effective management of the sustainable design process to ensure sustainability using the IDP do very little that efficient coordination is maintained recruiting. The best and the brightest seek “Integration is more than just and that overall project and design them out. having all the designers around costs are minimized. Several sustainable a single table.” The future of building design is found in design evaluation and assessment IDP. A recent search of the American – CANMET Energy Technology systems require the use of IDP due to Institute of Architects website for “IDP” Centre, Buildings Group website the benefits derived from working in a collaborative setting at the outset of turned up 481 hits. AIA’s Design and the project. Environment committees sponsored a

16 By McGill Business Consulting Group 17 Succeeding by Design, A Perspective on Strengthening the Profession of Architecture in Ontario and Canada, November 2003, McGill Business Consulting Group

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How is IDP Different? Remember, because you started this process These goals and targets need to be clearly really early on, you get to ask these questions. articulated, written down and kept front There is no single element of integrated In some cases, the best answer for your and centre as the design progresses. They design that is revolutionary. Rather it is the client might not result in a new building serve as reference points as the detailed design sum total of all of the elements and what project this time, but the added value to develops or if conflict arises between goals. the team does with them that differentiates your client by doing the right thing IDP from conventional design. IDP differs enhances the relationship, your reputation Facilitated in intention and emphasis from and will likely result in repeat business. conventional design. The primary role of the facilitator is not to From there the team moves on to specific produce the building design or parts of it, Let’s look at the objectives in more detail. environmental goals. These can be derived but to be accountable for the process of I’ll follow these with an example of how from rating system categories, but they integrated design. This is of course the key some of these come together in practice. should include fixed targets for: to good facilitation of any kind. The facilitator allows the team participants the Reduced site impacts; Goal-driven mental space to do what they do best— The big-picture goal is incorporating Reduced off-site impacts, such as in this case green design. The degree of sustainability into the project, but it is stormwater runoff, greenhouse gases or process intervention or direction will necessary to set explicit subsidiary goals, other emissions; depend on the skill of the group, with an objectives and targets as a means of inexperienced group typically needing Reduced energy and water breaking the goal into manageable pieces. more direction than a practiced group. consumption; These are best framed in performance; not Can you, as design architect, act as prescriptive, terms and will then form the Improved indoor environmental quality facilitator? First, a facilitator requires basis for strategies to achieve them. and thermal comfort, contributing to certain communication abilities and human health; These goals are set with the entire project attitudes for exploring ideas with the team team involved and must include the client. Increased construction waste diversion and draw out ideas. Therefore, although The idea is to get commitment, not and recycling, material reuse and the lead design architect can act as the compliance, from everyone involved. recycled content; facilitator, it is generally not a good idea, as People support what they help create. you are wearing two hats—and probably Improved durability, longevity and neither very comfortably. Why make the The first goal is a review of the project maintainability. process more difficult than it needs to be? brief against the list of client needs. Is this IDP, because of its inclusionary nature, is the best location from an environmental The facilitator can be someone else in the also a useful way to develop goals for social point of view? Is a new building actually lead architect’s office or it can be someone values, although there is little consensus in required or would a major renovation be brought in from the outside, who the building industry generally on how to more appropriate? specializes in green building facilitation. deal with social issues at a project level, unless The key is the difference in primary roles. they are an explicit part of the program.

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Structured tenders closed. In the end, there were brought in as needed. Energy modellers are negligible cost savings and the operating also important in showing the energy costs There is a generally recognized order to cost was also higher for the tenants. Had related to particular design scenarios dealing with design and sustainability IDP been employed, the owner would have compared to others. issues in IDP. The reason that we need to understood that the system was optimized deal with issues and decisions in the right for the lowest total cost. Non-traditional expertise order is to avoid locking in bad performance by making non-reversible decisions with Technical aspects of the design may require incomplete input or information. expertise that the core team does not “IDP is everyone, every issue, possess. A daylighting modeller can For instance, mechanical engineers may early on” quantify daylight contribution that can come up with very sophisticated air lead to changes in switching design. An conditioning designs to deal with cooling – Bill Reed, Integrative Design Collaborative appraiser can calculate improved loads, but if those cooling loads are three development residuals resulting from green times what they need to be, due to huge design. A site ecologist can be included for amounts of unshaded, low-performance constructed wetland design. glazing in the wrong orientation, the improvement in energy performance will Inclusive be marginal and the cost will be higher. Everyone, from the owner to the operator, “It is not possible to do creative, By contrast, if architects quantitatively has something critical to contribute to the progressive sustainable design understand at the concept phase the improved function or performance of the without a strong, like-minded, impact of that glazing on performance design and everyone must be heard. integrated design team.” and cost, they are in a better position to Having said that, there are about two come up with alternatives. – Peter Busby, Busby, Perkins dozen actors involved in the design and + Wills Also, in most IDP, the design time is construction of every building, from distributed differently. More time is spent gleam-in-the-eye through to operations, and it sometimes is just not practical to upfront, but because the quality and Other non-buildings-related expertise may have everyone in the room at all times on completeness of decisions taken are better, be helpful. For example, one successful every issue. less time is required later, especially by the recent green building project designed for engineers on the design team, to re-design In addition to the usual design team, the an inner city brought in a university and to correct for mistaken assumptions. core team that needs to be engaged at all student working on a thesis about social For example, on one conventionally times should include, at a minimum, the interactions in the city’s core, which helped designed project I am aware of, the owner building owner or owner’s agent, the respond to the organization’s intention to switched glass types during construction, design facilitator, a cost consultant, an have the building support local community based on an offer from the contractor, in energy simulator and, if the procurement life. Another example of new expertise the belief that the new glass would save process allows it, a general contractor or helping the design team to explore money. Unfortunately the cheaper glass contract manager. Representatives of user alternative design issues is demonstrated by also had lower thermal performance in groups and the facility managers are critical the Seville Theatre Redevelopment Project: both heating and cooling seasons, which to improved design and should also be Integrated Design Process. invited. Other specialists in particular necessitated re-design and upsizing of the https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/ technologies or relevant issues can be mechanical systems at a premium after b2c/b2c/init.do?language=en&shop=Z01E N&areaID=0000000037&productID=000 00000370000000063

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Collaborative synergies. When this is done right, you get This is not the best way to get the least something where the whole is greater than cost building overall. As Amory Lovins has One of the principal differences of the the sum of the parts, and it may even be pointed out, “Optimizing components in process is that the architect is not simply cheaper. The example at the end of this isolation tends to pessimize the whole the form-giver, but an active participant in section illustrates a common way this system—and hence the bottom line”.18 exploring alternative ideas within a broader is achieved. team of experts who play active roles earlier A green building design based on holistic in the process. thinking will not likely cost more overall, but the costs may be distributed differently “Optimizing components in than costs based on a traditional design “Everyone is a co-learner in isolation tends to pessimize approach. Costs get transferred from some the process” the whole system—and hence components to others. Budgeting must be the bottom line.You can done in a way that allows the movement of – Bill Reed, SEFC IDP Workshop, actually make a system less money to where it does the most good April 2006 efficient, simply by not properly when a holistic solution is found. This linking up those components. If flexibility should also extend to the they’re not designed to work determination of the professional’s fee In particular, there is joint problem-solving with one another, they’ll tend structure, which will be discussed later. and joint decision-making rather than team to work against one another.” members simply taking their assignments Iterative away to work on and bringing them back – Hawken, A. Lovins, H. Lovins, to be re-integrated. It has been proposed by Natural Capitalism The traditional phases of the building some that IDP could be equally called design process, pre-design, schematic integrated decision-making. design and development, don’t disappear in IDP. What does change however is how the Holistic or systemic thinking Whole-building budget setting work gets done in each phase and how team moves from one phase to the next. The old Zen saying that everything is As design professionals, we are pretty good The IEA Task 23 guideline document19 connected to everything else is never truer at knowing what our piece of the design describes these intermediate workflows as than when designing for sustainability. “should” cost. We carry these rules of “iterative loops,” shown in Figure 4. The goal is to optimize the building’s thumb around but they are usually not performance by considering all of the based on whole building optimization. The team repeatedly reviews and refines building components and subsystems They also tend to be the basis for value- ideas to resolve problems at whatever scale together and their interactions, to achieve engineering individual components. is appropriate, at each phase of design. A key aspect is to allow new information to inform or refine previous decisions.

18 Natural Capitalism, Hawken, A. Lovins, H. Lovins, 1999, Little, Brown & Company 19 “Integrated Design Process — A Guideline for Sustainable and Solar-Optimised Design,” 2003, International Energy Agency, Task 23, Optimization of Solar Energy use in Large Buildings, Subtask B, Design Process Guidelines

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heating is not required to maintain cold Specialists Input weather comfort or the window properties are able to reduce overheating in summer? Iteration Now you have gained back at least an extra six inches of leasable space around the building perimeter, saved energy costs and have more satisfied occupants. These Tasks Results measures can increase the client’s rate of return—again paying for the Iteration improvements in envelope performance.

Any one of these improvements, if looked © sol idar, Dr. G Löhnert Influences at in isolation, would not be considered affordable. Savings like this will not be Figure 4 – Iterative Loop realized unless there is an integrated process where the mechanical and structural It is also important to follow through Typically, high-performance glazing costs engineers, energy modeller and likely the on the iterations in the IDP process by more than standard glazing that satisfies cost consultant and property management, explicitly identifying subsequent IDP tasks the Code requirements, and so it is rarely are all sitting down very early on with the and group meetings, interwoven with the specified. What happens if that high- architect and talking about building overall project schedule. If this is not done performance, solar-control glazing reduces envelope and its impacts on other systems. upfront, it is too easy for the design team to the air-conditioning load enough that the Without the dialogue at an early stage, no revert to familiar, business-as-usual, linear mechanical system duct size can be reduced system will be supportive of any other design processes after the excitement and significantly? Now the structural beams can system and the synergies won’t be captured. energy of the initial kickoff charrette begins be reduced in depth, and floor-to-floor to wane. An explicit IDP process schedule height can be reduced. Mechanical, These are some examples of synergies, but is a key tool to managing the IDP process. structural and cladding costs have come nearly every project will reveal other down—perhaps enough to pay for the opportunities. Improvements like this are An Example of Opportunity high-performance glazing. If the building more affordable if done together than if for Synergies—“Tunnelling is tall enough, perhaps an extra floor done separately. Amory Lovins of the Through the Cost Barrier” can be added while still fitting under Rocky Mountain Institute, first identified height restrictions. How do these elements come together this possibility which he calls “Tunnelling Through the Cost Barrier,” as shown in on a project? We often hear talk about What happens if the better glazing and Figure 5. “capturing synergies” with integrated insulation improve wall and window thermal design but what do we really mean? Let’s properties enough that perimeter radiant look at a common example.

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What does an IDP Capturing Synergies with Integrated Design process look like? Conventional Cost-effectiveness Limit Synergy! At the beginning of this article, it was +$ pointed out that there are a number of different practitioners of IDP, each with a Incremental different perspective on how to carry it Costs out. A number of people and organizations have identified the steps involved in applying IDP to a design. It may be useful Diminishing Returns Incremental to summarize three different approaches. Options Links are provided to explore the details of Net Total each of these. Cost Reduced -$ The 3 are

1. The approach by Nils Larsson of “Tunnelling through the Cost Barrier” A. Lovins, Rocky Mountain Institute International Initiative for Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE). Figure 5 – Tunnelling Through the Cost Barrier 2. The Integrative Design Collaborative20 Nils Larsson, iiSBE Approach approach by Bill Reed. Figure 6 is a graphical representation of the applied iiSBE process. 3. The process definition developed at national workshop held in Toronto in 2001.21

In addition, IEA Task 23 has published quite a detailed guideline and accompanying software22 that are also useful tools. The Task 23 web link is http://www.iea-shc.org/task23/

Integrated Design Process

courtesy of Nils Larsson, iiSBE Figure 6 — Graphic Showing the IDP Process

20 Managing the Integrative Design Process; PDF of Presentation Graphics - PowerPoint images from the Workshop, http://www.integrativedesign.net/our_process/home.htm 21 The Integrated Design Process: Report on a National Workshop held in Toronto in October 2001, search the documents section of the database of http://www.sbis.info, for Integrated Design 22 ibid , IEA Task 23 Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation 11 Integrated Design Process Guide

The IDP Overview23 details the steps for PREDESIGN 1 – STAGING THE CONSTRUCTION AND each of the elements in the illustration. PROJECT (The Foundation) OPERATIONS – REALIZING This approach begins by defining the work THE OBJECTIVES Client involvement in the design that needs to be done before the team is decision process Follow Through in Construction assembled and the first major workshop is Process held. A kickoff workshop is the first all- Team Selection inclusive, collaborative decision-making Commissioning Design Problem Setting meeting and major performance targets Maintenance and Monitoring are set then. Subsequent workshops will Identifying Base Conditions depend on the scale and scope of the The link to the Integrative Design project, with larger and more complex PREDESIGN 2 – MANAGEMENT Collaborative website is projects requiring more workshops to deal MAPPING AND GOALS http://www.integrativedesign.net/ with the issues. The Foundation Dialogue As you can see, there are similarities with The next phase is the first of the iterative the diagram and process laid out by the Includes all participants—including loops. Developing the concept design main decision maker other descriptions. A presentation of this requires the interactive consideration process is available on the Integrative of structure, envelope, lighting and Charrette Design Design Collaborative website, which adds mechanical systems. Once these are detail for each of these elements. Alignment of Expectations and Core determined, more consideration is given to Purposes The approach proposed at the Toronto materials and how to properly convey these IDP workshop25 has similarities to the decisions in contract documents. Quality Addressing the Mindset other two approaches. Figures 7 and 8 assurance activities throughout the Goal Setting of Environmental Metrics illustrate the process in a more linear construction phase and into operations are and Benchmarks fashion. The key elements, including early critical to ensure that what is designed client involvement in decision-making, actually gets built. Creating a Project Specific Systems Map and Schedule careful team selection, kick-off meetings, The iiSBE link is http://iisbe.org goal setting and iterative design loops, are DESIGN PROCESS – SYSTEM all there. This approach does not detail the Bill Reed, Integrative OPTIMIZATION need for follow-through in construction phase, but it has become recognized as a Schematic Design Design Collaborative requirement. Approach Contractor or Cost Estimator Engagement Bill Reed of the Integrative Design Collaborative24 identifies the basic IDP Design Development elements as:

23 IDP Overview 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid.

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Kickoff IDP Flow Chart Meeting/Charrette Client Decision on IDP Users Problem DefinitionPhase Phase 1 A key feature of all IDP is the kickoff meeting or charrette. This launch is crucial for:

Team Incorporate IDP getting the project off to a good start Composition into Procurement getting agreement on goals

Introduce Team team building & Explain Process Client Assembly Relationship getting the big issues and concerns to Process out in the open early on to avoid Kickoff/Launch Demonstration Very Team Building Meeting re-design later. of Inclusive Increasing Competencies IDP Review/ Clarification Resolution / Clarity A key objective for the charrette team is to come to a common vision or Team understanding of what it is trying to Context/ Precedents Problem Review Client Goals/ Program accomplish. This is such a truism that its Definition importance tends to get overlooked. All great teams in any endeavour have a common vision of the goal. A good Figure 7 – Toronto IDP Workshop Approach – Phase 1 charrette will establish that common vision and will unleash the creativity inherent in all teams and focus their efforts on reaching it. Consider wide IDP Flow Chart Visioning: range of Whole Team Creativity Tools Solutions PhasePhase 2

Feedback on Visioning from Expansive, Community of Interest Creative, Loose Design Team “Homework ” for Visioning O ptions Better Definition

Test Against Community of Design Cycle Meetings Interest Increasing Resolution / Clarity Ongoing offline work Design Cycle Meetings

Figure 8 – Toronto IDP Workshop Approach – Phase 1

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The scope of the charette will vary, but it time differently and most likely produce Clients also need to be prepared to share at should be facilitated and carefully planned. designs that are different than what they least some of the potential risks when they You don’t need to invent how to do this. have been used to seeing. demand extremely high performance or There is an excellent resource that was technologies that do not have a long track IDP should be a net time saver but upfront developed expressly for IDP charrettes: record. In these cases the client should not time will take longer and late stages will A Handbook for Planning and Conducting expect the designers or contractors to take less. Specified equipment and systems Charrettes for High Performance Buildings, assume the risk and expect the building to are likely to be different, and the most free from the U.S. Department of Energy cost the same as a regular building with successful projects are those the client website.26 This handbook provides lower risk. This is not a common IDP understands and shares potential risks everything from the rationale, how to get situation, but it has happened. arising from new approaches. started, how to plan and develop the charrette, how to conduct it and what the The client needs to make it clear who the follow-up and next steps should be. It also decision-maker(s) are and commit to We cannot solve our problems provides checklists, sample agendas, reports having decision-makers present at all the with the same kind of thinking and every other sample document you key meetings. we used when we created them. might need. The client has to change the way the team – Albert Einstein Another free resource is the Sustainable gets paid. IDP is not commodity-based Community Planning and Development design, by which I mean, design where the Design Charrette Planning Guide, available team gets paid by the pound (or a Mindset from Canada Mortgage and Housing percentage of building cost, which Corporation.27 amounts to the same thing). This form of The importance of the right mindset or compensation assumes that all design is attitude for all team members is hard to What Else is Needed for pretty much the same, with the effort exaggerate. Some key attributes of the expended being directly related to building required mindset are as follows: Successful IDP? cost. Instead, the team should be Commitment to the process and compensated for brains, not stuff. Earlier, some of the elements that ownership for your part in it. characterize IDP were presented, but it is If compensation is not changed, working Thinking in whole system terms to also worthwhile considering a few harder or smarter only to see your fee optimize the project as a whole, not overarching factors that need to be present reduced, limits the enthusiasm and value-engineer individual components. for a successful integrated design process. creativity of even the most dedicated professional. There are several ways of Willingness to measure, benchmark Client Buy-in changing compensation. One approach and quantify performance. that some IDP practitioners have found to The client has to be fully aware of how Active listening and openness to be successful is to negotiate a separate fee IDP is better and has to be fully learning from other team member. committed to it. for the early, creative phase, where the effort involved is relatively independent of Asking the right questions, in an open- This commitment includes an understanding project size. The later phases, which allow ended way, that will lead to new that while the potential rewards from to complete the design and drawings, are answers, rather than arriving with pursuing integrated design are great, the more closely related to project size and the preconceived answers. process will distribute the design teams fees can be more properly linked to size. Awareness and respect for team roles and dynamics, valuing all contributions.

26 A Handbook for Planning and Conducting Charrettes for High Performance Projects, 2003, U.S. Department of Energy, http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/highperformance/pdfs/charrette_handbook/33425rep.pdf 27 CMHC (http://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/b2c/b2c/init.do?language=en&shop=Z01EN&areaID=0000000037&productID=00000000370000000063)

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Goal Setting In green building terms, the goals should Objections to IDP be set at a whole building level, such as a Critical to success are clear and measurable LEED Gold standard, but also for specific It is worth discussing some of the standard goals based on a shared understanding performance attributes that make sense for objections that are raised to the Integrated and vision of what is to be achieved. Not a project. Some real-world examples of Design Process. The objections usually are every goal need be a BHAG (Big Hairy goals that have been set (and met) on phrased as the following: Audacious Goal) but they should be Canadian green building projects include: SMART; Specific, Measurable, Achievable, “We’ve always done IDP” – That may be true, and if so, keep doing it. Usually the Realistic, Time-bounded. 60 per cent better energy performance than MNECB – EMS Fleet Centre, people who say this, however, have Cambridge, ON remarkably few green buildings to show as evidence. “If you don't know where you 95 per cent diversion of construction are going, any road will take waste from landfill – Vancouver Island “If you want me to do something you there.” Technology Park different, that implies I’ve been doing it wrong all these years” – Well no, it – Lewis Carroll Zero discharge of sewage waste water – doesn’t. This is the 21st century, with an MEC Winnipeg Store entirely new situation for human society, and new problems and demands for the 50 per cent of all materials supplied President Kennedy’s “man on the moon” from within 800 km – BC Cancer profession to respond to. Think of IDP as speech in the early 1960s is often cited Research Institute a new tool to add to the toolbox to address as an example, for good reason. It was this new situation. 75 per cent of the new building inspirational because it had all the right constructed from materials from the old “The client won’t pay for it” – Possibly characteristics. It was specific and measurable building on site – MEC Winnipeg Store not, especially the first time when the value (put a man on the moon and bring him has not been demonstrated to the client, but back safely) and time-bounded (by the end Elimination of mechanical air-conditioning that’s exactly what is the intent of NRCan’s of the decade). No one was completely sure system, while retaining occupant Commercial Building Incentive Program. at the beginning whether it was achievable comfort – Liu Centre, Vancouver or realistic, but as a stretch goal that was not too far ahead of what was thought possible, it created its own momentum. Goals like these are motivational.

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“It affects the schedule and budget” – It “It means a loss of creative control as an may do, but the benefits should more than architect” – Not from what I have outweigh the impacts. Experienced teams observed. After all, what generates more are finding that the time spent is merely creativity—a blank sheet of paper or fitting shifted from the latter stages of the design the program to a tricky site? An integrated process to the earlier stages. Design costs design process often generates more may or may not be greater. It depends on creative ideas and solutions. A good how well the team manages the project and analogy is that the architect goes from captures inherent synergies. It is not as if being a soloist to being the conductor. In traditional projects always come in on time any performance the conductor is always and under budget. The BC Cancer Agency’s visible, and wears a different suit and often new laboratory in Vancouver, a LEED Gold his name is in the spotlight. building, was designed with an IDP process and came in on time, and $10 million under the $100 million budget.

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Additional IDP SBIS IDP Documents Green Buildings BC http://www.sbis.info, search under Guide to Value Analysis and the Integrated Resources Documents section of database for Green Design Process Canada Mortgage and Housing Integrated Design: http://www.greenbuildingsbc.com/new_ buildings/resources_guide/2.0_general_ Corporation 1. IDP Overview, Nils Larsson, Executive resources.html Healthy Highrise – a design guide to Director, iiSBE innovation in multi-unit residential Greater Vancouver Regional District 2. The Integrated Design Process: Report buildings “Why Build Green – LEED BC on a National Workshop held in http://www.cmhc.ca/en/inpr/bude/himu/ “Roadmap” Workshop Summary” hehi/index.cfm Toronto in October 2001 Page with further links: IEA Task 23 Documents Sustainable Community Planning and http://www.gvrd.bc.ca/Buildsmart/integrated- IDP Guidelines and other supporting Development Design Charrette Planning design.htm Guide. documents http://www.iea-shc.org/task23/ Whole Building Design Guide: Full document can be ordered online at http://test.wbdg.org/newsevents/news_ U.S. Department Of Energy: www.cmhc.ca wbdg_approach.php A Handbook for Planning and Conducting Natural Resources Canada Charrettes for High-Performance Projects BC Hydro Buildings Group, Integrated Design http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/high Paying for it: Design Assistance Process Page: performance/pdfs/charrette_handbook/ http://www.bchydro.com/business/facilities/ http://www.buildingsgroup.nrcan.gc.ca/ 33425rep.pdf facilities1005.html projects/idp_e.html High Performance Commercial BuildingGreen.com Buildings Group, C2000/IDP Case study Buildings: A Technology Roadmap Paid subscription service: articles on green Publications: http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/tech/ design and IDP: Green Topics, Process http://www.buildingsgroup.nrcan.gc.ca/ roadmaps.html http://www.buildinggreen.com/ publications/publications_e.html#commercial Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Paying for IDP: Commercial Buildings Sustainable Design for Canadian Buildings Incentive Program (SDCB) courses – 2006 series is titled http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/commercial/financial- “Green to Green: Opportunities for more assistance/new-buildings/index.cfm Energy Efficient Building Retrofits” and was focused on integrated design http://www.raic.org/index_e.htm

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Questions

1. What are 6 of the 10 common 4. What is the role of the 7. What is one of the key elements of most integrated design facilitator in IDP? objectives of the kick-off charrette? processes that differentiate IDP from traditional design? 5. What other expertise is critical 8. What are the three key success to include on the core IDP team? factors in an Integrated Design 2. What are buildings’ contribution Process? to primary energy consumption and 6. Although there is not a greenhouse gas production in Canada? common definition of all the 9. How would you structure an process steps in an IDP process, IDP for your next project? Who 3. List at least three benefits to what are three of the key process would participate? How could employing an integrated design steps from your perspective? the meetings be facilitated to process. encourage everyone’s participation?

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