Meeting the 2030 Challenge With integrated design - BetterBricks

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Key Recommendations Below are a few key recommendations, organized by the four sets of criteria: • Climate. Analyze local site and climate resources for heating, cooling, and lighting: analyze climate effects and resources, the coincidence of climate and building use patterns, and how climate can complement building systems. • Use. Analyze owner and user needs and creatively consider schedules and comfort criteria when developing the program and establishing the construction budget. Most buildings are either unoccupied or are partially occupied, most of the time. Buildings should be designed as carefully for these periods as they are for peak periods. The potential benefits of flexible, rather than fixed, occupancy schedules should also be considered. Classify spaces by the degree of individual ownership and control of thermal and visual conditions. • Loads. Understand the implications of building form, organization, and envelope and the selection of materials – mass, insulation and glazing, for example – upon loads. Use building design to create smaller loads (reducing system costs). This includes passive strategies such as daylighting and natural ventilation. • Systems. Design the building to improve efficiency and performance and to reduce the cost of multiple and redundant building systems: structural, mechanical, electrical, lighting, acoustic, and civil. Explore building and site design opportunities to reduce or eliminate HVAC system loads. Separate the ventilation system from heating and cooling systems. When loads are significantly reduced, the number of hours the HVAC and lighting systems are used becomes smaller. Make sure that HVAC and lighting system choices and sizing are based upon the actual schedule and the severity of actual loads rather than prescriptive design conditions. Select high efficiency equipment to meet the reduced loads. Rethinking Design Many architects describe conceptual design, schematic design, design development and the preparation of construction documents as a design process, when it might be more accurately described as a schedule for deliverables and budgeting. When discussing the practice of integrated design, Brown makes a distinction between those aspects of project management that remain closely tied to the project schedule and the aspects of integrated design that can proceed more independently throughout the project phases. “Sometimes the past experience of a design team can become a barrier to new systems thinking. When a team is guided through those barriers by defining the effect of load reducing design strategies using modeling techniques, a conceptual awakening can happen. The ‘light bulb’ comes on as folks realize that, once heating, cooling, and electric loads are moved into a new range, systems possibilities are greatly expanded.” The discussion of who to involve early in the process, when and how often various project team members should meet, how to improve communication and interactions, and the organization and structure of charrettes and work sessions are certainly important. These elements of integrated design are discussed in more detail in the Tools and Resources Section – Integrated Design. Meeting the 2030 Challenge With Integrated Design 2
While the search for synthesis and new design solutions is less likely to happen when the members of a design team work in relative isolation, they won’t necessarily be enhanced in project team meetings with broad agendas that must also meet the needs of non-designers. Ensuring that activities such as goal setting, commissioning, and energy modeling are properly scheduled and receive the attention required by the team, will help to ensure a successful project and verify project performance, but significant breakthroughs in building energy performance will take place when the design process supports the search for synthesis. Therefore it is recommended that there either be two sets of meetings, or two parts of each meeting: one for goal setting, process and management and another for technical design solutions. There are critical points where the design process and the project schedule intersect, where proper coordination will provide distinct benefit. By scheduling certain tasks at particular times or in a given sequence, the project manager can facilitate a design that strives for increased performance. It’s also recommended that full team meetings be held at key points along the project schedule to check on progress toward the goals. Michael Hatten, a mechanical engineer with SOLARC Architecture and Engineering, who has worked with Brown to advance the practice of integrated design, has observed the breakthroughs that can emerge from a project team’s exploration of new techniques. “Sometimes the past experience of a design team can become a barrier to new systems thinking. When a team is guided through those barriers by defining the effect of load reducing design strategies using modeling techniques, a conceptual awakening can happen. The “light bulb” comes on as folks realize that, once heating, cooling, and electric loads are moved into a new range, systems possibilities are greatly expanded. This is where building design becomes exciting: where the mechanical engineer and architect begin to collaborate on the design of external shading devices as a cooling system element of a building, and where the reality of achieving zero-energy performance in a building moves from an abstract dream to an achievable design goal. For example, the evaluation of load reducing design strategies in the high performance classroom, that ultimately inspired the classroom design at Mount Angel Abbey Academic Center in Oregon, indicated that it was possible to maintain occupant comfort without any conventional mechanical systems. Cooling season comfort was maintained by passive ventilation and internal thermal mass. Heating season comfort was maintained by energizing electric lighting (or small electric heaters). In a very real integrated way, the heating and cooling systems were actually a synthesis of envelope insulation, floor and ceiling mass, and daylighting strategies.” The Project Manager’s Role The role of the project manager is critical to the successful delivery of an integrated design process. A project manager can take very real steps to organize project roles and responsibilities to deliver integrated solutions that meet project performance goals. Such steps may include. • Train staff in the use of design tools and analytical techniques that help reveal synergistic opportunities between context, programming, and architectural and engineering design. • Assign individuals the responsibility for delivering integrated solutions or specific services. For example, rather than maintaining daylighting design and electric lighting as separate activities, task someone with an integrated lighting solution. Meeting the 2030 Challenge With Integrated Design 3
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Meeting the 2030 Challenge With integrated design - BetterBricks

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