Integrative Design - Phipps: A Case Study

Integrative design emphasizes creating incredibly efficient buildings by deeply integrating systems, utilizing nature as a mentor and model for how systems interact. The key to a high-performance green building is a facilitated integrative design approach, engaging everyone from day one.

Phipps is a pioneer, aiming to go beyond merely a green building that does 'less damage' to actively contributing to the health of the environment. The speaker recounts altering their RFP for design services to require an integrative design approach, recognizing it as the only way to truly design a high-performance green building.

Conventional design is linear, with specialists working in isolation. Integrative design, however, focuses on understanding the 'whole' first, bringing all individuals together to collaborate before any design work begins. This constant dialogue helps to identify how decisions influence different aspects of the project, leading to significant resource optimization.

Cutting-edge goals like Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Water, as seen in the Center for Sustainable Landscapes, are unattainable without an integrated process. When building systems are seamlessly integrated, they function like a synchronized watch, highlighting the necessity of integrated design for achieving stringent goals.

High-performance lighting reduces heat, lowering cooling loads and allowing for smaller, more efficient HVAC systems, wires, ducts, pipes, pumps, and fans. This saves money that can be reinvested into the building envelope. Without full team participation and understanding of these interdependencies, the benefits of integrated design are lost.

Integrative design mirrors nature's holistic and efficient interrelationships, requiring more upfront team involvement and a higher initial design fee. This is not an extra cost, but a reallocation of resources to the beginning of the project, ensuring greater efficiency and common goal achievement down the road.

The speaker encourages everyone to build as green as possible, emphasizing that every effort to raise the bar in sustainable building has a major long-term impact. The long-term benefits of green building far outweigh the costs, and integrative design is the most cost-effective way to meet high aspirations and heal our relationship with nature.