Engage the Integrated Design Process (wbdg.org)

Overview

The design of buildings requires the integration of many kinds of information into a synthetic whole. An integrated process, or "whole building" design process, includes the active and continuing participation of users, code officials, building technologists, cost consultants, civil engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers, structural engineers, specifications specialists, and consultants from many specialized fields. The best buildings result from active, consistent, organized collaboration among all players. (See the Design Disciplines branch of the WBDG to learn more about the role of design disciplines in the whole building process.)

The integrated design process enables project team members to work together from the project outset to develop solutions that have multiple benefits.

A. The Integrated Design Process

Preparation for the project can be led by many players but generally comes from the user/client who identifies the need for building on the basis of quantifiable requirements for space and budgetary capacity to undertake the activity. A needs assessment often accompanies this planning activity—it can describe existing space use; develop realistic estimates of requirements, both spatial and technical; and arrive at a space program around which design activity can develop. For larger projects, a construction manager or a general contractor may be engaged at this point. See also WBDG Project Management, Programming, and Planning and Conducting Integrated Design (ID) Charrettes.

Once the Pre-design activities are complete, the architect or other prime consultant, in consultation with his or her team of sub-consultants, may produce initial graphic suggestions for the project or portions of it. Such suggestions are meant to stimulate thought and discussion, not necessarily to describe the final outcome. Involvement of sub-consultants is a critical part of the process at this stage - their individual insights made at this point can prevent costly changes further along in the process. Gradually a design emerges which embodies the interests and requirements of all participants while also meeting the overall area requirements which the project budget will have established during Pre-Design activities. The resulting Schematic Designs produced at this stage show site location and organization, general building shape, space allocation, and an outline specification which makes an initial list of components and systems to be designed and/or specified for the final result. Depending on the size of the project, it is often useful to have a cost estimate performed by a professional cost estimator at this point. For smaller projects, one or more possible builders may perform this service as part of a preliminary bidding arrangement—selection can be made on the basis of an estimate at this stage. On larger projects, a cost estimate can be part of the selection process for a builder, assuming other prerequisites like bonding capacity, experience with the type, and satisfactory references are met.

Design Development enlarges the scale of consideration—greater detail is developed for all aspects of the building—the collaborative process continues with the architect in the role of facilitator for the various contributors. Greater detail is achieved for all aspects of the building. The conclusion of this phase is a detailed design on which all players agree and may be asked to sign off.

The Development of Contract Documents involves translating the Design Development information into formats suitable for pricing, permitting, and construction. No set of contract documents can ever be perfect, but high quality can be achieved by scrutiny, accountability to the initial program needs by the design team and the client, along with careful coordination among the technical consultants on the design team. Decisions continue to be made with the appropriate contributions of all players. Changes in scopes during this phase will become more expensive once pricing has begun. Changes to the contract documents invite confusion, errors, and added costs. Cost estimates by an estimator may be made at this point, prior to or simultaneous with bidding, in order to assure compliance with the budget and to check the bids. Bids taken at this point may be used as a basis for selecting a builder.

After the general contractor is selected and during the Construction Phase, the designers and other members of the team must remain fully involved. Decisions previously made may require clarification; suppliers' information must be reviewed for compliance with the Contract Documents; and substitutions must be evaluated. Contract Documents are never perfect—clarifications will be required. If changes affect the operation of the building, it is especially important that the user/client be involved. User requirements may change, necessitating changes in the building—these changes require broad consultation among the consultants and sub-consultants, pricing, and incorporation into the contract documents and the building.

The design team is responsible for assuring that the building meets the requirements of the Contract Documents, but the building's success at meeting the requirements of the original program can be assessed by the construction management team or third parties in a process known as Commissioning. Here the full range of functions in the building is evaluated and the design and construction team can be called upon to make changes and adjustments as needed.

After the building is fully operational, it is often useful to conduct a Post-Occupancy Evaluation to assess how the building meets the original and emerging requirements for its use. Such information is especially useful when further construction of the same type is contemplated by the same user. Mistakes can be prevented and successes repeated.

This summary describes the standard operation of the integrated project team. Such a model is neither new nor exceptional. But it depends on:

1. clear and continuous communication
2. rigorous attention to detail
3. active collaboration among all team members

—adherence to these principles will assure the best result.

B. The Integrated, Multidisciplinary Project Team

Team Members in a process like this may include the following:

The Owner's Representative: this person must speak for the owner and be prepared to devote the time needed to fully advocate, defend, clarify, and develop the owner's interests. This person may come from within the organization commissioning the project or may be hired as a consultant.

The Construction Manager: this professional is hired on a fee basis to represent the logistics and costs of the construction process. This person can be an architect, a general contractor, or specifically a consulting Construction Manager. It is beneficial for this person to be involved from the beginning of the project.

The Architect acts as the lead designer in most building projects, coordinating the sub-consultants, assuring compliance with the program, and assuring compliance with the budget. In some cases, the architect hires some or all of the sub-consultants; in larger projects the owner may contract directly with some or all of them. He or she provides the progressively more precise and detailed suggestions for the form of the result and manages the production of the contract documents. The architect usually participates in the construction phase of the project, assessing compliance with the contract documents by managing appropriate inspections, submissions approvals, and evaluations by the sub-consultants. The architect assists in the evaluation of requests for payment by the builder and other professionals.

The Civil Engineer is essential for understanding the land, soil, and regulatory aspects of any construction project; early involvement is essential and the civil engineer is frequently hired directly by the owner in advance of the rest of the design team. The civil engineer prepares his or her own contract documents and assesses compliance of the work with the contract documents.

The Landscape Architect is often part of the civil engineer's resources, but can also be involved as an independent consultant. In either case, the landscape architect should be involved early in the project to assess natural systems, how they will be affected by the project and the best ways to accommodate the project to those systems.

Consulting Structural, Mechanical, and Electrical Engineers can be engaged by the architect as part of his work or, on larger or more complex projects, may be engaged separately by the owner. They are responsible for the structural, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning and the power, signal, and illumination aspects of the project. Each produces his or her own portions of the contract documents and should be involved in assessing their part of the work for compliance with those documents.

Specialized Consultants should be involved as needed by the special requirements of the project. These may include specifications writers, materials and component specialists, sustainability consultants, and technical specialists like kitchen, audio-visual, materials handling, and parking. The size, complexity, and specialization of the project will suggest the kinds of additional experts who will be needed. Like all contributors to the integrated design process, they should be involved early enough to include their suggestions and requirements in the design, not so late that their contributions must be remedial.

C. Results

The best buildings in history are the result of high degrees of consistency at all levels of their realization. The simplicity in massing of the Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe in New York City, for example, is supported by the building's subtle and spare details at every level. Design attention is applied to the massing and the drinking fountains, the site plan, and the door details. Good buildings result from an appreciation by all involved of the importance of formal consistency throughout the design.

Left: The Seagram Building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, New York, NY in 1950s.
And Right: This U.S. Courthouse in Seattle, Washington by NBBJ won a 2004 GSA Citation Award for architecture and interior design and an honor award for construction excellence.

Frank Lloyd Wright referred to this process as "organic design"—he used the phrase to refer to the integral relationship in good architecture between the parts and the whole—setting out the architect's obligation to assure consistency throughout the project and at every level of detail.

Posting from Windows Live Writer

May Day here in Malaysia, not to be confused with the ones in the UK. Today is Labour Day, for most part of this region anyways. Its been good this technology thing, just found out but the beauty of Windows Live (fill in the blanks).

My first try on Windows Live Writer, let us see how it turns out. Here goes.

3..2…1..Post!

A Green Future by Design | BBC In Depth Look At Designer Marc Newson

I believe we will all be living in a green world in the near future. The only real question is, how fast will we get there and what path will we take. If human history is any indication of the path, we are in for a messy ride. Humans tend to take the path of destruction and exhaustion, before moving on to better ideas. Take for example our use of fossil fuels. We will take that as far as we possibly can, before we really make a serious efforts to change the way the world produces energy. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Infact, there is a better way to inspire the billions of people on the planet to adapt quickly and painlessly to a green lifestyle. That path, is through design.

Good design inspires the human imagination and draws us in. We never question what an object is made of, as long as the design is to our liking. Take for example Apples new line of notebook computers. They focus on design, not cpu speeds. It’s all about the shape, and construction of the case, the tactile feel in your hands. Yet, this notebook is Apples greenest computer they have ever made.

In the early days of the green movement, we had the hemp sandals, tied dyed t-shirts and teepees. Now we have the Tesla Roadster, pre-fab modern architecture and designers like Marc Newson.

The BBC took a in depth look at Marc’s work and where it leading us all. Watch the full BBC show here:

Kohler LivingHome, a prefabricated and sustainable house by KieranTimberlake

LivingHomes®, a developer of modern, sustainably designed, prefabricated homes, has partnered with Kohler Co., to present the Kohler LivingHome, designed by architects Kieran Timberlake. Designed to achieve LEED-Platinum certification, the two-story Kohler Living features furnishings, materials, products and technologies that showcase the best in high design and technology with a low ecological footprint.

Designed to achieve USGBC’s LEED for Homes Platinum certification, the Kohler LivingHome reflects LivingHomes’ Z6 Sustainable Building Goals which include six key objectives for all LivingHomes’ construction and operation: Zero Water, Zero Energy, Zero Waste, Zero Emissions, Zero Carbon, and Zero Ignorance.

This house was premiered at the TED Conference in Long Beach, CA a few weeks ago. Here´s a time-lapse video of the house being assembled:

From the recycled steel and timber-efficient engineered lumber that make up the modules, central vacuum system, and mini-duct air distribution and ventilation systems that help improve indoor air quality; to the bio-composite wood siding, recycled glass tiles, blown-in insulation, high-performance windows with recycled frames, water-saving features and the home resource monitoring system that displays water, energy, and gas usage in real-time, the Kohler LivingHome is built to achieve a minimal environmental footprint.

The Kohler LivingHome is being offered for sale at $499,950.
For more information, click here. Images of the house interiors, after the break.

Who says burgers are bad?!!

AD Futures #4: SPARC (archdaily.com)

By Amber P

HiDrone - 1st Prize Awarded London Architecture Gallery International Competition 2008

SPARC is a team of international architects at the MIT based in Boston, MA, with a multidisciplinary background at the MIT´s Media Lab. This has resulted on a continuous research on smart/responsive environments applied to the world of architecture, design, urbanism and landscape architecture.

This new relation between technologies and built spaces has opened a wide array of possibilities, that we are just starting to see. And that´s why I choose this practice for this week´s AD Futures.

Profile

SPARC, a team of architects at MIT, is a Boston based research practice dedicated to exploring the world of architecture, design, urbanism and landscape architecture through investigations of design techniques and material technologies with regard to their affect on global culture. We explore the relationships between the body and space through performative designs. SPARC’s commitment to design innovation has its foundation in the accumulative experience of its founders:

Sergio Araya, Architect, MIT
Orkan Telhan, Media Artist, MIT
Duks Koschitz, Architect, MIT
Alexandros Tsamis Architect, MIT

We work on projects at different scales ranging from object design to landscapes. We often collaborate with artists, designers and innovative consultants in the development of inventive solutions for multifaceted projects.

Research

SPARC’s research investigates methods to design and fabricate architecture with different levels of “embedded behavior” or responsiveness by combining different physical material properties of new designed “smarter” composites. This investigation is part of the fundamental interest of SPARC in exploring the relations between body and space through performative design, where designed material becomes an active interface between people and the built environment.

The process for distributing material properties is applied to explore the possibilities of embedding smart behaviors for built components. Aesthetics and function are implicated by this reorganization. SPARC contributes to the professional discourse and the industry, by providing a repertoire of design and building techniques.

HiDrone

1st Prize Awarded London Architecture Gallery International Competition 2008

HiDrone is an adaptable architecture gallery made of hydraulically operating pistons that are virtually and literally reconfigurable, filling and releasing water recycled from the Thames River. HiDrone has two states. When closed, it acts as a 3D screen. When open, it creates occupiable space. The piston operates distinctly at various scales ranging from display unit and furniture, all the way to enclosed, occupiable space. These pistons are pre-stressed with springs, which, when filled with water, assume a closed position. By controlling the amount of water released from the units, the volume of the object acquires different configurations.

In a closed state, the fiber optic light emitters act as voxels programmed to produce visual effects and 3D images for the city of London. In an open state, the pistons form floors, ceilings, and furniture depending on their configuration, creating variable spaces: a cafe, gallery, amphitheater, etc. Depending on the programmatic and climatic needs, the HiDrone is reconfigurable and reprogrammable throughout the course of the year, generating ephemeral public activity as it docks along the river’s edge.

Cutting Edge

1st Prize Awarded Gillette Landmark International Design Competition, 2009

Cutting edge is a sculpture made of 51 stainless steel “blades” stacked on top of each other. Cutting edge suggests an interplay between the materiality of the hard edges and the perception of soft volumes arrested in the metal structure.

Soft shapes emerge as a result of the moire effect created by repetition, and change their appearance when viewed from different vantage points. The repetitive use of “blades” is similar to the way Gillette has used the idea of repetition as a main part of its brand identity.

The proposed structure is made of laser-cut, polished stainless steel plates. Each plate is bent to its shape, polished and stacked in place using spacers made of cylindrical bolt assemblies. The cutting patterns will be generated by flattening the 3d geometry and will be provided by us to the executive party.

10 Best Architecture Songs

This is taken from Cesar Dubó's Flavor Wire (Flavorpill’s Blog). It shows the very best songs related to architecture. See if you agree, or add more of you favs:

1. “Government Center” by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
The only anthem to bureaucracy - and the architectural altar at which all lesser bureaucratic buildings worship, Boston’s Government Center- we’re aware of. Richman and Co. confirm that, even with “a lot of great desks and chairs,” the best way to animate a space is with a dance party.

2. “Don’t Worry About the Government” by the Talking Heads
Architecture as savior: “My building has every convenience, it’s gonna make life easy for me.” If the Bauhaus had a theme song, it’d be this one.

3. “Brick House” by the Commodores
Yes, architecture can be sexy. Brick houses might not really be the hottest buildings out there, but we admit it’s hard to rhyme anything with Guggenheim.

4. “Who Do You Love?” by Bo Diddley
That’s one creepy house.

5. “Norwegian Wood” by the Beatles
A song about hipster apartments, falling in love, and bad seating arrangements (hasn’t she heard of Ikea?).

6. “White Room” by Cream
A song about loneliness in a crowd and loneliness alone - and, OK, maybe cocaine? - this one moves between the train station and Clapton’s empty apartment.

7. “Little Room” by the White Stripes
The room in question is definitely a modernist affair. White walls, surely, with maybe a red-trimmed window in the corner. The song’s about how any room can be a prison, and how the grass isn’t always greener, real-estate-wise, no matter what Craigslist says.

8. “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
A love song to suburban domesticity. Bo-ring, but that’s the point.

9. “Mansion on the Hill” by Hank Williams
Architectural envy. Also a metaphor for McMansion soullessness, before it really existed.

10. “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash
The problem with architecture altogether: It doesn’t change, and when it’s bad, you’re stuck inside like Jonah. Outside on the train, “Those people keep a-movin’, and that’s what tortures me.”

Spiralling Skyscraper Farms for a Future Manhattan (Inhabitat.com)

by Mike Chino

As the world’s population continues to skyrocket and cities strain under the increased demand for resources, skyscraper farms offer an inspired approach towards creating sustainable vertical density. One of three finalists in this year’s Evolo Skyscraper Competition Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm project envisions a future New York City interspersed with elegantly spiraling biomorphic structures that will harness cutting-edge technology to provide the city with its own self-sustaining food source.

When considering the future needs of our cities, few urban designs address the world’s burgeoning population better than vertical farms. By 2050 nearly 80% of the world’s population will reside in urban centers, and 109 hectares of arable land will be needed to feed them.

Designed for the Hudson Yard area of Manhattan, Eric Vergne’s Dystopian Farm aims to provide New York with a sustainable food source while creating a dynamic social space that integrates producers with consumers. Based upon the “material logic of plant mechanics”, the biomorphic skyscraper is modeled after the plant cells of ferns and provides space for farms, residential areas, and markets. These organic structures will harness systems such as airoponic watering, nutrient technology and controlled lighting and CO2 levels to meet the food demands of future populations.

In addition to infusing dense urban areas with CO2-consuming green spaces, Vergne envisions the structures as dynamically altering the fabric of city life: “Through food production and consumption, this skyscraper sets up a fluctuation of varying densities and collections of people, bringing together different social and cultural groups, creating new and unforseen urban experiences that form and dissipate within the flux of city life.”

This year’s Evolo Skyscraper Competition resulted in an incredible crop of 416 projects from designers, architects, and engineers in 64 different countries. Their website currently lists the finalists, boiled down to three winners and 15 special mentions.

+ Dystopian Farm

+ Evolo Skyscraper Competition

Green Container Housing Demo in Thailand

Designers Site-Specific and Buatalah Studio were asked to design an exhibition around the theme of ‘Green Home Effects’ for a Bangkok home show. According to Site-Specific's website, "to build an earth-friendly house is not as simple as placing some solar panels on your roof."

What they came up with was the concept for exhibition that circled around the 4R’s - reduce, reuse, recycle and renewable. The model home featured many examples of earth-friendly living including the use of grey water, growing your own food and being car smart. It was constructed of 4 reused shipping container and prefabricated modules. The home was designed for the family of three and it is roughly around 100 sq.m. (~1000 SF)

The Designer, Site Specific, "is a research company founded by Chutayaves Sinthuphan to investigate who we are as human through the means of architecture and gastronomy," two topics dear to our hearts.

Judging by the posts on his site, he has been studying the container housing scene closely and has added a significant contribution to the genre.

More pictures and an excellent collection of container housing posts at Eco Living 101 - Model Home. Thanks to tipster and Bangkok architect Jay Laohapong.

Playgrounds in the sky

From Modern Mechanix (very retro)

PLAYGROUNDS IN THE SKY

Here is MI’s hold plan to fight juvenile delinquency and get kids off the street.

THE scene is your city on a sticky, sweltering twilight in midsummer. Lights are beginning to wink on and kids are starting to gather in the streets after the evening meal.

A few years ago this was the danger hour in your city. You remember it well—the nightly muggings would begin about now and young girls would be afraid to venture out alone. Beatings were commonplace and gang wars, fiercely fought with knives and zip-guns, were a frequent occurrence. But things are different now.

Look at the kids emerging from their homes. Instead of congregating at the candy store and pool parlor hatching * up new forms of violence out of boredom, they are now heading for the center of the block. They funnel into a large entrance and are swallowed up inside.

Follow them. They tile into elevators and are whisked upstairs. The doors open and they step into a fantasy land.

There, a few yards from the tenements where they live, on their very roofs, in fact, is a regulation-size baseball diamond with real springy turf! But the kids aren’t interested just now—they played ball all afternoon. Instead, they enter the locker room and in a few minutes are cavorting noisily in a big, broad and very cool swimming pool. Afterwards, they troop onto the ball field, where chairs have been set up, and watch a movie under the stars.

What’s it all about? “This magic land for kids doesn’t exist in my city,” you say. No, it doesn’t—yet!

But it darn well could! It could exist in your town and in hundreds of other communities throughout the nation. Every city could construct huge, all-encompassing playgrounds and recreation centers, using the enormous, readily available space now going completely to waste on the rooftops of their congested areas!

The erection of these play centers on the nation’s rooftops is Mi’s plan to counterattack juvenile delinquency. Granted, it’s a bold, dramatic proposition. It might also, at first glance, border on the impossible. Immense and breath-taking, yes—but impossible? We don’t think so at all.

Does the idea intrigue you? It should because teen-age terrorism is costing you many hundreds of additional tax dollars every year, not to mention the hours of worry for the safety of self, family and property.

Already a million youngsters get into trouble with the police every year. The Juvenile Delinquency Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee has just made the startling prediction in a report that by 1960 the figure will skyrocket to 2,250,000!

Listen again to the authorities: “If communities throughout the nation provided more wholesome recreational facilities for their young people, delinquency could be curtailed.” This comes from FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover and his conviction that recreation is a big answer is echoed by judges, child guidance experts and police officials from coast to coast.

MI believes the obvious solution is in rooftop playgrounds. No miracles of engineering are needed. Technically, with the know-how we possess right now, no insurmountable problem exists. Declares Henry Kohler, a prominent New York architect who is editor of the Bulletin of the Brooklyn chapter of the American Institute of Architects: “Certainly it can be done. Even though roofs are of different heights, even though some buildings are narrower than others, there is no limit to the size of the playground which can be built. You can build a gym up there or you can construct a center big enough for a baseball field, grandstand included!”

Mr. Kohler, who spent four years with the Seabees designing athletic areas of all types for military personnel in the South Pacific, points out that a 200×250-foot center would be ample to contain all the necessary facilities.

The floor would be a reinforced concrete slab built up from the highest level. Let’s explain: Suppose the site selected consists of five apartment houses—three of them five stories high, two only four stories high. From the top height of five stories, steel supports could be spanned horizontally, meeting similar supports which come up vertically from the lower height of four stories. The reinforced concrete floor is then constructed upon these supports.

The concrete slab would contain radiant heating units for two major reasons: this is the best way of heating a large area and no other plumbing for heating purposes would be necessary. And there is a third reason which the teen-agers would say leads all the rest: In the winter a refrigerant such as freon could be put into the tubing. This would freeze water and the kids would have themselves a fine skating rink.

Now suppose the roof area of the five apartment houses is too small—suppose the entire area just doesn’t add up to a 200×250 playground. Have we met an impasse? Not at all, says Mr. Kohler. The answer: Cantilever out. This means that horizontal supports are extended outward from the edge of the roof and cantilever supports are introduced from the sides of the building.

When the dust of construction work clears away, what will the finished product be like?

There would be a baseball field for the playing area. Wooden flooring could be applied in sections over the turf and in a short time the baseball diamond could be transformed into a basketball court, a floor for a track meet or a dance floor. Along the sides removable stands could accommodate hundreds of spectators for neighborhood tournament games.

There would be a swimming pool, showers, locker rooms and even a solarium. There could easily be an ice skating rink in winter, as previously explained, tennis and handball courts, a raised stage for amateur theatricals, ping-pong, shuffleboard and gymnasium equipment.

Off to the sides, behind huge folding doors, there could be separate, smaller rooms. These would be studios for arts and crafts, painting, sculpture, photography, music and rehearsals. There could be a wood and metal working shop, a library and study rooms.

The total cost for a playground like this? An estimated $1,000,000, and a bargain at the price.

There would be some problems to surmount, of course. Legal questions, such as liability in case of accidental injury, would have to be straightened out in advance. Zoning problems would have to be handled. Code requirements of the local departments of housing and buildings would have to be met. Money must be raised.

Recently, four reform school teeners appeared before a youth forum in New York and, sitting behind a screen to protect their identities, advised their elders on how to deal with kids. Their unanimous conclusion: More young people would stay out of trouble if they were loved by their parents and “had decent l and interesting places to play after school.”

Anyone who has ever had a taste of the misery, degradation and boredom of an alley adolescence can testify that this is a realistic suggestion. The clincher came when the New York State Attorney General told the youths that their suggestion was the same as that offered by a panel of social workers and public officials not long before at a hearing on the problems of juvenile delinquency.

How about it? Had a bellyful of terror in your city’s streets? Then why not give rooftop playgrounds some long and serious thought? •