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Integrative Design - When does it work and when does not

James Petersen

Founder and Principal

Petersen Engineering

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

April 7, 2023

Hello Folks, What is your experience with successes and failures in the design process? As a starting point I have listed my Top 5 for success, and my Top 5 for failure. We'd love to see your reactions and look forward to the discussion when we all meet next week at our monthly check-in. Top 5 reasons for when integrative design works. Mechanical engineer is included very early in design process Mechanical engineer has working knowledge of building enclosures and building science fundamentals Architect and engineer engage in iterative process to understand and assess relative impact of various aspects of a design which leads to optimization of resources - financial, time and material Engineer designs systems to appropriately suit a particular building’s needs Architect has working knowledge of building science, building enclosures and mechanical systems Top 5 reasons for when integrative design doesn’t work. Energy use, decarbonization, comfort and safety, maintenance and serviceability are undervalued Basic design of building advances too far before integration begins and therefore missed are big opportunities for a high-performance outcome Performance goals don’t include verification (example: air-tightness testing) and therefore engineer over-engineers systems with large safety factors Architect and engineer have poor communication skills Architect and engineer are too risk averse.

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Christopher Colasanti

Associate Partner

Jaros Baum & Bolles

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Sun, 04/09/2023 - 17:37

Hi James, I would add one more to the “doesn’t work” section: 1. One of the parties comes to the table with bias about their suggested solution. Folks sometimes want to employ the last solution that they just successfully implemented, irrespective of the local weather conditions, local construction techniques, available products, etc). The last solution isn’t always the right one for the job. ((( Repl

Nadav Malin

CEO

Green Commons, LLC

LEEDuser Expert

586 thumbs up

Tue, 04/11/2023 - 18:03

Great lists! We'll be talking about this on today's call--which is starting about now...

Kim Shinn

Executive Principal and Senior Wizard

TLC Engineering Solutions

LEEDuser Premium Member

62 thumbs up

Mon, 05/01/2023 - 14:55

Bringing this thread back to the SMEPL-only side for a moment. Pete - great reply to Simona. Much more diplomatic than my first impulse: "Let your consultants do this work." I think we may need to do a "Loads versus Energy Performance Simulation" explainer. Loads = how big are your systems. Energy Performance Simulation = over a given time period (usually a year) how much of which kind of energy will the building use. Loads are something an architect (and the building owner) have a LOT of control over. And Loads are a big part of the Energy puzzle: bigger systems will almost always use more energy than smaller systems. But letting architects do loads calculations requires caveats - mostly along the lines of this is a powerful and complicated mechanism and inexperienced users could be maimed, or worse.

Pete Jefferson

Principal

BranchPattern

LEEDuser Premium Member

0 thumbs up

Tue, 05/02/2023 - 13:39

Thanks Kim! Yeah, I tend to take the optimistic view on architects trying to do more analysis in house. They still need to have a fundamental understanding of thermodynamics (which is definitely not a given), but I tend to see these tools as possibly giving them more insight into our world and the challenges they create as architectural designers. One of the firms I really love working with has a small, but very savvy group in house that does that, and I feel like we start each project with a higher floor because of it. Of course it's not just the tools, it's their mindset, process, and experience they have that drives that, but for some groups, playing around with the software might be the gateway drug into high-performance design.

But there are perils for sure. A vendor told me once years ago that an energy wizard he knew said something along the lines of "maybe Sefaira will get architects to stop putting so much damn glass on their buildings"... but I think we're still waiting for that.

Kim Shinn

Executive Principal and Senior Wizard

TLC Engineering Solutions

LEEDuser Premium Member

62 thumbs up

Tue, 05/02/2023 - 15:04

Wizards?!? Pah! Mountebanks, humbugs, grifters and hucksters all. And a pox on all their houses!