Green Building Process
and Elements: Pre-design

Any step that a home or building owner takes toward designing and building a “greener” building is commendable as a positive environmental and social action. However, for a building as a whole to be “green,” the design and construction process should involve a high degree of collaboration among key stakeholders and design team members to implement the most appropriate green elements. This “integrated design process” and the whole-building design approach described below will help the building, its owner, and its occupants achieve the greatest environmental, social, and financial benefits.

The whole-building approach to green design

Buildings are amazingly complex. In the past, designers have attempted to improve building efficiency and overall performance by optimizing each subsystem and component separately. However, there is now a growing movement toward analyzing the way building systems and components are integrated and overlapping, called whole-building design. A successful whole-building design results in a building that performs much better than a building designed to separately optimize each component. The greatest challenge is to understand that a building’s systems operate interdependently. Whole-building design not only maximizes energy efficiency; it also seeks to minimize the building’s environmental impacts on its surroundings and improve indoor environmental quality for its occupants.

Embarking on the pre-design process

Start thinking green early! If the project team waits too long to consider “greening” the facility, many opportunities will be lost and the cost of green improvements is likely to be higher. Make sure that hiring an architect who has experience with green buildings and the integrated design approach is a priority in your procurement process. It is much more difficult to convince a designer who has already been hired to pursue integrated design, especially if he or she has little interest or experience with it.

Building professionals install solar panels at Woods Hole Research Center in Falmouth, MA. The Center's other green features include extensive insulation, efficient windows, and skylights.

Assemble a green team. The integrated design process is a collaborative and iterative process that should involve at minimum your architect, engineers, owner representatives, maintenance staff, contractor if known, and green consultant if you’re using one. An integrated, well-functioning team of building professionals is essential to whole-building design. Once the team is in place, communication and education are key. Chances are that the building owner will not need to assemble all members of the team by him/herself; for instance, a builder will likely choose the construction workers for the project. The team members must all understand the project goals and be able to communicate clearly with one another.

Establish your goals for the project. Project goals most often include reduction of energy use and environmental impacts, such as minimizing heating and cooling loads through passive solar design, or using a certain percentage of recycled materials in construction. General building goals, such as creating a friendly learning atmosphere, an open or private work environment, and other comfort considerations are also priorities. Thinking about how the indoor environment can impact the performance and comfort of occupants is helpful in determining how to design the building to meet their needs.

Consider inviting team members, community members and other important stakeholders to an interactive design charrette. A design charrette is a focused and collaborative brainstorming process that allows various stakeholders to make their priorities and concerns known. It also gets the team started on setting goals and priorities for the project. Charrettes can also play a critical role in getting stakeholders to understand everyone’s issues and to achieve buy-in to a schematic solution.

The voluntary Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System® of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a comprehensive set of “green” goals that a building must meet in order to achieve certification by the USGBC. The overarching purpose of the LEED Rating System is to create a consensus on what constitutes a “green” building. While some highly-efficient and environmentally-sustainable buildings are not LEED-certified, LEED certification is quickly becoming the standard in new and existing commercial green buildings, along with other types of green building projects. In particular, USGBC is also developing a LEED rating system for homes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) already has an ENERGY STAR® qualification for new homes, and other programs for businesses. To learn more about LEED and EPA’s ENERGY STAR® program, see How to Get Involved.

Massachusetts is also developing a standard similar to LEED, specifically for use with K-12 schools. This standard is called the Massachusetts version of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (MA CHPS). This developing standard has been tested on a number of pilot projects across Massachusetts.

 

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