Integrated Design Process: CTA takes the design process to the next level
When internationally renowned environmental architect William McDonough spoke on "The Next Industrial Revolution" at Boise State University in April as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, his speech was funded, in part, by CTA Architects Engineers.
(See CTA News: McDonough's Design Revolution Comes to Boise)
With energy costs soaring and resources shrinking, thinking "green" has become more than a passing fad. Sustainable building practices are becoming the norm and environmental architects such as McDonough are championing a new design process called IDP or Integrated Design Process. Unlike the traditional linear design process - a top-down command in which the architect begins the project and hands off his completed portion to the next person and so on until the project is finished - the IDP is team-oriented. From the very beginning of the project, the team identifies project goals and works as a unit to achieve viable solutions to any design challenges. And according to Scott Roberts, CTA project manager, potential obstacles are much easier to identify and resolve early in the process rather than at the back end of the building cycle. Roberts calls IDP a "We're all in this together" kind of culture.
Roberts is part of a high performance group within CTA driving the integration of IDP into daily operations. In the two days immediately following McDonough's lecture, CTA co-hosted a seminar on IDP in conjunction with the University of Idaho's Integrated Design Lab (IDL). The purpose of the seminar was to acquaint CTA professionals with the benefits of IDP and how it can be incorporated into existing projects as well as new ones.
"With Integrated Design Process, we try to maximize each individual's expertise by creating a synergy within the team," commented Roberts. "Each team member brings a different perspective to the same issue - and it is the melding of these synergies that creates a more successful building."
While the concept of integrated design is not new, Roberts says it's only recently been considered from a business standpoint. The complexity of sustainable design requires the design process to be integrated because each function in the process is so interrelated.
The energy crunch brought sustainable design to the forefront. The benefit of IDP is that it produces a more energy efficient building that - at the end of the day -- is more cost-effective to build. Compared to the traditional linear process, IDP is more costly and slower in schedule timelines at the front end because there are more people involved in the initial stages. But because these team members are communicating and resolving any potential design conflicts at the beginning of the process, the benefit to the client is invaluable. IDP streamlines the back end where, in linear design, miscommunication and mistakes can be costly and time-consuming to resolve.
CTA has already incorporated IDP in varying degrees into several projects. It's not a step-by-step manual," says Roberts, "It's always different with every project so you find consistency where you can. The chemistry between the team members is an important ingredient for success."
CTA Architects Engineers is incorporating the IDP process into several projects company wide. Some examples of current projects are the College of Southern Idaho Health Science and Human Services Building in Twin Falls, Idaho; Missoula Federal Credit Union in Missoula, Montana; Lake District Hospital in Lakeview, Oregon; First Interstate Bank in Missoula, Montana; Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas; Nunhems Seed Company in Parma, Idaho and Dell in Austin, Texas.
When internationally renowned environmental architect William McDonough spoke on "The Next Industrial Revolution" at Boise State University in April as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, his speech was funded, in part, by CTA Architects Engineers.
(See CTA News: McDonough's Design Revolution Comes to Boise)
With energy costs soaring and resources shrinking, thinking "green" has become more than a passing fad. Sustainable building practices are becoming the norm and environmental architects such as McDonough are championing a new design process called IDP or Integrated Design Process. Unlike the traditional linear design process - a top-down command in which the architect begins the project and hands off his completed portion to the next person and so on until the project is finished - the IDP is team-oriented. From the very beginning of the project, the team identifies project goals and works as a unit to achieve viable solutions to any design challenges. And according to Scott Roberts, CTA project manager, potential obstacles are much easier to identify and resolve early in the process rather than at the back end of the building cycle. Roberts calls IDP a "We're all in this together" kind of culture.
Roberts is part of a high performance group within CTA driving the integration of IDP into daily operations. In the two days immediately following McDonough's lecture, CTA co-hosted a seminar on IDP in conjunction with the University of Idaho's Integrated Design Lab (IDL). The purpose of the seminar was to acquaint CTA professionals with the benefits of IDP and how it can be incorporated into existing projects as well as new ones.
"With Integrated Design Process, we try to maximize each individual's expertise by creating a synergy within the team," commented Roberts. "Each team member brings a different perspective to the same issue - and it is the melding of these synergies that creates a more successful building."
While the concept of integrated design is not new, Roberts says it's only recently been considered from a business standpoint. The complexity of sustainable design requires the design process to be integrated because each function in the process is so interrelated.
The energy crunch brought sustainable design to the forefront. The benefit of IDP is that it produces a more energy efficient building that - at the end of the day -- is more cost-effective to build. Compared to the traditional linear process, IDP is more costly and slower in schedule timelines at the front end because there are more people involved in the initial stages. But because these team members are communicating and resolving any potential design conflicts at the beginning of the process, the benefit to the client is invaluable. IDP streamlines the back end where, in linear design, miscommunication and mistakes can be costly and time-consuming to resolve.
CTA has already incorporated IDP in varying degrees into several projects. It's not a step-by-step manual," says Roberts, "It's always different with every project so you find consistency where you can. The chemistry between the team members is an important ingredient for success."
CTA Architects Engineers is incorporating the IDP process into several projects company wide. Some examples of current projects are the College of Southern Idaho Health Science and Human Services Building in Twin Falls, Idaho; Missoula Federal Credit Union in Missoula, Montana; Lake District Hospital in Lakeview, Oregon; First Interstate Bank in Missoula, Montana; Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas; Nunhems Seed Company in Parma, Idaho and Dell in Austin, Texas.
