Environmental Strategies for Schematic Design

CHAPTER 1: Introduction

What is This Book?

The purpose of The Green Studio Handbook is to provide enough information about the What, How, and How Big of various green design strategies to permit a "go or no-go" decision regarding the appropriateness and viability of a given strategy to be made during schematic design. It is not unusual for students—and practicing designers—to have the best of intentions about developing a green building, only to have lack of information about specific strategies get in the way of decision making.

The intent of this book is to provide a concise catalog of information for a range of green strategies. The information is specifically intended to help the designer understand what each strategy actually does, what data are needed to make a preliminary estimate of its appropriateness, general guidelines to permit preliminary sizing, and pointers to related strategies.

The fundamental premise of this book is that if appropriate strategies are not included during the schematic design phase they will never be included. This is generally true, as many such strategies are demandingly form-giving. Once fundamentally bad decisions regarding building orientation, massing, and interior layout have been made it is nearly impossible to come back and incorporate working daylighting, passive heating, or passive cooling systems. Opportunities for green architectural strategies are rife in the conceptual and schematic design phases. They are sparse during design development.

This book includes both active and passive strategies. There are, however, many more passive strategies. These require early implementation in the design process and are typically more form-shaping. The overall focus is upon those strategies that would (or should) be implemented during schematic design. Many green design strategies are not included. Low-VOC paints, for example, are not included as they have virtually no impact on schematic design decisions. This is not a catalog of green design strategies—it is a catalog of green strategies for schematic design.

Following this chapter's introductory discussion, Chapter 2 reflects upon the nature of the design process and Chapter 3 discusses the green/integrated design process.

Chapter 4 presents 40 strategies. Each strategy has a brief description of principle and concept, a discussion of architectural and implementation issues, a procedure (typically with associated tables and charts) to assist with preliminary design sizing, key issues to be aware of when implementing a given strategy, and pointers to sources for further information (including WWW sites, books, and manuals). Conceptual sketches and photographic examples illustrate each strategy.

A concluding chapter with case studies of nine green building projects provides further examples of the strategies presented and their incorporation into integrated building designs. Although the strategies can be perused and applied in isolation that is not the intent of this book. Green design is not simply about picking parts from a catalog. It is about ensuring that an ecological design intent is achieved.

Some Context and Approach

This book is structured around a view of the design/construction process that involves the following phases: Pre-Design, Conceptual Design, Schematic Design, Design Development, Construction Documents, Construction, and Occupancy. The exact nature of these phases varies from project to project and from designer to designer. Nevertheless there is some general consistency.

Pre-Design. This phase involves the development of the program (or brief) for the project. The owner's project requirements are developed. Ideally, the design team will be involved with this phase, although this information is often developed by a separate specialist consultant. If green design is not clearly stated as an objective at the end of this phase, the green design task becomes more difficult—perhaps more of a sales effort than a design effort.

Conceptual Design. An outline of one or more proposed design solutions is developed during conceptual design. The primary purpose of conceptual design is to obtain buy-in from the client and design team on a solution that will be further pursued. Form-giving green design strategies (such as direct gain passive solar heating, cross ventilation, daylighting) must be included (if only conceptually) and shown in plans, sections, and elevations developed during this phase. Otherwise the buy-in will not include key green design strategies. The examples of strategies presented in Chapter 4 will be of use during conceptual design.

Schematic Design. This phase of design is essentially the proof-of-concept phase. The project directions outlined in conceptual design are verified as being technically feasible, within budget, and able to deliver on design intents. Hopes meet reality during schematic design. A roof-mounted PV array, for example, that was expected to provide the building's electricity becomes the array that provides 45% of the building's electricity. This book was written primarily for the schematic design phase—when concept becomes reality.

Design Development. Design development might be best described as the analysis and production phase of a project. Schematic design decisions are validated, systems are optimized, details are developed, specific equipment selected, and drawings and specifications initiated. Each strategy in this book includes a "Beyond Schematic Design" discussion that addresses some of the many implementation issues likely to be encountered during design development (and beyond).

Construction Documents. Construction documents are the construction drawings, specifications, and related documents that convey the aspirations of the owner and design team to the contractor. These become a major part of the contract between an owner and a contractor and are the basis for construction.

Construction. During construction, the architect-client-contractor team converts the construction documents to physical reality. Sometimes requests for substitutions occur during bidding and construction. Such requests should be carefully reviewed for their impact on design intent and green design strategies. Construction is not the time to abandon design intent and criteria. The commissioning of green projects is highly recommended. Commissioning-related testing and verification of systems performed during construction can be exceptionally useful for unconventional and/or interdisciplinary building systems.

Occupancy. On most projects, the design team has historically had little (if any) interaction with the occupied building. This, however, is a really bad idea for a green building. Many passive (or unconventional active) systems require informed operators (who are often the building occupants). Design team development of User's Manuals to help ensure proper system operation is strongly recommended.

Active or Passive?

Chapter 4 presents active and passive design strategies. Most larger-scale green buildings include both types of systems. Simply put, a passive system:

• uses no purchased energy (no electricity, natural gas, ...);
  
  
• uses components that are part of another system (windows, floors, ...);
  
  
• is closely integrated into the overall building fabric (not tacked on).

An active system has essentially the opposite characteristics. Active and passive strategies have no inherent goodness or badness—they are simply means to an end. The design team and owner, however, can place value on the means. This book, and many green designers, value passive strategies above active. This valuing must be tempered by practicality, and by an understanding of what the various systems can and cannot rationally accomplish in general and in the context of a particular building.

Design Intent, Criteria, and Method

The terms intent, criteria, method are used throughout this book. As concepts, they are critical to successful completion of the design process. An intent is a general statement of expected outcome, for example: a green building, a low-cost building, an efficient building, a comfortable building, a building with good air quality. All parties involved with a project will understand the gist of such statements, even though they are rather vague. The importance of design intent is in their statement—not their specificity. The proposed destination of a project should be explicit, not implicit.

A design criterion is a benchmark that sets minimum acceptable performance targets for the issues addressed in intent statements. What is meant by a "green" building, a "comfortable" building? Criteria define the general terms used in intent statements. "Green" may be defined by performance on a particular rating scheme, "comfortable" by adherence to ASHRAE Standard 55. Saying "blue" carpet is fine for design intent, but "blue" must really be more clearly defined before the carpet is selected and installed. Green buildings demand clear and comprehensive intent statements and well-defined criteria for each intent.

A method is a means of accomplishing intent and meeting criteria. The strategies presented herein are methods. None of these strategies should be treated as intent or criteria. Although this may seem an odd thing to have to state, methods are sometimes seen as intents ("we need daylighting"). Such a situation short-circuits the design process and avoids addressing the owner's true needs.

This book was intentionally titled The Green Studio Handbook—not The Sustainable Studio Handbook. The terms "green" and "sustainable" seem to be used synonymously by many. This is not a good idea. A green building will be energy-efficient, water-efficient, and resource-efficient and address on-site as well as off-site impacts on the environment. This is contributory to sustainability, but not identical with sustainability. We believe that sustainability implies having no net negative impacts on the environment. Paraphrasing the Brundtland (Our Common Future) report: sustainability is meeting the needs of the current generation without impairing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Green design is a precursor to, a component of, a positive step toward sustainable design. Green design is a means—but not the end. We should surely do no less than green, but also must do more.

One of the most critical challenges now facing designers—and one of the aspects of "doing more" that must be actively considered—is the problem of climate change fueled by greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon dioxide is a key greenhouse gas and is a major product of our current building design, construction, and operation practices. While green design focuses upon reducing the environmental impacts of energy, water, and material usage (including, presumably, carbon emissions), truly informed designs must explicitly reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from buildings. Present-day green design efforts may reduce carbon emissions—but not in a manner that is easily quantified, nor open to accountability. There is little information currently available to help guide designers toward the use of quantifiably carbon-neutral products and processes and unfortunately, the time to seriously begin dealing with carbon-neutral design outcomes appears to have been yesterday. Given this quandary, and until such time as clear-cut carbon-neutral design guidance is available, the prudent course seems to be to "green" every building and to go deeper green than lighter on every green project.

How to Use This Book

Although this is a book of strategies, the strategies need to be applied in the context of a well-organized design process. Please read Chapters 2 and 3 before delving into Chapter 4 (the strategies chapter). A review of the case studies in Chapter 5 is also recommended.

Each strategy is a package of information believed to be important to the application of the strategy during conceptual or schematic design. An introductory paragraph describes what the strategy can and cannot be expected to do. Photos and diagrams provide a sense of what the strategy looks like in application and the components that make up a complete system. A discussion of architectural and other implementation issues provides a sense of how the strategy fits into the bigger picture of building design.

A preliminary design procedure is provided (where applicable) to allow the estimating of system size in the context of a given project. The design procedure is illustrated via a worked sample problem. These procedures are approximate and intended for use in estimating the size of system (or component) with limited input information—a situation often representative of schematic design.

Solar orientation descriptions in this book have been given from a Northern Hemisphere perspective. This is not to ignore those designing for the Southern Hemisphere, but to attempt to simplify the wording of the text (equatorial-facing sounds a bit awkward). For projects in the Southern Hemisphere, "south-facing" should be taken to mean "north-facing."

Sources of further information are provided for each strategy. A "Beyond Schematic Design" paragraph suggests future steps to be taken if a strategy proves to be viable and feasible during schematic design. More accurate system sizing, systems optimization, commissioning, and development of a User's Manual are recurring themes.

This book is purposely not a comprehensive manual on building science. It assumes that users have a fundamental understanding of building design and conventional building systems. Sizing procedures for many green strategies require estimates of building heat loss or gain or information regarding illuminance values, solar position, or climate data. It is assumed that this information will be obtained from other resources (there are many available).

This book is also not a "how-to-get-a-green-rating" handbook. There are many green building rating schemes available today. Each of these schemes (such as the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program and the British Building Research Establishment's BREEAM program) has a well-defined process under which a building achieves "acceptance." LEED Links are provided, however, for each strategy as a means of identifying what section(s) of the LEED-NC (New Construction) rating system are most connected to a particular strategy. The nature of the BREEAM system precludes such a cross-referencing for BREEAM.

The Challenge

There are many ways for a building to obtain green building status. It is possible for a green building to perform well primarily as a result of active strategies implemented by a consulting engineer during design development. It is also possible for a green building to become so primarily as a result of passive systems incorporated during conceptual and schematic design. Although the bottom line accounting (the end) of these two approaches may be equivalent, the means are not. And the means are architectural design. That is the challenge. Architects must be active participants in shaping green buildings—through early, reasoned, and appropriate integration of green design strategies. As educators, we believe that this process must happen in the design studio where students can learn, test, and be critiqued. Then it will flow into practice. Students will be the agents of change.