Integrated Design Process Standard Approved

In July 2007 the Whole Systems Integrated Process Guide (WSIP) 2007 for Sustainable Buildings & Communities, ANSI/MTS Standard WSIP 2007, was approved by public ballot. “Everybody is coming to the realization that there is a pattern of practicing an integrated design process for buildings,” said Bill Reed, AIA, chair of the committee that developed the standard under the auspices of the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability (MTS). The document, which has the blessing of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), codifies that pattern in the form of a specific integrated design process.

The process of getting the standard approved was smooth, according to Mike Italiano, head of MTS. The only objections came from respondents who didn’t understand that, as a guide, this is more qualitative than other standards, he reports. While the document has been approved and will soon be available for purchase from ANSI, according to Italiano, it is still rough. The practice it claims to define, for example, is labeled variously as “integration process,” “integrated process,” and “integrative process.” Reed and committee vice chair John Boecker, AIA, are producing a cleaner version, which should eventually replace the current document. Changes will not be substantive, according to Reed, so it shouldn’t require any additional balloting.

The committee was interested in going beyond a dry checklist of steps, Reed reports, by including enough introductory information to explain why this practice is important. Following that introduction, the standard describes how an integrated process differs from a more conventional, linear process, then lists suggested measures for each phase in a hypothetical design-construction-occupancy process.

Now that the standard is approved, Reed has turned his attention to bridging the gap between the practice of integrated design as it is understood in green building circles and the “integrated practice” model promoted by The American Institute of Architects and others, which has been targeted at improving timeliness and quality in project delivery. Meanwhile, authors of draft LEED rating systems, including LEED for Healthcare and LEED for Homes, that have attempted to define an integrated design process in their credit requirements may choose to reference this ANSI-approved standard instead.

– Nadav Malin

For more information:

American National Standards Institute
Washington, D.C.
202-293-8020
www.ansi.org

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Integrative Design Standard Released for Comments EBN: Newsbrief - December 2006

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DISCUSSIONS Standard is now available for $99 through ANSI Nadav Malin Sep 2, 2007 More comments RELATED ARTICLES Integrative Design Standard Released for Comments EBN: Newsbrief - December 2006 RELATED GREEN DESIGN Integrated Design Process More related green design

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