Overview

One of the key elements in the integrated design process is getting people together into a high-performance work setting. The eco-charrette is a means that adapts the well-known architectural design charrette specifically to the challenges of high-performance buildings and even more specifically to achieve high-level results using the LEED performance evaluation system. In my own practice, I prefer to have at least two separate events: the first is a visioning session that involves perhaps only the architect and the client s higher-level decision makers, with the specific task of crafting a vision for the project. Often I pose the question: It s now 2018; looking back on this project from ten years distance, what do you most want it to achieve, what do you most want to be proud of? What do you hope that the building occupants and other stakeholders will value most about this project? Sometimes referred to as backcasting, questions like these are designed to appeal to the higher-level emotions and values that most people bring to a major building project. They can serve as a guide to detailed design approaches and especially to making the inevitable tradeoffs that accompany any building project. Notice that none of these questions uses the word LEED or green building.

Second, following the visioning session, which can usually be done in less than a day, I like to hold a detailed design charrette with a full range of building team participants: the architect, the owner s project manager, sometimes key stakeholders from the...