Integrated Design in the Work of Foster and Partners/Ove Arup Partnership - A Case Study in Connecting the Two Cultures of Building Design

This session will demonstrate the benefits of Integrated Design - intelligent coordination of architecture and engineering - to clients and practitioners. This approach has a significant global track record of efficient and striking buildings, and it is becoming a necessary component of architectural services as building performance becomes a greater issue here. Often mistakenly referred to as "high tech," architectural design that uses well-coordinated, technically advanced engineering to maximize building performance has gained renewed interest in recent years. Particularly in Europe, where energy and construction costs have increased dramatically since 1990, how best to deploy materials, components, and systems in a project to enhance their overall effectiveness has become a fundamental part of the design process for clients, architects, engineers, and consultants. This approach does, in fact, often use advanced technology - including photovoltaics, composite materials, and intelligent building systems-to achieve maximum benefit. However the principles of "integrated design," in which systems and functions are coordinated to work holistically, also include decidedly low-tech elements, including passive heating and cooling, mechanical and structural coordination, and modular construction. Many techniques involving coordinated design are actually cost-free to clients, yet may result in significant life-cycle cost savings. By using case studies, and drawing on the collaborative experience of the speakers, participants will learn about the guiding principles of this approach, as well as specific architectural and engineering techniques that can reduce construction and life cycle costs. Integrated Design has the potential to significantly increase our professions' value to our clients and users, as it stands to provide them with better functioning, more efficient buildings that are also visually and spatially stimulating.