Hacking the Design Process: Tips for Teamwork on Net Zero Buildings

By Peter Rumsey

When you work with a large team on a high-performance building design there are a lot of opportunities for the project to get watered down along the way. Most of them have to do with the team not knowing how to collaborate in such a way as to make radical energy savings work on a budget. You just simply can’t follow the standard linear design practices and achieve net zero or net positive buildings – those that produce as much or more energy as they consume – on a budget.

Teamwork is critical with net zero buildings. Here are five essential collaborative strategies to keep in mind that help make net zero design cost-effective, even if your team is working on a tight budget.

Tips for Teamwork on Net Zero Buildings

1. Design is not a serial activity

Don’t design the structure and then add the systems. Everything is designed in parallel. Get everyone at the table early—the architect, the builder, the systems people and make sure they avoid this linear approach of the past. They need to work shoulder-to-shoulder from beginning to end.

Read full article at PowerHouse Growers.

Tags | integrated design, Net Zero Energy, Peter Rumsey