Design Process

"Integrated Design" is a process which is becoming well-recognized for enabling sustainable building design and construction, with minimal or no incremental capital costs. The architectural team, engineering consultants, cost consultant, interior designer, as well as the client and builder, work together in charettes or workshops to achieve high-performance buildings. This is done by creating a shared vision and clear values for the project, and exploring the implications of these values and vision on the project at hand.

Manasc Isaac is among the pioneers of integrated design, across North America.

This Integrated Design Process or IDP can be distinguished from a conventional design process in that it requires:

  • Inclusive involvement of all participants, from the start of the project
  • Front-end loading—more time and effort on the part of the design team and the owners, at the start of design, allowing for better integration of ideas and less redundancy in design and construction
  • Quick iteration through design options, while the team is together "in the room"
  • "Bracketing" of a range of options to identify optimal solutions
  • Whole-systems thinking and optimization of the whole rather than the parts
  • Right-brain and left-briain thinking, simultaneously
  • Integrated life-cycle costing and value analysis
  • Continuity of the design process from the start of planning to the end of occupancy
  • Good facilitation of all charettes
  • A very skilled and knowledgeable design team with all the most senior people "in the room"



Using 'Design Charette' sessions allows us to deal with all aspects of design, including the functional relationships of the spaces within the building, all building systems, movement on the site, the image of the building itself, and the relationship of the project in the community.

Most Integrated Design Processes follow a series of charettes:

  • Site Analysis and Selection
  • Community Engagement
  • Vision and Values
  • Stakeholders and Deliverables
  • Risks and Mitigations
  • Project Schedule and Milestones
  • Site Masterplanning and Future Development [building form and orientation]
  • Space Planning and Spatial Relationships
  • Building Systems Integration - Sustainable Strategies
  • Energy Performance, Building Envelope and Building Systems
  • Building Cost and Value
  • Construction Process
  • Construction Partnering
  • LEED Strategies
  • Commissioning Strategies
  • Post-Occupancy Review
  • Lessons Learned

By working together with all team members, participants in these workshops can often identify innovative solutions, integrate green design goals and objectives into conventional design criteria for building form, function, performance, improving environmental performance, and identifying savings right from the start.