Title: Integral design: the new roles for architect and engineers for developing nearly zero energy buildings

Authors: Wim Zeiler

Addresses: Department of the Built Environment, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, Vertigo room 6.28, Den Dolech 2, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands

Abstract: Improving the built environment is a cornerstone for sustainable development ultimately leading to Zero Energy Buildings; there is the urgent need for innovation. The urgent need for innovative and a more sustainable built environment has led to a more complex design process. As a result, the architect requires increasing support from specialised engineers in multi-disciplinary design teams. A design method was developed, based on the use of morphological charts and a morphological overview, to support design teams with structuring and organising their communication and knowledge. After testing the method in workshops in industry, it was applied at the department of architecture for master students for their multidisciplinary master project, integral design of a nearly Zero Energy Building. Our experiments showed that it is possible to stimulate the innovative outcome of multidisciplinary design teams within the conceptual building design phase by changing their traditional roles into new team's roles.

Keywords: integrated building design; workshops; conceptual design; zero energy buildings; built environment; sustainable buildings; sustainable development; sustainability; specialised engineers; multi-disciplinary design teams; morphological charts; higher education.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2015.068786

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2015 Vol.9 No.2, pp.137 - 156

Received: 12 Nov 2013
Accepted: 10 Dec 2014
Published online: 12 Apr 2015 *

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