The Integrative Design Process
One of the early core actions of the team developing the Pearl Rating system in support of Estidama is to focus more on the ‘how’ of sustainability, rather than simply the ‘what’. The leadership in many programs around the world have recognized the limitations of solely a checklist approach.
Developments that are achieving significant levels of sustainable design and practice have found that getting the design process right from the beginning will always result in more cost effective and more sustainable developments. This results from the effective use of an Estidama Integrative Design Process (EIDP). EIDP has been around the industry for years, but has not been as well advanced as the checklist approach to green building. By offering training, facilitation and case studies, UPC, through its Estidama Core Team, is training a wide array of developers and design teams to think differently about how they organize their design process, when to include various consultants in the process, and how to move from a multi-disciplinary process to an inter-disciplinary process.