"The members of 7group and Bill Reed are examples writ large of the kind of leadership that is taking this idea of green building and forming it into reality, by helping change minds, building practice, and design process." ―from the Foreword by S. Rick Fedrizzi President, CEO and Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council

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A whole-building approach to sustainability

The integrative design process (IDP) offers a new path to making better green building decisions and addressing complex issues that threaten living systems. With integrative thinking that reframes what sustainability means, providing a how-to guide for architects, designers, engineers, developers, builders and other professionals on incorporating integrative design into every phase of a project.

This practical manual:

• Explains the philosophy and underpinnings of effective integrative design, addressing systems thinking and building and community design from a whole-living system perspective
• Details how to implement integrative design from the discovery phase to occupancy, supported by process outlines, itemized tasks, practice examples, case studies and real-world stories illustrating the nature of this work
• Explores the deeper understanding of integration that is required to transform architectural practice and our role on the planet

Chapters One through Four focus on the concepts and philosophy behind Integrative Design, or whole-systems thinking. These chapters address systems thinking and building and community design from a whole and living system perspective. Accordingly, these chapters form the foundation of the book, and as such, serve as a conceptual structure to guide the thinking that leads to a more and more deeply sustainable design process.

Chapter Five begins the manual section of the book – the "how to do it" structure that can be used to guide the process. Chapters Six through Eight complete the manual and serve as a "field guide" that identifies specific tasks associated with a series of thirteen explicit stages required for implementing an optimal IDP. The authors use process outlines, practical examples, case studies and stories from their own design experiences to delineate the fundamental aspects of this process.

From these experiences, 7group has learned to understand buildings as organisms and to explore sustainable, green building practices as a discovery process that optimizes interrelationships between all systems. This book conveys what we've learned so far. We wrote it hoping to help project teams navigate the transition from traditional building design to a more collaborative process that can produce high performance green buildings cost-effectively.

Building Green Review by Nadav Malin

‍"Seeking to "redesign the design process," as they put it, the authors of this remarkable book share their unquenchable spirit of inquiry. At the core of the book is an expanded and updated presentation of their method of integrative design--"integrative" because the integration is ongoing, never completed as would be implied by the more common term "integrated design."

"In that sense, this book is like a reference guide to the [ANSI/MTS national standards on Integrative Process]. But wrapped around that step-by-step, nuts-and-bolts guidance are the big ideas that inform this integrative process. Understanding that buildings, their components, and their context are nested whole systems, the way to solve interconnected problems without creating new ones is to "solve for pattern." This is done by discovering the story of each place, and designing not merely to restore ecological functions but to facilitate the ongoing evolution of a place to higher and better functioning."

"Ultimately, the focus of resources, energy, and attention that comes about when designing and building or renovating a facility becomes an opportunity to transform both the place and the participants, helping both initiate a continuing evolution. If this all sounds like pie-in-the-sky idealism, read a few of the many real-world stories to see the potential."

Preview excerpts from our book The Integrative Guide to Green Building detailing the stages and steps of the integrative design process.