Blog_3 IDP

This week our class went on a tour of the new Manitoba Hydro Building at 360 Portage Ave. I tried to view the tour of the building from the LEED perspective to apply this to our small-scale project of the Banana Boat redevelopment.

One of the interesting aspects of this design was the Integrated Design Process (IDP). This building took 7 years of IDP, to ensure sustainable performance and avoid design solutions that pose later problems. The diagram below shows the various sequence orders according to project needs. 

* This Image was taken from http://www.farm-energy.ca

The IDP process enables a more accurate and thorough way to increase sustainability through energy reduction, GHG reduction, day-lighting, material re-use. Some other Winnipeg projects that used the IDP process were Mountain Equipment Coop and Red River College Princess Campus.

In our small IDP I will push for a reduction in energy through better orientation, windows, walls, roofs, and equipment to reduce fuel and cost for operation, electrical consumption as well as maintenance and replacement costs. In order for the IDP process to be successful a skilled design team, good site characteristics and a skilled construction team.

The overall principle of IDP is to explore potential issues at the beginning of the process hearing viewpoints from various disciplines. This increases the likelihood of a well designed and sustainable building.

Sources: http://www.iisbe.org, http://www.sbis.info

Cliff G.

LEED Consultant