holistic design

The present paper is an attempt to bridge the gap between building designers and simulationists by proposing a common framework for discussion. It is a positional paper written from a building designer’s viewpoint that basically agrees with the proposition that design is no longer dominated by physical structure thinking but by performance and system based concerns.

This paper briefly exams the role of the building envelope in determining the internal environmental conditions in buildings and the scope for holistic design of building services and building envelope. It then looks at how holistic design may be undertaken, the barriers to be overcome to enable this to happen and the incentives that are necessary.