Integrated design is a comprehensive holistic approach to

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

which brings together specialisms usually considered separately. It attempts to take into consideration all the factors and modulations necessary to a decision-making process. A few examples are the following: *Design of a building which considers whole building design including

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

passive solar building design In passive solar building design, windows, walls, and floors are made to collect, store, reflect, and distribute solar energy, in the form of heat in the winter and reject solar heat in the summer. This is called passive solar design because, unli ...

Alt URL
/ref> and

HVAC Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...

. The approach may also integrate building lifecycle management and a greater consideration of the end users of the building. The aim of integrated building design is often to produce

sustainable architecture Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings through improved efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, development space and the ecosystem at large. Sometimes, su ...

. *Design of both a product (or family of products) and the assembly system that will produce it. *Design of an electronic product that considers both hardware and software aspects, although this is often called co-design (not to be confused with

participatory design Participatory design (originally co-operative design, now often co-design and also co-creation ) is an approach to design attempting to actively involve all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design pro ...

, which is also often called co-design). The requirement for integrated design comes when the different specialisms are dependent on each other or "coupled". An alternative or complementary approach to integrated design is to consciously reduce the dependencies. In computing and systems design, this approach is known as

loose coupling In computing and systems design, a loosely coupled system is one # in which components are weakly associated (have breakable relationships) with each other, and thus changes in one component least affect existence or performance of another comp ...

Dis-integrated design

Three phenomena are associated with a lack of integrated design: *Silent design: design by default, by omission or by people not aware that they are participating in design activity. *Partial design: design is only used to a limited degree, such as in superficial styling, often after the important design decisions have been made. *Disparate design: design activity may be widespread, but is not co-ordinated or brought together to realise its potential. The resulting design may have needless complexity, internal inconsistency, logical flaws and a lack of a unifying vision. A committee is sometimes a deliberate attempt to address disparate design, but the phrase "

design by committee Design by committee is a pejorative term for a project that has many designers involved but no unifying plan or vision. Usage of the term The term is used to refer to suboptimal traits that such a process may produce as a result of having to comp ...

" is associated with this failing, leading to disparate design. "Design by committee" can also lead to a kind of silent design, as design decisions are not properly considered, for fear of upsetting a hard-won compromise.

Methods for integrated design

The integrated design approach incorporates collaborative methods and tools to encourage and enable the specialists in the different areas to work together to produce an integrated design. A

charrette A charrette (American pronunciation: /ʃɑːˈrɛt/; French: �aʁɛt, often Anglicized to charette or charet and sometimes called a design charrette, is a collaborative, intense period of design or planning activity. The term was introduced to m ...

provides opportunity for all specialists to collaborate and align early in the design process. Human-Centered Design provides an integrated approach to problem solving, commonly used in design and management frameworks that develops solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process.

Dis-integrated design

Methods for integrated design

References

See also