Synergy, ah the fond memories of group projects in undergrad that disintegrated into a spoof of the ‘The Wind and The Lion’. What was Steven Covey on about? Well, the green building arena is sure figuring out why synergy is important. The definition of synergy from Wikipedia is:
‘Synergy (from the Greek synergos, συνεÏγός meaning working together, circa 1660) refers to the phenomenon in which two or more discrete influences or agents acting together create an effect greater than that predicted by knowing only the separate effects of the individual agents.’
In the recent Green Building Summit in NYC the term was mention enough times that I lost count, yes, I started counting it came up that often. So, why is synergy so important to successful green building? The point started with a presentation by several eminent architects that stressed the need for coordinations between all parties involved in the building project from design to operation and brought up the concept of The Whole Building Design Approach. Doug Gatlin of the USGBC summarized how to ensure operations savings in green buildings by commissioning buildings upon completion of construction and afterwards having integrated design control.
The goal of ‘Whole Building’ Design is to create a successful high-performance building. To achieve that goal, we must apply the integrated design approach and the integrated team approach to the project during the planning and programming phases. That is a long way of saying you need a little synergy! This is what gets you to the end goal of a successful green building project that doesn’t cost more than conventional building and costs less to operate.
