19-1126 v3.X Biophilic Workshop Hours
Question
The Project Team would, hereby, like to query Imperative 09 – Biophilic Environment. Specifically, the Project Team would like to query the requirement for the Project Team to engage in a design exploration for a minimum of 8 hours; which can be broken down into 2×4hour sessions.
Case
As per the above requirement, the project’s sustainability consultant hosted the first 4hour biophilic exploration on 30 April 2019 and the second exploration followed on 9 May 2019.
Shortly following the second exploration, the project’s architects were relieved of their duties and an alternative architectural firm was appointed in September 2019.
Not having previously participated in the design exploration with the rest of the Project Team, the sustainability consultant had briefed the architectural firm on the overview and outcomes of the biophilic explorations which were previously held.
The project team acknowledge that the biophilic exploration requires the participation of every project faculty (which the architectural firm was not a part of), however, insufficient resources were available for another 8hour design exploration.
Query
In an effort to sufficiently and effectively include the architectural firm’s participation in the design exploration, the sustainability consultants hosted a 2 hour biophilic workshop with the architectural firm (on 16 October 2019) followed by closely workshopping the biophilic strategies for 1hour every week for 5 weeks, totaling 7hours of one-on-one comprehensive exploration.
In an effort to satisfy the intentions of Imperative 09 – Biophilic Environment, would the above approach suffice Imperative-09 Biophilic Environment?
Answer
Because there were two 4-hour sessions held initially, the 8-hour biophilic design exploration requirement has been met. For instances where there is a change in the project team after the initial sessions, no additional sessions are required. Your efforts to bring the new addition to the project team up to speed and include them in the design process are above and beyond what is required for this Imperative. When submitting for certification, be sure to provide the biophilic framework and plan as described in the May 2017 LBC 3.1 Health + Happiness Petal Handbook (also described in Portal).