What is integrated building design? Increasingly popular, integrated design is an approach that groups from the start all the key stakeholders involved in a building project.

Compared to the traditional design process where participants get involved in a sequential manner (in the usual order: architects, consulting engineers, general contractors, and specialised contractors), the integrated design process advocates that all key participants work together from the start, when the most important decisions are taken.

In this way, the building gets define by the following people together: the architect (often the project manager), the client, the consulting engineers, and the general contractor. Additionally, other people may be involved: the future building manager, a representative of the future users, specialized suppliers, and other consultants. Such a multidisciplinary team can thus arrive at solutions that are more innovative than with a traditional process. It is no wonder that the LEED Program (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) of the Canada Green Building Council encourages the integrated design process.
 

Since professionals in-training rarely have the occasion to experiment an integrated design process at the university; this competition aims to fulfill this need and offers a unique opportunity to students to participate, in a multidisciplinary team, in the design of an ecological building. Moreover, this competition will allow students to put in practice their building design knowledge in a context very close to reality. Indeed, in the professional world, it is usual that a building design team has professionals that do not know each other and that must collaborate together.