Engineering / Green / Seismic
Sustainable Design: Best Practices
Structural engineering “best practices” incorporate strategies that embrace the tenets of sustainable design.
Sustainable design is quickly becoming a mainstream consideration on projects. Federal, state, and local governmental agencies, public and private building owners, and the general public are now requiring or favoring buildings that incorporate sustainable design practices. Responding to the public’s needs makes good business sense.
Structural engineering can incorporate sustainable design in many areas: judicious and selective use of materials, resourceful use and application of structural systems, and provisions for future adaptability of the buildings that are designed today. Material selection can be optimized, and recycled, reclaimed or salvaged materials can be used. The viability of the structural system and building shell to accommodate future renovation can extend the life cycle of a building. Structural design that considers the eventual deconstruction of a building increases the likelihood that the building components can be reused in another form.
The performance, reliability, and reparability of structural elements in the seismic force resisting system also contribute to sustainable design. The structural performance of a building has far reaching effects for the life cycle performance of all of the building’s systems. Collaboration with other design professional is critical to the structural engineer’s successful role on a project. Understanding lighting, stacking, thermal mass, cooling and heat gain strategies enables the structural engineer to anticipate and respond to these issues in the building structure.
As structural engineers, we have the opportunity to become an instrument of change in the industry. By encouraging the responsible use of our natural resources, and considering total building performance over its life cycle, we can proactively collaborate and participate in the “best practices” of structural and sustainable design.
For more information, you can download a copy of SEAONC’s Sustainable Design Committee’s white paper “Structural Engineering Strategies for Sustainable Design”:
http://www.seaonc.org/member/committees/sustain.asp