Visual mapping of the Integral Sustainable Design approach

This paper aims to advance the understanding of Integral Sustainable Design (ISD) as an approach for the environmental assessment of buildings. The potential of ISD is the integration of qualitative as well as quantitative perspectives on a subject. ISD offers a bottom up approach to environmental assessment, whereas most common building energy rating schemes follow a top down approach. This paper explores how two and three-dimensional visual mapping can be used to integrate the qualitative and quantitative assessments of buildings. It is suggested that the ISD approach is suitable for the architectural design process even in the early design stage. It also enables the designer to identify and focus on synergies between the design intention and environmental requirements rather than their differences.