Research grant awarded

The Creative Industries Fund has awarded IAA Architecten a grant to carry out the research project Synergetic Relationships. In this project we will investigate how a sustainable design process can quantify the added value of relationships between landscape, building and interior. The reason for this is the observation that the usual linear and sectoral design process does not fit in with the pursuit of a sustainable living environment.

LANDSCAPE, BUILDING AND INTERIOR IN SYNERGY

A building does not stand autonomously in space, but is part of the landscape below and around it. Yet that landscape and its arrangement is often regarded as a cost item, rather than an opportunity. Establishing mutual relationships between landscape, building and interior can contribute to an integral design based on mutual added value. By focusing on the end user and their relationship with the environment, insights about the functional and aesthetic aspects of a building also indirectly emerge. This requires an integral and cyclical working method in which the design assignment is shaped from the inside out and from the outside in.

New attitude and collaboration required

Here, a different attitude and collaboration is required between designers and clients in formulating the design assignment. This is also a challenge for clients. In general, clients do not have sufficient knowledge and/or confidence in the added value to invest in this interaction. As a result, opportunities are missed and suboptimal solutions are created.

In order to get a clear picture of possible synergetic effects, we use the method of 'social cost-benefit analysis' SCBA. If we can then capture the added value of, for example, landscape design for the users in a mathematical model, this new method may mean a turnaround in design practice. For clients, this can then be decisive to aim for integrity and to trust in the (economic) added value of the approach and take that as the basis for an investment decision.