Today, it would be hard-pressed to find a design process void of user engagement. In fact, public engagement in the digital era has become a central element of design in Vancouver.

Engagement is an essential part of any integrated design process. But the key to successful engagement is the quality of the dialogue and the ability to listen – high-quality engagement processes tend to be more effective and yield more meaningful and robust feedback and results. Unfortunately, these dialogue-rich ‘give and take’ processes have proved to be more elusive.

So, how does the design profession ensure a project develops through a high-quality engagement strategy?

This is precisely the question DIALOG and B+H Architects faced when designing the Student Union Building (SUB) at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Thinking outside (and inside) the “Cube”
The design team knew the SUB held tremendous potential to reflect students’ progressive thinking. But how to convey this to the student body – a body empowered to select the architect?

The key was creating a process that both established dialogue and excited students about what a student union building could entail.

The design team wanted students to know there were many possibilities for the site and building, so it launched, “What’s your SUB?”, and used Facebook, Twitter, video calling software and a dedicated project website to connect with students both on and off campus. Social media helped keep everyone “in the know” and contributed to an open forum where ideas, input and solutions could be shared.

Another key element of the engagement process was the design “Cube.” The futuristic glass room, located inside the existing SUB building, was the design team’s home base and site office at UBC. The Cube included a video screen with up-to-date design information, which allowed students to stay informed about the building’s evolving design. It also helped the design team have an interactive discussion with students, staff and faculty by allowing people to actively participate in the process and ask questions.

Building on the social media and on-site engagement, an intensive integrated design process further refined design options. The process saw students, project managers, UBC representatives, key consultant team members, engineering sub-consultants and construction administrators sitting at the same table. The integrated design process led to the development of five different building concepts that were presented to the public for feedback.

Regenerative and sustainable design
A key theme that emerged from the engagement process was the importance of regenerative and sustainable design. Regenerative design seeks to leave a place – a building, its inhabitants and surroundings – in a better condition than before. The SUB aims to be a testament to this high-level of design by including aspects of the Living Building Challenge and setting the goal of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certification.

Achieving these sustainability goals is paramount to the project’s success, both in terms of design and the engagement process. The design team’s approach to sustainability uses three interconnected strategies:

• Fixed parts plus loose parts. Fixed elements give the building character and endurance. Loose elements allow it to grow, expand and flux over time with user input. The thoughtful and strategic combinations of these fixed and loose parts allow the building to have ‘layers of change.’
• Flexibility and adaptability plus future-proofing. Moveable, reconfigurable, de-constructible and re-constructible systems allow flexibility to respond to short-term user changes. Durable materials allow for adaptation to occur over longer time scales. The skillful combination of this flexibility and durability allows the building to respond to the challenges of designing for unknowable futures.
• Flow scapes. The building is designed to shape flows through space – flows of peoples, materials, ecologies, energies and ideas. As flows intersect and overlap, new flow scapes are created, and perspectives change and take shape.

These three strategies are evident in several areas throughout the building. Some are more overt (information monitors located throughout the building), others less so (bike facilities, parking and a variety of food systems, including rooftop gardens). Overall, they respond to the discoveries of the engagement process by providing sustainable and regenerative design solutions.

Joost Bakker is a principal at DIALOG, a fully integrated architectural, engineering, interior design, urban design and planning firm.