ABSTRACT
The environmental performance of a building depends both on design choices and on the residents’ behavior. Therefore not only the architect is concerned by sustainability: the participation of the residents is essential. High degree of user involvement in planning and management processes of housing areas might contribute to both social and environmental qualities and constitutes a main aspect of the Agenda 21 agreement. Involving later inhabitants in the process of building designs with a focus on sustainability rises nevertheless a lot of problems: expert knowledge has to be mapped with end user level, objectives and priorities have to be traceable documented and are evolving over the process of this cooperative design phase. To support this kind of cooperative housing development processes, sustainable building design, techniques and information technologies, a comprehensive, smart and easy accessible tool is necessary in order to develop, disseminate and manage affordable green housing concepts. The developed approach and the supporting tools help the involved actors (clients, developers, architects and builders) to reach and maintain a higher performance level. Tools are integrated in established virtual project rooms, which offer life cycle related functionality of different right levels and full documentation of the participatory design process from the very beginning.
