The discussion around sustainable design and construction has been addressed by different authors, mostly focused on building performance and life cycle of materials. However, the adoption of environmental performance requirements of buildings depends also on the introduction of changes in the organization and management of the building design process. This article presents the results of a research project, which aimed to evaluate how the incorporation of sustainable requirements is affecting the practices adopted in architecture and engineering design . Considering the influence of France on Brazilian architects, particularly due to the adoption of the Aqua method (adapted from HQE®French method) by some Brazilian companies, this investigation was carried out with French companies. The results indicate that the improvement of design process depends on the establishment of a management system that could help professionals to deal with a large number of requirements related to sustainable buildings. They also point out that it is necessary to revise the schemes adopted so far, in order to make it possible the introduction of the interoperability between different design professionals, from the beginning of architecture conceptual phase, which should become responsibility of the whole design team.
Sustainability; Architectural management; Integrated design
