Evaluator
The SEED® Evaluator is a communication tool that allows communities to define goals for design projects and then measure the success in achieving these through a third-party review. Completion of the SEED Evaluator can lead to the SEED Certification process, which allows communities to develop their leadership and decision-making from within while using a proven method and recognized standard of success.
A System of Metrics
The SEED Evaluator is a tool — a metric of focused questions, that provide a process of registering, measuring and tracking a project's successes in adherence to the SEED Mission and Principles. The SEED Evaluator provides a unique methodology to assess a project from inception through occupation, implementation, use and post occupancy.
As a ranking system that can help communities shape their own present and future, this tool can clarify issues, provide more transparent agendas, allow for the setting of shared goals, and become a means of informing the national and global consciousness. Because it is a transparent tool that helps define goals and then measures the success of a project in accomplishing these goals, it provides accountability throughout the entire design process. A graduated spectrum with which to comparatively measure each design project allows the critical rating of successes and analysis of challenges. Success is evaluated on a project-by-project and phase-by-phase basis, where each project component (social, economic, and environmental concerns manifested though design) is given a specific weight based on the importance of that element to the community.
Design Benchmarks and Performance Measures
By defining a project's specific design process and identifying corresponding benchmarks one can establish goals and specific outcomes up front and help communities understand the relationship between their challenges and goals. Evidence that supports progress towards goals can lead to performance measurable results. Setting design benchmarks and identifying performance measures in accordance to the SEED principles can achieve project clarity from the start and provide a common language to allow for diverse participation throughout the entire design process.
Who uses the SEED Evaluator?
The SEED Evaluator facilitates communities in using design to pursue a positive and relevant role in meeting their significant challenges. The SEED Evaluator aids communication and documents positive changes that result directly from a collaborative design process. SEED collaborators are constantly encountering situations where a metric like the SEED Evaluator would benefit their work. Here are a few recent anecdotes illustrating examples where the SEED Evaluator would be of value:
- SEED Network Member Jess Wendover, former Director of the Mayor’s Institute for Community Design said that mayors need a better way to evaluate the positive impact a design project has on the community.
- SEED Network Member Frank Giblin of the U.S. General Service Administration said “I need something to take to my boss and say: ‘Here, let’s do this.’”
- Legal services of Dallas wants a way to make sure they are representing justice in their new offices, but are not interested in just the environmental impact shown through a LEED certification.
- Audubon Society of Texas wants to be environmentally and socially responsible in their next building but cannot afford the $800,000 that was required to make their new headquarters LEED certified.
SEED Certification
Obtaining SEED Certification means that a project is recognized as having achieved levels of success within the qualitative and quantitative measures set within the SEED Evaluation process. Being certified requires that the SEED Mission and Principles be met by the specific goals set within the given project. Project documentation and narrative texts submitted to SEED within the context of the Evaluator will be reviewed by third-party certifiers, specialists in the specific design discipline and experts who understand the challenges of design in the public interest. When a project is awarded SEED Certification, it demonstrates compliance with SEED standards at a specific level. Communities that achieve this recognition leverage their accomplishment not only for their own goals but also for that of moving forward an agenda of inclusive process and sustainable decision making in design. Obtaining SEED Certification is the benchmark that community organizers, leaders and designers alike will want in order to document their significant and valued achievements.
