Total design is an approach to work, to problem solving, whose power derives from the way it brings together different human skills, perspectives and values. 

Total design is achieved when you combine technical rigour, open-mindedness, the readiness to rethink ideas, the confidence to collaborate, with an insight into long-term future human needs. It can be practiced in big complex groups on long-term projects, or conducted by individuals, in ad hoc groups. However it is practiced, it leads to innovations that represent greater enduring value for users, communities and the planet we all depend on. 

At its heart, total design is a highly responsive approach to the essential nature of the problem to be solved. It’s inherently human-focused and open-minded. Instead of asking how many floors a building should have, one might begin by asking: what do people really need, how will they behave and gain value from this building and how can the building be completed responsibly given our wider commitments and goals?  

Total design – championed by Ove Arup

At Arup, this approach to design and engineering reflects our founder, Ove Arup’s own philosophical training and the culture of rigorous and open enquiry that he fostered in our organisation. Total design continues to animate the way we work today, encouraging exploration and learning by practitioners, the formation of novel partnerships and unfamiliar collaborations, and the development of new ideas and practices. Given the sophistication and complexity of the work we carry out, total design empowers the quality and endurance of the solutions we develop.  

Fig 1: At Arup, these four practices comprise total design: 

  • Embrace curiosity and challenge: Adopt a mindset of curiosity, being ready to challenge assumptions and view every project as an opportunity to collaborate, innovate and learn. 
  • Prioritise technical brilliance: Pursue technical brilliance and enduring quality, drawing on the most effective working processes and relevant technologies. 
  • Consider the broadest context: Consider the broadest possible context, achieving a deep understanding of problems and delivering solutions. 
  • Collaborate actively and widely: Collaborate actively with each other, clients and partners and communities, to overcome narrow solutions and siloed thinking.

Beyond multidisciplinary working  

Total design isn’t simply the act of collaboration or offering a range of multi-disciplinary services. Multidisciplinary organisations have access to a breadth of expertise. But total design is about how skilfully and thoughtfully you use those tools, whether you're using one or many. 

Fundamentally it’s a level of intention and attention, a commitment to the quality and depth of solution, realised within a mindset and practice. It requires proven expertise, independence of mind and action, use of the most relevant technologies, but also a deep, human awareness of the problem we’re attempting to solve – and the world in which it must work. In this way it brings responsibility for people and planet into the heart of design thinking. It requires a confidence to abandon familiar ideas when better solutions emerge. And total design relies on an ability to articulate and advocate for the new and better solutions that we develop together. 

In today’s world, where clients and communities share overlapping (if not yet aligned) interests in innovative, long-term solutions, ones that balance human need with responsibility for nature and resources – this holistic approach to problem solving has never been more relevant or valuable.  

Origins 

What we today refer to as total design is a practice evolved from earlier concepts like the ‘total work of art’ (‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ – as proposed by Richard Wagner) or ‘total architecture’ (Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus design/architecture school) – each focusing on how design could embody a multiplicity of ideas, viewpoints while resulting in a unified, pleasing and valuable solution.