10 I ICT TODAY
FIGURE 4: An IP networked control system, a foundational element of an advanced
intelligent building.
Customized apps can enable
occupants to participate in the
sustainability of their building
through their smartphones or
via public information displays.
There are additional, powerful
benefits to consider since the
technology in an IB enables the
building systems to respond to
the occupants. Where a business’s
labor cost outweighs operational
costs, reduced turnover as a result
of improved employee comfort
can occur. For real estate owners/
developers, when tenants are more
comfortable and systems are more
flexible, churn and building
vacancies can be reduced. Therefore,
it is important to look beyond
solutions that simply enhance
energy savings or provide
operational efficiencies.
DEFINING SYSTEMS
AND THEIR IMPACT
ON THE INTELLIGENT
BUILDING DESIGN
Though an ICT professional may not
be responsible for all the integrated
systems in an IB, they often have
insight to advanced features other
design team members may not have
considered. With traditional ICT
deployment, the network already
integrates with many of the building
systems, although to a lesser degree
than in an IB. This positions
ICT professionals well to encourage
discussion beyond the limited realm
of operational efficiencies. Even
if little integration is desired in the
building day one, infrastructure,
with its long lifespan, should be
positioned to enable future
connections between the building
systems. It is desirable to
accommodate growth of building
intelligence with supplementation
of, rather than major modifications
to, the infrastructure.
In the early stages of building
planning, specific systems selections
are not necessarily critical decisions.
However, it is very important
to consider the multitude of user
groups along with their perspectives
and expectations of relevant
systems. The value of intelligently
connected systems is the ability
to gain insights not only to
immediate building problems, but
also to workflows, system patterns,
overall space utilization and much
more. Of course, unused data
intelligence has little worth, so the
software and systems that aggregate
and report on various data points
become critical elements of the
system design process. Start
thinking and asking questions about
how different types of building
systems might be capable of serving
different user needs and whether
that information or data was
represented alongside of other
system information. To this point,
ICT designers must carefully
evaluate how data is captured,
stored and moved around a
building’s networks. Closed
systems that hold data “hostage”
in proprietary formats should
be avoided, if possible.
Consider audiovisual (AV) control
systems that provided some of the
earliest elements of multiple building
systems integration. Initially
providing control of lighting
shades and thermostats, today’s
IP networked AV systems are a
tremendous leap forward and must
be considered by ICT designers
as a foundational element of
an advanced IB (Figure 4). These
systems are not only deployed in
a manner that encourage interaction
with the users through rich sensory
experiences, but they also capture
valuable data elements, such as device
and space utilization. They also