Dee Dee Strohl - Blog 4

Term Paper: Green versus Intelligent Building Technology

For the term project, Andrew and I are writing a paper about the difference between green buildings and intelligent buildings. We’re planning to look at the two through the scope of technology used to design the buildings and the technology implemented in the buildings. We also will look at how the technology used in both aspects affect the life cycle of the building and improve it. Our general definition for a green building is: a building that takes human health and environmental impact into consideration while an intelligent building is: building that utilizes systems that allow for automatic and centralized control of a buildings energy system (HVAC, lights, etc.). With research we plan to make our definitions more concrete. One goal for the project is to learn more about the current technology used in both types of buildings. Some examples of this are: solar panels, LEED considerations, energy analysis, high efficiency mechanical systems, lighting, and building automation systems.

This topic is interesting to me because I’m minoring in Sustainability in the Built Environment. The SBE minor focuses specifically on analyzing future design challenges from a sustainability perspective. In classes we’ve discussed integrated design processes, the LEED program, and other aspects of green buildings. The courses have made me think about how a building is designed to be “green” and focuses on the total building life cycle. The classes haven’t specifically discussed intelligent buildings and the technology associated with them. Thus, I haven’t had much exposure to intelligent buildings. This paper will allow me to gain a better understanding of the overlap and differences of features in the two.

Some challenges we might run into is whether our scope is too broad. As we continue to research the topics we may find that looking at both the design and implemented technology might be too much. If that’s the case, we’ll re-evaluate the paper and decide which path will be best for comparing and contrasting. One consideration to be made is that technology is constantly changing and current usage can become out of date quickly. This can affect the life cycle of the building.

COMMENTS:

Sarah Hollis:

Your paper sounds interesting! I’m interested in seeing what people in the industry say about BIM and what a “good workflow” is. I know in my experience I’ve seen how quickly tasks can be done because of Revit and AutoCAD. I worked for the city and saw the hand drawn plans and how tedious the process was. Now we have BIM and changes can be made with just a few clicks.

Cody Johnson:

 I honestly had never thought about the possibilities of a 3D scanner in both design and construction fields. Using them to map existing conditions would be incredibly helpful, especially if the structural or mechanical systems are very complicated. I saw Lucy commented about how helpful this technology would be for pharma labs. From working on HVAC systems for labs, I know the existing conditions can be complicated and difficult to show precisely on plans.  This technology would be incredibly useful in those scenarios.

Dung Tran:

Your project is super cool. I love that you’re taking this as an opportunity to expand your knowledge of BIM and the different systems that go into a building. I know next to nothing about creating structural systems in Revit so doing something like this would be beneficial for me too. I wonder if you could do a structural analysis of the building in Revit as well, just to learn another aspect of the software.