Smart Building: intelligent buildings for users

The players in new smart building technologies are seeking to meet the objective of saving energy in the construction of buildings and offices, and to do this they are integrating specific connected equipment. The principle of the smart building consists, among other things, in adapting its management through a connected network, in order to meet the needs of safety and improvement of the quality of life of the occupants, while reducing the costs related to maintenance. The use of IoT technologies allows buildings to be transformed into service platforms with the idea that they are beneficial to users and the work teams that manage their maintenance.

The design of residential, commercial or office buildings that integrate smart building systems that take into account sustainable development is based on respect for the environment and the search for energy savings. Thanks to the technological evolution of the Smart Grid concept, today’s smart building allows the prediction of maintenance loads and energy consumption (electricity, heating, water) in real time, based on a connected and centralized digital network.

The integration of artificial intelligence in Smart Building projects allows the automation of certain actions such as the redistribution of energy to neighbouring buildings, in order to make real estate constructions smarter and more autonomous.

Low energy smart building or smart grid projects encompass the effective optimization of the balance between occupant needs and available energy. Artificial intelligence modelling systems that can be integrated into smart building projects work by using sensors to collect a wide range of data, such as

• • sound level,
  • temperature,
  • pressure,
  • presence detection,
  • alarm triggering.

The integration of AI allows the development of remote maintenance control and the control of various types of installations such as air conditioning, solar panels or elevators.

Smart building actors use connected device systems (IoT) composed of sensors and actuators. These facilities aim to improve the comfort of users. IoT technologies allow to visualize the state of the building in real time:

• • the temperature of the rooms,
  • the state of the equipments,
  • the consumption of heating and electricity,
  • the occupation of the car parks
  • the state of the installations.

Thanks to new technologies, some smart building systems such as BIM make it possible to reproduce the building virtually, right from the start of the construction project.

Thus, the building can be built according to the type of users foreseen, in order to optimize their living comfort, whether they are private households or professional structures. The challenges of the model include the smart reproduction of various elements, such as the design of concrete slabs or walls, in order to reduce material consumption and costs.