In a rapidly expanding world, AI is spearheading a transformation in smart buildings, ushering in a new era of unprecedented efficiency and occupant comfort. With a broad range of capabilities, AI tools are addressing workplace challenges, from sensors and analytics to automation and communication. Let’s explore how AI is reshaping the future of smart buildings, leveraging cutting-edge technology to optimize corporate real estate and business goals.
AI unleashed in the workplace
AI tools are positioned as problem solvers, equipped with versatile functions. However, their success hinges on the alignment with a client’s corporate real estate strategy, culture, and technological ambition. In the built environment, AI’s utility is limited by the building’s infrastructure and corporate policies.
AI’s deployment in the workplace extends to various areas, including sensors, analytics, automation, communication, and reporting. A prime example is the use of AI to gather user feedback, such as comfort surveys, thermostat adjustments, and occupancy data. This information, coupled with external factors like weather and electrical grid carbon intensity, enables AI tools to craft optimal operating schedules. Over time, AI learns the workspace’s dynamics, proactively adjusting conditions to optimize comfort and energy efficiency.
Living labs: real-world AI testing
To overcome the intricacies and inertia of legacy technologies, living labs offer a solution. These real-world environments serve as testing grounds for AI tools, both independently and as part of a comprehensive system. Such testing ensures that newly developed technologies seamlessly integrate into smart building platforms, supporting multi-site portfolios.
M Moser’s smart building program, spanning 12 global offices, exemplifies this approach. Each office is connected to a portfolio cloud service, facilitating continuous testing and confidence-building in technology performance and compatibility. A validation project with a smart sensor supplier, for instance, demonstrated the sensor’s AI-enabled people counting capabilities, optimizing space utilization.
Empowering occupiers with AI
AI empowers clients to enhance occupant experiences, monitor space performance, and maintain equipment efficiently. A global banking client’s headquarters project in New York City showcases one of the broadest applications of technology and AI in a commercial office setting. The project aligns with diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) values, deploying sensors that report environmental conditions to a digital twin. This cloud-based replica analyzes data using AI, providing real-time and predictive statistics to user engagement dashboards and mobile apps. Occupants can now find a working environment that suits their needs seamlessly.
Moreover, AI tools pull data from various sensors to enable predictive maintenance. By monitoring equipment energy consumption and vibration, facilities management teams can focus servicing efforts on equipment that truly requires attention. This approach has led to a remarkable 50% reduction in service costs for a global entertainment company’s London headquarters.
AI’s impact on smart buildings sustainability
AI’s reach extends to sustainability efforts. Collaborating with a global financial services client, AI was used to gather real-time energy data from the client’s London office and electrical grid carbon intensity data from a web service. The system generated compliance and sustainability reports for operational carbon, predicting carbon intensity to optimize power-intensive processes. This not only supports sustainability goals but also reduces operational costs.
Optimizing space usage
One of the most critical applications of AI tools is evaluating space performance and aligning office needs with available resources. Corporate real estate (CRE) executives can make informed decisions on space deployment, optimizing existing space to drive business growth. AI tools analyze space data to provide insights into what’s happening and where, but they can’t answer the “why.” Human intervention and observation remain essential to provide clients with valuable insights.
AI and the employee experience
The relationship between occupants and technology is complex. Striking the right balance between providing valuable, non-intrusive services and respecting privacy is crucial. AI-driven dashboards, for instance, can support change, transparency, and communication of values, such as sharing decarbonization progress with employees. These tools are especially relevant in a world where work patterns are evolving in response to climate concerns and the post-pandemic landscape.
AI’s data-rich environment also bolsters DEI initiatives, offering on-demand information and trends to support neurodiversity and accessibility needs. Addressing control issues, such as balancing increased ventilation for health with energy savings for decarbonization, becomes more manageable through AI.
The imperceptible AI
Tesla Motors’ design mantra, “All input is error,” underscores the goal of AI implementation in smart buildings. The system should operate optimally without continuous human intervention. When AI seamlessly integrates across sensors, services, building controls, and automation, occupants should remain unaware of its existence. The space should consistently provide the right conditions.
Ironically, the highest mark of AI’s success in the workplace is its imperceptibility. As it invisibly enhances comfort, efficiency, and sustainability, AI becomes an indispensable ally in the evolution of smart buildings, shaping a brighter and more sustainable future for workspaces worldwide.
AI’s integration into smart buildings is revolutionizing the way we work and interact with our surroundings. From optimizing energy efficiency to enhancing occupant comfort, AI’s influence is undeniable. As technology continues to evolve, the seamless integration of AI into the workplace promises a future where smart buildings offer not only efficiency but also a truly enhanced and sustainable experience for all occupants.
