Create a smart building

by unlocking the data

The challenges of creating a smart building

Most modern buildings are already packed with smart potential. Designed with sensor-rich environments, a majority can run more efficiently and sustainably than ever before while responding in real-time to the needs of inhabitants. However, unlocking these benefits and becoming a real smart building, isn’t as straightforward as pushing a power button.

Besides eliminating the roadblock of data ownership, to realize smart-building benefits property owners need to address an essential communication issue. With various building systems are operating in silos, solving tasks independently within their systems and building data models, valuable data cannot be combined or exchanged machine-to-machine or building-to-building. But carrying out the integrations needed to enable smart building benefits, is an expensive and time-consuming job. And the costs only multiply every time something changes in the underlying system or the amount of data increases.

The importance of speaking the same language

Having a common language is a critical step in the smart building transformation process. When machines and buildings have a shared language, exchanging data across systems and buildings becomes far easier and more reliable, and the smoothly functioning, game-changing smart applications building owners have been dreaming of finally become possible to operate.

The Resource Description Framework

The good news is that a common language already exists. In the early 2000s, a language for writing web ontologies called Resource Description Framework (RDF) was introduced by the World Wide Web Consortium. An RDF description, aka metadata, allows resources like websites to be described, along with their contents in a standardized way. This common language enables machines to communicate with one another and exchange information consistently and formally.

However, an RDF alone is not enough to unlock business value in smart buildings. To take it to the next level of standardization, machines need access to frameworks and vocabularies specific to building operations.

Built on top of RDF, ontologies specific to the real estate trade are the key to making smart buildings work. Two prominent examples are the open-source ontologies Brick Schema and RealEstateCore.

Brick Schema

Brick Schema provides standardized descriptions of technical building assets. This gives building owners an integrated, cross-vendor overview of the various subsystems in a building—such as heating and ventilation, lighting, and security systems—as well as the relationships between them. Seamlessly integrating with existing tools and databases, Brick helps lower costs and simplify development related to the deployment and maintenance of analytics and intelligent control applications.

RealEstateCore

RealEstateCore describes the concepts and relationships that occur in the data generated from building systems—such as building structures, ownership, inhabitants, technical systems, sensors, and events. Essentially, it serves as the technical glue and structure that allows a user interface to be created. And this user interface is what enables property owners to connect their buildings with new services on a large scale, without worrying about building or technology-specific implementation details and formats.

The possibilities of ProptechOS and the RealEstateCore ecosystem

A webinar were we introduce you to a smart real estate project by Vasakronan at Telefonplan.

Watch it here

Unlocking smart building value

Everything clicks into place when Brick Schema and RealEstateCore work in concert. Valuable data flows more freely, formerly complicated system integrations become easier and more reliable, and building managers gain a consistent overview of building operations. And, of course, this means that smart building benefits become far more accessible—both now and in the future, as the possibilities continue to grow.

We will show you how RealEstateCore and Idun ProptechOS is used together with several suppliers at the Vasakronan property Telefonplan (an office building of 30.000 m2 in the southern part of Stockholm) – an amazing case of several actors in an ecosystem working together instead of being point solutions.

Inspiring Smart Buildings

Australia

In designing the Hindmarsh Shire Council offices, Australian-based architect firm wanted to improve energy efficiency while also enhancing the office environment for employees. The building is located in an area that’s exposed to extreme temperature conditions, and the architects wanted to use this to their advantage. They built a series of underground thermal chambers and a ventilation system under the floor to draw in fresh air from the exterior.

The earth naturally cools or warms the air, then redistributes it back through the building. LED lighting systems reduce energy consumption and maintenance, while rooftop solar panels harvest energy from the sun. Cross-flow ventilation and zoned motion-detecting lighting also improves energy efficiency, while vertical green walls enhance indoor air quality.

England

Designed by Siemens, The Crystal in London is one of the world’s most sustainable buildings. The building is 100% electric, and solar roof panels generate about 20 percent of its power. It also monitors its energy usage extensively, and as a result, its carbon emissions are about 70 percent lower than comparable office buildings in the UK.

Inside, a wall of green plants welcome guests. The building recycles much of its water and uses solar energy to heat its hot water. A building energy management system controls all electrical and mechanical systems in the building, including its heating, cooling and ventilation systems, lighting, and solar thermal hot water system.