This thesis is based on the author's independent scientific thinking on the essence of building intelligence since 1988, for the purpose of establishing and arguing for the Building Intelligence Framework (BIF). Furthermore, it is based on the Intelligent Buildings (IBs) Survey of twelve office buildings in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The survey was done right after the first boom of construction of intelligent buildings was over in Finland.
There is no universal definition for the intelligent building concept, although a certain consensus about the concept can be found. There is little empirical evidence about the feasibility of or the factors involved in any intelligent building and there is no description of the intelligence of buildings, or if using the concept of intelligence in the context of quality of a building is valid. Consequently, there is no evidence about such an intelligent building, which is defined by the BIF. In fact, at the beginning of the IBs Survey project not only the feasibility, but even the existence, of the intelligent building concept was questioned.
The IBs Survey project was carried out at the Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT, Building Technology, in 1993-1997, in order to study the feasibility of the IB concept and its existence. After finished the IBs Survey project at VTT, the author of this thesis has continued the analysis of the data of the IBs Survey within scientific studies since 1996 and during the research work on this thesis she has gained a deeper understanding of the essence of the building intelligence, which has bothered her mind since the beginning of her studies on the IBs from 1988.
The IBs Survey was a post-occupancy study on office building quality. The quality of the intelligent office buildings was compared to that of the other high quality office buildings. The hypothesis of the IBs Survey project was that the existence of the differences between the qualities of the intelligent and the other office buildings will prove the existence of the IB concept. The lack of the differences between the intelligent and the other office buildings will talk for the absence of any effect of the implementation of the IB concept. The IBs Survey project at VTT proved both some differences between and some similarities in the qualities of the IBs and the other office buildings.
This thesis is a summary of the results of the scientific studies based on the IBs Survey data, and on the other hand this thesis is a monograph on the BIF. The scientific studies based on the IBs Survey data proves or disproves the existence and feasibility of the IB concept and the BIF determines the essence of the building intelligence. The final goal is a synthesis of the IBs Survey and the BIF.
The different intelligent building concepts define the intelligent buildings, not the intelligence of the building. This thesis suggests a definition of building intelligence – called the Building Intelligence (BI) – on the premise that human intelligence can imprint intelligence into an inorganic object, such as a building. The implementation of the BI into intelligent buildings is shown by the BIF. The difference between the IB concepts and the BI is clarified. On one hand, the use of the IB concepts for technical purposes, and on the other hand, the scientific aims of the BI and its implementation into the building practise of the IBs – the BIF – is explained.
The alternation of the tacit and explicit knowledge of the IB concept is shown to form the platform for the appearance of any building concept. The definition of the building intelligence (the BI) is an explicit articulation of the internal stock of knowledge of intelligent buildings. The purpose of the BI is to separate out the buildings built according to the IB concept from the buildings built according to other building concepts. The derivation of the IB from the IB concepts and human intelligence – the BIF – can be used as a starting point for the next phase or version of the definition of a building concept, which can be either intelligent or something new.
The further the analysis of the empirical data on the IBs Survey proceeds the more evidence of the differences between office buildings, which have been designed using the intelligent building concept as a leading design criterion and the buildings, which have not been designed according to the IB concept criteria are found in terms of the efficacy of these office buildings. This difference is witnessed by the quality evaluation of the end product – i.e. that of the building itself. This quality evaluation is an end-user evaluation, which evaluates the importance of quality of the office building and that of its components to the working efficiency of the evaluator. This is how the evaluation result turns into the efficacy of the office building system, which is composed of its components, i.e. of its subsystems. The result supports the feasibility of the IB concept in office design.
The evaluation results from the post-occupancy study correlate with the job description and gender of the office worker. In general, executives evaluate their working environment better than other occupancy groups. The opinions of professionals and clerical staff differ according to the building property concerned and according to the gender of the respondent.
Important parameters of the intelligent office building design have been sought out from among a large number of parameters of the intelligent building concepts. This extrapolation is based on the empirical evidence from the results of the IBs Survey and the definition of the BIF, which highlights certain factors of the IB concepts.
The existence of the IBs is dependent on the application of the IB concept factors during the building design process. It can be concluded, that the IB concept criteria will be fulfilled best, if the building design is based on more than one of the elements of the IB concept. Furthermore, the quality of the intelligent subsystems must not fail, if the target is a good intelligent working environment.
The thesis closes with the synthesis of some of the results of the IBs Survey and the theory of the BIF. Finally, the IB elements should form a functional combination, an integrated solution. Simply adding high technology, is not enough. Embedding the building intelligence by merging it into the building is held up as the intelligent solution to the design of a successful intelligent workplace.
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