Building owners, designers, contractors and facility managers are all trying to build or renovate buildings identified as "smart" buildings. In general we think of smart buildings as being innovative, using advanced technology and materials, contributing to reduced energy usage and the sustainability of the building, and providing more efficient and effective operation. But the high-level, generic understanding of smart buildings doesn't do justice to the concept or assist design teams or contractors, and it really doesn't reflect the complexity of today's buildings.

General, ethereal attributes describing smart buildings don't help in defining a smart building in a way that the industry can have a common understanding of the concept. In contrast, look at "green" buildings or energy efficient or sustainable buildings; here you'll find dozens of countries with environmental or energy building certifications with specific details on the requirements to be certified as a green building.  Recall twenty years ago when the USGBC was formed, the idea was to provide the building industry with a system to define and measure "green buildings". We need a similar effort for smart buildings to support the building industry.  

There have been various attempts to explain a smart or intelligent building. They include the Asian Institute of Intelligent Buildings (AIIB), the Building Research Establishment Ltd., the Intelligent Building Society of Korea (IBSK), the Shanghai Construction Council (SCC), the Architecture and Building Research Institute (Taiwan) and finally the Smart Buildings Institute (SBI) in the USA. (http://www.smartbuildingsinstitute.org/)

The SBI certifies buildings in the Americas as well internationally. The SBI certification structure is similar to LEED certification, having prerequisites with other measures credit-based where applicants earn credits after implementation of SBI measures.  

Defining the attributes of a smart building cannot be done in 1000 or 1500 words; buildings are too complex and the features of a smart building too numerous. So what follows is the first of several articles that will "frame" the major attributes of a smart building as well as provide details.  This initial article will focus on three of the major attributes of a smart building: cabling infrastructure, lighting control systems and facility management tools.

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