The Intelligence of Intelligent Buildings The Feasibility of the Intelligent Building Concept in Office Buildings

摘要

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.