Over the past decade, advancements in technology and a growing emphasis on human experiences have greatly influenced how buildings are designed, constructed, and operated.

Emmanuel Daniel, CEO and Founder of Alosanar, concurs.

Speaking at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2024, Daniel expounded on all things smart buildings, detailing to attendees how various building-wide systems—such as HVAC, lighting, alarms, and security—converge into a single IT-managed network infrastructure.

Smart Buildings: Engagement and Empowerment

Modern buildings are designed to empower not only the occupants themselves, as we used to see in the past, but also their friends and family to allow them to engage emotionally and create meaningful and unbelievable experiences in community spaces. At a business level, a building project now includes the influence of the occupants' stakeholders by providing them with the environment and the resources they need to become more efficient and productive. 

This could include flexible workspace configurations and interactive interfaces, allowing occupants to access building services and resources efficiently.

Personalization and Customization

User research and analysis are imperative to gain insights into the demographics, behaviors, preferences, and pain points of the building's potential occupants. This involves data analysis to understand their lifestyles, work habits, and expectations from the built environment.

Based on the findings from user research, developing personas helps represent different segments of the building's target audience. Each persona should encapsulate key characteristics, goals, motivations, and challenges of the occupants it represents. This has helped stakeholders empathize with the diverse needs of building users and tailor design solutions accordingly.

Daniel explains the next step is mapping out the typical user journey for each persona, which is a method that can be used to detail their interactions and experiences throughout their time in the building. By identifying touchpoints, pain points, and opportunities for improvement, building managers can help enhance user satisfaction and engagement at every stage of their journey when they are experiencing the building in their daily lives. 

Data-Driven Decision Making

According to Daniel, data is crucial in optimizing building performance and enhancing occupant experiences. People, activity, and facility data should be the focus for improving experiences in any building project.

Smart buildings leverage data analytics and IoT technologies to personalize experiences for occupants based on their preferences and behaviors. It's currently about more than choosing the best system or technology; how can they seemingly orchestrate all this data across all the systems? This also involves how AI will influence how the design of buildings better engages with the occupants.

The last decade has seen remarkable progress in making buildings smarter, more efficient, and more sustainable. As technology continues to evolve, the future holds even more exciting possibilities for creating intelligent but also resilient, meaningful, and environmentally responsible buildings.