TECHNOLOGY INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS
evident from water metering that considerable savings in consumption can be made. Rapid advancements in information and communication technologies, such as the hafnium chip, will increase computer power and speeds of operation. Flexible fold-up electronic screens will make e-material portable anywhere. (Already Silicon Valley is being reborn as Hafnium Valley.) Voice activation is now common, but thought control of mobile devices will make communication and creative design more flexible and immediate to user needs. Cloud computing means virtual data
storage will not only decrease computer energy cooling loads, office space and administration time, but also offer the means for smart mobile devices to tap into the internet for required data. The networked world opens up a new avenue of understanding and opportunity to model complex non-linear dynamic systems for design and management processes. The development of virtual-reality scenarios will allow the client to have much greater participation in design and management processes, as well as allowing greater integration between the various systems. Robotics offers a means of improving
the maintenance and cleaning of systems. Robots can be produced on a human scale or on a nano scale, and can be inserted into ventilation and heating systems in order to give feedback for maintenance schedules and to conduct internal maintenance in systems
where access is difficult. MIT Media Lab is developing robotic walls to make spaces more flexible and adaptable. Attention will need to be given to the education and training of the design and management team, the composition of which will likely change to accommodate other emerging environmental disciplines. In the future, we can expect to see foundation courses for architects, engineers, sociologists, economists, planners and developers, before they specialise in their appropriate disciplines, so they cultivate a common language. Resource consumption, information
and communication systems, client-driven knowledge-based design and construction processes are some of the current key issues, but these have to be viewed within the grand scene for the future described in The Singularity is Near (2005) by Ray Kurzweil, Google’s director of engineering. The ‘singularity’ is an event we cannot
see beyond, such as when people will be at one with intelligent machines – according to Kurzweil, this will be in about 2045. He forecasts that we will be able to reverse- engineer the brain by 2029. Whatever the speculation, the future will be challenging, but will afford us opportunities to improve quality of life throughout the world. Intelligent buildings and cities are a vital part of this evolution. CJ
DEREK CLEMENTS-CROOME Professor Emeritus in Architectural Engineering at the University of Reading
4D printing at MIT
Self-healing building skins, akin to those found in nature, are feasible
The Capital by James Law Cybertecture
The Lilypad by Vincent Callebaut – designed for communities threatened by rising sea levels
Google’s 3D glasses
50
CIBSE Journal February 2014
www.cibsejournal.com
HELGA ESTEB / SHUTTERSTOCK
VINCENT CALLEBAUT ARCHITECTURES
-WWW.VINCENT.CALLEBAUT.ORG
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