A table remains a table. With lighting, partitions, shading or acoustically effective room systems, things have become considerably more complicated. Sensors detect occupancy, lighting responds to use and daylight, shading communicates with climate and energy management systems, and rooms generate data about how they are actually being used. Interior and building technology are becoming technically interconnected.
For the contract sector, this is more than another digitalisation trend. It changes what can actually be considered a “product” when planning an interior. In a connected building, a luminaire is no longer just a source of light and a design element. It can also be a sensor, a data source and part of the building automation system. The same increasingly applies to shading, acoustic solutions or flexible spatial systems.
The traditional boundary between interior fit-out and technical building services is becoming more porous. And it is precisely at this boundary that the intelligence of a building is increasingly determined.
When interiors start providing data
For manufacturers in the contract business, this raises a very practical question: What can a product do beyond its primary function – and which other systems can it communicate with?
That may initially sound like a building technology issue. But it directly affects product development, tendering and specification. What data does a solution provide? Is that data accessible? Which interfaces are available? Is communication proprietary, or can the product be integrated into higher-level systems? And what happens if the building automation platform or software is replaced five or ten years later?
This also shifts part of the value proposition. In the contract business, manufacturers may no longer simply be selling a physical product. Increasingly, they may be supplying a node within a much larger technical infrastructure.
The professional lighting market already offers an indication of where this is heading. Sensors, controls, occupancy data and building management are moving closer together. Lighting occupies a particularly attractive position within this infrastructure: it is present almost everywhere in a building, usually has access to power and is located close to the people using the space.
40,000 data points – but who understands them?
Seen from this perspective, the message currently being promoted by ISH 2027 around systems integration becomes more interesting. Dr Peter Hug, Managing Director of the Building Automation Association within VDMA, says large buildings can contain 40,000 data points or more. Information comes from heating, air conditioning, ventilation, lifts, blinds, lighting and numerous other systems.
The impressive number is not, however, a measure of quality. 40,000 data points do not make a smart building. What matters is whether that information is available, meaningfully structured and usable across different systems.
This is what determines whether an energy management system can do more than display consumption figures and actually respond to how a building is being used. An empty room, after all, does not need to be illuminated, ventilated or conditioned in the same way as a fully occupied one.
And suddenly, what appeared to be a building services issue becomes a question of spatial planning.
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A table remains a table. With lighting, partitions, shading or acoustically effective room systems, things have become considerably more complicated. Sensors detect occupancy, lighting responds to use and daylight, shading communicates with climate and energy management systems, and rooms generate data about how they are actually being used. Interior and building technology are becoming technically interconnected.
For the contract sector, this is more than another digitalisation trend. It changes what can actually be considered a “product” when planning an interior. In a connected building, a luminaire is no longer just a source of light and a design element. It can also be a sensor, a data source and part of the building automation system. The same increasingly applies to shading, acoustic solutions or flexible spatial systems.
The traditional boundary between interior fit-out and technical building services is becoming more porous. And it is precisely at this boundary that the intelligence of a building is increasingly determined.
When interiors start providing data
For manufacturers in the contract business, this raises a very practical question: What can a product do beyond its primary function – and which other systems can it communicate with?
That may initially sound like a building technology issue. But it directly affects product development, tendering and specification. What data does a solution provide? Is that data accessible? Which interfaces are available? Is communication proprietary, or can the product be integrated into higher-level systems? And what happens if the building automation platform or software is replaced five or ten years later?
This also shifts part of the value proposition. In the contract business, manufacturers may no longer simply be selling a physical product. Increasingly, they may be supplying a node within a much larger technical infrastructure.
The professional lighting market already offers an indication of where this is heading. Sensors, controls, occupancy data and building management are moving closer together. Lighting occupies a particularly attractive position within this infrastructure: it is present almost everywhere in a building, usually has access to power and is located close to the people using the space.
40,000 data points – but who understands them?
Seen from this perspective, the message currently being promoted by ISH 2027 around systems integration becomes more interesting. Dr Peter Hug, Managing Director of the Building Automation Association within VDMA, says large buildings can contain 40,000 data points or more. Information comes from heating, air conditioning, ventilation, lifts, blinds, lighting and numerous other systems.
The impressive number is not, however, a measure of quality. 40,000 data points do not make a smart building. What matters is whether that information is available, meaningfully structured and usable across different systems.
This is what determines whether an energy management system can do more than display consumption figures and actually respond to how a building is being used. An empty room, after all, does not need to be illuminated, ventilated or conditioned in the same way as a fully occupied one.
And suddenly, what appeared to be a building services issue becomes a question of spatial planning.