10 of the Smartest Buildings in the World
July 25, 2019
![smart building smart building](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt31d6b0704ba96e9d/blt9ef21bf72af907c6/63abe7b4277c975330044558/smart-building-inside.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
Shop and AI. e-commerce concept.Getty Images
No roundup of smart buildings would be complete without mentioning The Edge in Amsterdam. Hailed as one of the smartest buildings by Bloomberg and RCR Wireless News the building is equipped with some 28,000 sensors. Its main tenant, Deloitte, uses the data to adapt how the building functions based on how the employees within it work, shutting down sections of the building that are not in use to conserve energy. The building also keeps a schedule for employees, giving them instructions of where to go to ensure they are at the right place at the right time. Workers can use smartphones to interact with the building, using an app to locate colleagues, adjust the temperature or schedule when they can work out in the building’s gym. Also worth noting is the fact that the structure produces more energy than it uses. The Building Research Establishment determined the structure to be the world’s most sustainable.
Credit: REMKO DE WAAL/AFP via Getty Images
The multi-purpose stadium in London is brimming with technology. Tottenham partnered with LG to equip the stadium with advanced TVs and signs and HPE to outfit the building with networking. The stadium boasts more than 1,600 Wi-Fi access points to support free wireless access to the 62,062 fans who can fit in the stadium when it is full. 700 Bluetooth beacons work with a smartphone app to help fans navigate their way to restaurants, stores, bars and other locations in the stadium. The same beacon technology measures fan occupancy data to help redirect fans waiting in a long line for a restroom to a shorter one. The stadium’s core wired network infrastructure supports services such as building management systems, audio-visual data and closed-circuit TV feeds. The stadium also features a retractable pitch developed by the Sheffield-based engineering firm SCX, making it possible to switch in roughly 25 minutes from a grass-based field for Tottenham Spurs games to artificial turf for NFL American football matches and other types of events. “It is an NFL stadium and that’s the key message,” Tottenham’s head of business development, Aidan Mullally told Sports Pro. “From the very start during the design phase, we have had the NFL in mind. The anchor tenant is Tottenham Hotspur, but this is designed to be a permanent home for the NFL outside the US.”
Nicknamed Schlauchboot (inflatable boat) in German, the arena’s exterior can change color like a chameleon, turning green for St. Patrick’s Day, for instance. A digital control system can modify more than 3000,000 lights. But the most impressive technology lives within. The facility uses an array of sensors and cloud-based analytics on Siemens’ MindSphere platform to keep track of the health of the grass on the field and to make recommendations. For instance, if the temperature is too cold, the system kicks on a heater. If the turf is too dry, it will irrigate at the most optimal moment. Also related to the stadium, Siemens hooked up with the Economist Group to use acoustic cameras with sound mapping software to study how fans respond to key moments of games. The software can create 3-D models to help quantify fans’ reactions to the game.
This 288-room hotel may look conventional externally, but it is home to a number of robots that are part of a package of amenities designed to draw Chinese tourists, according to the L.A. Times. There are robots to help guide you around the lobby. To prevent them from crashing into unsuspecting guests, the robots are equipped with sensors. The hotel is one of the first in the United States to host these types of robots. Another to embrace the technology is the YOTEL Hotel in Boston’s Seaport District.
The Salesforce isn’t just the tallest building in the San Francisco skyline. It also uses a variety of smart building technologies including digital twins that help understand the use of space, modeling, for instance, how conference rooms are used. Targeting LEED Platinum status, the building also makes use of a smart HVAC system and water recycling. The building makes leverages sunshades and a glazed façade to cut heat from the sun. The building has a converged network with VOIP, WAN, LAN and high-density WiFi. Earlier this year, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat named Salesforce Tower the “Best Tall Building Worldwide for 2019.”
Based in the center of London’s Green Enterprise District, the Crystal made waves after it opened in 2012 for being the first building to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and Leed Platinum sustainability rankings. With a £30 million price tag, the Crystal features a sophisticated building management system that keeps tabs on every kilowatt of electricity it consumes. The building is equipped with a Siemens’ lighting control system that controls each lamp within the structure to optimize electricity consumption. When the weather is mild, the system opens windows to let air in from outside. When the weather is extreme, it automatically closes the window and puts an interior ventilation system in charge.
Apple Park’s circular $5-billion building may not have received universal acclaim from architects, but the building is one of the most energy-efficient structures internationally. Powered entirely by renewable energy, the solar panels on the roof of the structure produce 17 megawatts of energy — one of the biggest totals of any solar roof. The building’s HVAC system allows air to flow between the inside and outside nine months out of the year.
The tallest building in London, the Leadenhall Building made extensive use of IoT technology during its construction. RFID-based data tags helped builders keep track of the location of components and installation. A total of 83 percent of the construction was done off-site, streamlining construction. The 48-story building, nicknamed the “cheesegrater,” includes some 293 energy meters on-site to monitor the use of lights. The buildings’ Kone elevators whisk visitors from the ground floor in 30 seconds.
In the past two decades, Samsung has invested $17 billion in its Austin facility. Recently, Samsung Austin Semiconductor became the home of a 5G Innovation Zone. The result of partnership between Samsung and AT&T, the 5G Innovation Zone is a laboratory for a variety of connectivity technologies ranging from 5G, of course to LTE and Wi-Fi. The two companies established the lab to investigate the potential of 5G to help drive data collection and analysis while also reducing the need for running wire throughout the various buildings on the campus. The companies are also investigating the use of 5G for safety applications, where 5G’s ultra-low latency could prove advantageous in helping first responders locate employees in an emergency. The facility is also testing the use of 5G in conjunction with 4K live video and IoT sensing to help drive factory automation advances.
Schneider’s facility in Lexington is not new. But having been in operation for more than six decades, the facility is a case study in how a brownfield facility can incorporate cutting-edge technology. The facility makes use of an array of technology, from Schneider’s EcoStruxure platform to augmented reality. The company boasts that its Ecostruxure Augmented Operator Advisor helped drive a 20% reduction in the time needed to repair critical equipment while its EcoStruxure Resource Advisor and Power Monitoring Expert was responsible for a 3.5% annual reduction in energy use. The company’s RFID functionality OsiSense eliminated 128 daily fork truck miles.
Schneider’s facility in Lexington is not new. But having been in operation for more than six decades, the facility is a case study in how a brownfield facility can incorporate cutting-edge technology. The facility makes use of an array of technology, from Schneider’s EcoStruxure platform to augmented reality. The company boasts that its Ecostruxure Augmented Operator Advisor helped drive a 20% reduction in the time needed to repair critical equipment while its EcoStruxure Resource Advisor and Power Monitoring Expert was responsible for a 3.5% annual reduction in energy use. The company’s RFID functionality OsiSense eliminated 128 daily fork truck miles.
By 2060, the world’s population could be 10 billion, according to projections from the United Nations, which, incidentally, also anticipates that more than two-thirds of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050. Supporting the earth’s quickly growing population demands more intelligent use of resources. Enter smart buildings, which can help optimize energy consumption while also offering an array of other capabilities such as ensuring optimal use of office space while also gauging employee productivity. Here, we round up ten smart buildings, from a smart factory to smart office buildings to cutting-edge stadiums.
[Smart Home Summit is the conference that focuses on interoperability, cybersecurity and the future of the smart home. Save $200 on your conference pass with VIP code “IOTWORLDTODAY”.]
About the Author(s)
You May Also Like