Idea of an Intelligent Building - Development Prospects

An ever-increasing number of offices as also residential buildings are being realised by designers and investors in accordance with the concept of an intelligent building. Houses of the new generation are being constructed. This is possible thanks to dynamic progress in the development of computer and microprocessor engineering techniques. Putting into reality the idea of the'intelligent building'will become one of the most interesting assignments of Polish building industry in the rapidly approaching XXI century. The term'intelligent building'first appeared in the eighties. The idea behind this conception is aspiring to create a friendly, work supporting, effective environment. The revolution in telecommunications and information technology along with change in the standards of office work, have caused computer networks and modem systems of automation and protection, to invade buildings. From the technical point of view, an intelligent building is an object in which all the subsystems co-operate with each other, forming a friendly environment for man. For users of an intelligent building, the most important issue is realisation of the following aims: object management which includes both control of human resources and automation systems in the building and also efficient management of the building space in such a way that the costs of its utilisation are minimised. The possibility of optional installation of modern systems and equipment should be facilitated by the architecture itself. Therefore, the specifics of all the building elements should be taken into account right at the designing stage. The following features characterise an intelligent building: integration of telecommunication systems in the building, central management and supervision system and utilisation of structural cabling as the carrier of signals controlling most of the systems in the building. Presently, there is no building in Poland that could be characterised by the three features mentioned