Reflection Group A: Tran

Course Reflection

This course gave me insight on the architecture, engineering, and construction industry through the lens of different guests’ speakers. These presentations and discussions provided me with an idea of the future for buildings. It made me evaluate my skills and how it could be best used. Additionally, it informed me of what skills are in demands, signaling me to pay attention to what I should be considering on improving on in the job market. One particular presentation on business and client relationships struck me as extremely interesting. It provided to me perhaps with a more jaded perspective, however, the struggles are real. Academics and education provides students with idealized beliefs in creativity, innovation, and how it interfaces with design. However, the stark reality of entering the job market and becoming a slave to clients who are not so concerned with real energy savings (rather sustainability marketing) was a little demoralizing. Nonetheless, I learned that energy savings are tailored to individual buildings and its operations. It taught me that the design process is a small fraction of the bigger picture. It showed me that there should be bigger emphasis on considering building operations and how to improve upon the control system. I thought this was a great segue into the database part of the course. Though it was a bit banal, I think it provided me with technical and theory based knowledge on building a database. It made me think: how can I use this tool to help me design?

The culmination of BIM, sensors, databases, and intelligent buildings has resulted in a design endeavor that goes beyond this course. Upon working on my term project- I realized some missing links and weaknesses of Revit, especially pertaining to mechanical design. Most engineers would think twice before using Revit for load calculations, despite its capabilities. This is largely because it is not reliable. So a lot of mechanical engineers tend to tediously input information from Revit into Trane TRACE to conduct calculations. This process I have realized is extremely fragmented and can be dealt with more efficiently. How exactly? I’m not sure. However, I think course has provided me with some immense building blocks to solve that issue. My future intent is to try and streamline mechanical calculations by extract the necessary ingredients from Revit models. 

Comments:
Comment on Flint's Post 

Comment on Aikin's Post 

B7 - Derek Zaccheo - Group A

This was a very interesting course. It really went into a lot of depth, as to what technologies are out there and how they can potentially impact the future of the construction industry. Personally I have never been in a class that was this unique and that covered so many different broad topics. It really helped me get a good sense of the industry as a whole and the specific areas that we covered.

                One of the aspects that I liked the most about this course was actually hearing from people in the industry talk about their work. Those presentations really helped me get insight into the industry and hearing about some of their life experiences can really help me when I go out into the world after college. My favorite presentation was Travis’s, he seemed like he was honest about his successes and faults and I think hearing about those life experiences really helped a lot of people in the class get a good perspective of what to expect in the industry.

                The only thing I didn’t love about the course was the database portion of it. This kind of seemed thrown in and didn’t seem to fit in with the overall theme of the class. I’m still a little confused on how to operate databases and how they really fit into the theme of this course. I get that it can be used for things like Revit and that it is a collection of databases but it just doesn’t really seem fit well into what we talk about.

                I feel that overall this class did affect my future as a civil engineer because now I will be out looking for these technologies. When my company wants someone to come learn software I will be the one to volunteer to learn it because as the industry shifts you must shift with it or get left behind. This class also really helped me understand that in the industry you can’t be afraid of change and that if possible you should embrace technologies if they could have a positive impact on your work. 

Reference:

https://www.evernote.com/pub/aengineer/ae-510#st=p&n=170d43e8-d352-4adf-badd-65c1b3687ea9

Comments:

Comment on Gary's post

Comment on Rebecca's post

B7 - Gary Reiff - Course Reflection

This was a very interesting course in my personal opinion.  I have never had a class go into this kind of depth on futuristic technology.  The first thing we discussed in class was artificial intelligence.  While this does not currently have as much of a direct effect on my future profession (structural engineer), I can see it impacting the profession in a major way in the future, especially during the construction phase of structures.  Artificial intelligence could have a positive or negative impact on my profession in the future depending on whose point of view your looking from.  From an owners point of view drones and other forms of artificial intelligence can be beneficial by saving money on laborers, as well as on insurance for the workers or any other type of injuries.  At the same time, artificial intelligence can take jobs away from hard working and innocent people just because owners want to save money and reduce the chance of injury on the job.  I will be very interested to see how this plays out over the next 10-15 years.

Next, in class we went into great detail discussing BIM and databases.  These two topics I believe will have less of an impact on my profession in the future.  While BIM can be very useful for a structural engineering working on buildings, I personally am working more on the transportation side with bridges.  Therefore, I will not be working with BIM very much.  Also, BIM is used more on the architectural side of buildings rather than the structural side.  The same can be said about databases.

So overall, I would say this was a very good course to have taken during my time here at Drexel University.  Not only did I learn an incredible amount about the future of the architectural engineering field, I learned a little about how the field of structural engineering might be effected as well.  I would highly recommend others to consider taking this course in the future.  My only critique is to focus a little less on databases on the future.  I just have trouble seeing myself ever making databases in my field in the future.  While I can't say that is the same for everyone else taking this course, I can personally say that about me.

Comments
1.) Rebecca Lynch's Comment
2.) Laura Worley's Comment

Class Reflection - Rebecca Lynch

Like many other students, I too found this class very interesting. I came into the class with very little expectations as the topic seemed so broad that it was hard to determine what we would be learning. I also had almost no experience with Revit or any other BIM software, besides from using Bentley products for structural design. I found the class projects to be a great way to demonstrate the tools that are available to us and how they work. The Revit project taught me a lot about the benefits and potential of these kinds of software in drafting buildings. This was further emphasized with the guest speakers who demonstrated the usefulness of these products in the professional world through showing how they use them every day, although my favorite speaker was the one who had his own firm and talked about the faults in new technologies. The database project then taught a lot about the uses of databases and how they are used. It also exemplified the importance of planning in databases as making changes to tables then must be propagated in the design of the queries and forms for ease of use of the database. However, the project then showed that once the database is properly designed and built, the insertion and editing of data becomes simple for the users as changes only need to be made once and everything else will update. Finally, I found the blog posts and term report to be an interesting way of allowing us to branch into the topics that were interesting to us. I learned a lot about the future technologies that are being developed that will improve our way of life and simplify the design of structures.

The most important thing that I learned in this class, however, was the benefits of BIM programs and their growing importance in the buildings industry. While I do not work at an architectural engineering firm, it is clear that the industry is moving towards the integration of all relevant models into one for the construction of structures. Even this past week, one of the clients my job works for requested that the structural information be put into their Revit model. This will be useful on all sides as it will be easy to visualize the finalized building, make sure there are no clashes, and provide a quick bill of materials for the project, to say the least. I plan to continue to play with Revit in my spare time to become accustomed to these types of tools for the future.

Comments:
Mark Lodato
Adrian Kuzniarowicz

Course Reflection - Samuel Boyce

I think this course achieved what it set out to do, which is commendable as with the tight schedule that Drexel has it does not take much to throw a course off and cause topics to be dropped. I feel confident now that I would be able to partake in a discussion about Intelligent Buildings (IB), and even bring some of the technologies into the conversation at work. Although it was a broad course, the assignments, blog posts and final paper have helped me drill down into particular areas that I wanted. I think the course is set up well to achieve this.

Assignments

These two assignments were well utilised in order to demonstrate the power of the programs used, as well as how they interplay with IB. The Revit exercise actually inspired me to take a run at modelling my senior design project, and although I did not use it for the final project in this class, it has come out quite well. By demonstrating the principles of Revit, a good basis of knowledge was formed, where I can now watch YouTube videos of Revit tutorials and make use of them.

In terms of the database assignment, although I had created one before using Access, I was not aware of their wide ranging uses. Although some of the definitions and terminology held me up, I was able to create the database with ease once I had leaned the basic components.

Lectures

The lectures were all very useful, and I think the usage of class time to  collaborate amongst group members was well placed. The outside lecturers were great and even better was the one by someone who does not have the same pro-view of Intelligent Buildings. I was not too familiar with BIM before this course, and therefore by having industry professionals come in to discuss their usage of it was a great opportunity to see the benefits. The other lectures given were well organised, and I think the organisation of them was well set.

I have definitely learned a lot on this class, and I feel it will serve me well in the upcoming years as this technology becomes more prevalent. Although I will be working for a geotechnical contractor, I still believe there will be ample chances for the involvement of technology described in this class, especially after researching my final paper topic, wearable technology.


Comments

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/03/course-reflection-yuyang-shi.html?showComment=1456859388845#c6565232343337264444

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b7-group-b-schroeder.html?showComment=1456859600427#c3119662865375305394

B5 - Group A - Yuanjin LI

This blog will discuss the relational database theory. Database is well known as a collection of information this is organized so that it can be easily accessed, managed and updated. Databases are usually classified by organizational approach. Originally, databases were flat. All the information was stored in one long text file, called a delimited file. It is difficult to search for specific information and update those existed files. Then the relational database appears. It was invented by E.F.Codd who is an IBM researcher in 1970.

 

What is the difference between relational databases and normal databases? A relational database is a collection of data that can be accessed, managed and reassembled in many different ways. These data items are organized as a set of formally described table. When people access it the system do not need to reorganize these database tables. Today most of routine data transactions like accessing bank accounts, using credit cards and buying thing online are all use structures based relational database theory.

 

The structured query language (SQL) can not be ignored if we want to discuss the relational database theory. This structured query language is a kind of programming language designed for managing data in a relational database management system (RDBMS). It is the standard user and application program interface of relational database. It is used for information interactive query from a relational database and for gathering data to generate reports.

 

A relational database is a set of tables including data fitted into predefined categories. Files are represented by a table that stores information about different entries. Each table (or sometimes called relation) contains one or more data entries in columns. And each row represents an instant of data that related to the entries defined by the columns. Here is a simple example of the database of books.

In this example, each row corresponds to one tuple and a column corresponds to an attribute. An attribute is different named book’s information and each attribute is associated with a domain. The advantages of the relational database are it is easy to create and access because of the predefined categories. Except that, it is easy to extend as well. A new data category can be added without requiring the existing attributes.

 

 

 

Reference

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question599.htm

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/reldb/

http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/definition/database http://searchsqlserver.techtarget.com/definition/relational-database

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/relational-databases-the-inspiration-behind-the-theory/

 

 

Comment

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/group-b5-samuel-boyce.html

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b5-janet-tran-group-a.html

Group A - B5 - Samuel Boyce

Relational Database Theory

When databases first began, they were flat. This meant that they were not stored in a table, such as that which we are used to when using Excel. The flat file, was called a tab delimited file. Information was entered into these in a way which you will be used to if you have used Matlab. In Matlab, you must enter tables/matrices in a single line, with a ";" separating the entries. The linear nature of the data meant that searches had to be performed by progressing through the whole document, and there was no way to identify records by their particular fields.

This is where relational databases come into play. This breakthrough meant that tables could be created that were accessible to those who were not specialists in computing. All the data was gathered and stored in a way that it was readily accessible. The math behind the idea ensured this. The programming meant that the computer was able to figure out how and where the information was stored. The data was linked instead of being separate instances. By storing data in rows and columns, you allow for it to be accessed very quickly. This aids the computer in manipulating the data. 

By linking the data, you are able to nest thousands of tables within one larger one. Many retail companies use this. One of which you will all be familiar with is Amazon. The advantages of this are clear. By nesting these tables, you are able to create a situation where requests for data can change often, such as when a customer requests certain items that are under $100 and over three stars. This is made possible by relational databases. 

Sources:

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/reldb/

http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~maier/TheoryBook/TRD.html

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question599.htm

Comments:
http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b5.html?showComment=1455033817037#c4547866277158625962

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/b5-sql-group-b-kai-waechter.html?showComment=1455033903425#c767823399232845177

Derek Zaccheo - B5 - Group A

Relational database is a database system where the information is stored as a relational model of data. This means that you can store and retrieve data without knowing all the back end coding for the data. This method was created by E. F. Codd back in 1970 and has been widely used to this day. To further simplify relational databases. If you have a table with two columns in it and you wanted to change the one of those columns then it would delete the entire table without a relational database. With a relational database it would store those columns as two separate tables and then will allow you to manipulate columns individually without having to delete the whole table. Structured Query Language or SQL is the language used in most relational databases. SQL became the standard language to use back in 1986 and was developed in the 70's by Donald Chamberlin and Raymond Boyce.

The relational database is built in two different stages, the logical data model is created first and then the physical data model is created afterwards. The logical data model allows you to create a layout for the design of the entire database itself. The physical data model creates the data tables themselves and the columns and rows. These databases use key terms to define the tables. Entity is information that is needed from the real world and the information topic that you want to store data on. The attribute is used to detail information about a certain entity instance or some information that you want to track. A primary key is used to identify certain entities which means that every entity will have a different primary key. A primary key can be one attribute or it can contain several depending on what the user wishes and the values in the primary key have to have a value in them they can never be blank. Before relational databases they used tab delimited files. These differed from relational databases because every entry is separated by certain characters. This causes each entry to contain many pieces of information in it.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/knowing-just-enough-about-relational-databases.html
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question599.htm

Comments:
Comment on Gary Reiff's post
Comment on Rebecca's post

Gary Reiff - B5 - Group A

A database can be described as relational when it has been design to conform, or mostly conform to a set of practices known as the rules of normalization.  In order to understand relational database, the basics of a database need to be know first.  A database is typically constructed in two different stages.  The first stage is creating a logical data model.  A logical data model allow you to lay out the design and organization of the database.  The second stage is the creation of the physical data model.  The physical data model sets up the parts of the database visible to users, such as columns and tables.  In fact, relational databases story highly structured tables in columns of specific types and many rows of the same kind of information.  This is why the organization, and really the logical data model part of a relational database is so important.

Now that you know a little about databases, it’s time to discuss some terminology specific to relational databases.  The first relational database term I am going to discuss is entity.  An entity stores information in a database regarding something of interest in the real world, such as departments within an organization.  Next, an attribute represents information regarding an object that will be tracked, such as the birth date or social security number of an employee.  One last crucial concept within relational databases is a primary key.  A primary key identifies a specific instance or object of an entity, meaning no two instances or objects can have the same primary key.  A great example of a primary key in relational databases are ID numbers, such as the IP Address of a computer.

One popular language used for querying relational databases is SQL.  SQL can be used in many different ways for querying relational databases.  For instance, one use of SQL is for read-only operations, while other times it is used for read/write operations.  This way, only certain people can make changes to the database at certain times.

Lastly, relational databases should not get confused with graph databases, although they can be very useful for graph databases.  As neo4J states, “relationships are first-class citizens of the graph data model, unlike other database management systems, which require us to infer connections between entities using special properties such as foreign keys, or out-of-band processing like map-reduce.  In other words, relational databases are like the stepping stone for graph databases.  Some people even view graph databases as an evolution of relational databases. 

References

1.)    http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/knowing-just-enough-about-relational-databases.html

2.)    http://neo4j.com/developer/graph-db-vs-rdbms/

3.)    https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/sql/modifying-databases-with-sql/a/using-sql-to-update-a-database

Comments

1.) Janet Tran's Comment

2.) Laura Worley's Comment

B5: Janet Tran Group A

  Relational Database Theory

   

In 1970 a mathematician Edgar F. Codd, published the concept that would allow people to access information from databases without having to know how they are structured. Common relational database software are Microsoft Access and Oracle. 

To understand the basic concepts there are a few key terms to identify. A database can be defined as one that contains one or more tables of information. The rows within a table are referred to as records and the columns are referred to as fields or attributes. A relational database requires two or more related tables. Sometimes in order to increase efficiency and reduce error normalizing data is required. This involves dividing information into multiple tables that are organized differently so that there is not redundant information. Primary keys are values within a field that are composed of all unique values. For instance if a table has fields: student identification number, age, and degree. The primary key in this case is student identification number because there is not repeated value, each student has a unique identification number. When normalizing data the tables are structured as either parent, child, or orphan. When two tables have an unequal relationship, the independent one is referred to as the parent and the dependent one is the called the child. However, if there a record within the child table that does not appear in the parent table, that record is called an orphan. The number of records in one table that can be related to the records of another is table is identified as cardinality. 

The major advantage and use of relational models is its uniformity. All value stored in a table is organized to comply with the same structure. That is each record (row) are formatted the exact same. However, the fields can be unique to each primary key. Additionally, data is only stored once and allows for more efficient storage of information. It also allows for better security since data can be organized into multiple tables. This separation allows one to limit access to certain tables.

Works Cited

[1] http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/reldb/

[2]http://webs.wofford.edu/whisnantdm/Courses/CS101/PDF/Database/Relational_database_concepts.pdf

Student Comments

Comment on Schroeder's post
Comment on Redus' post 

B5 Relational Database Theory- Rebecca Lynch (Group A)

Relative database theory is a method of storing and manipulating data that simplifies these processes so that the user can access information without knowing the exact structure of the database and having an advanced knowledge of programming. The basic principle behind the theory is the grouping of objects into tables, referred to as relations, which share the same defined attributes. In each table, a row represents an object, that can be either a physical entity or abstract, and is given a primary key that is used to reference to other tables. Each column then represents a specific attribute of the object. The definition of each attribute must fall in the same domain and follow the same constraints in each table. This allows for a definition of constraints for all members of a relation, rather than each individual and ensures all objects are defined with the right type of value, such as making sure it is defined with a number or letter. Derived relations can then be created by referencing other relations with relational operators to create a new table that is then treated as a single entity. This can either be done as a one-to-one link, or a combination of different objects using functions such as union or difference.

As Laura Worley mentioned, relational databases are widely used. This type of database is useful because it allows the user to link changes to the relevant objects so only one change needs to be made for the entire system to be updated. In addition, indexes can be used to obtain data quickly and easily, in the way that you want it to be presented. For example, banks use relational databases to store customers’ information, where each row is a customer and each column is more information for that customer, such as the name, address, and financial information. This allows employees to search a customer’s name or account number and obtain all the relevant information for that customer. In addition, the use of splitting the data into derived relations that can be classified as confidential and non-confidential information allows for increased security as the users can be allowed to see only the tables they are granted access to. In the bank example, for instance, a bank teller can add money to your account without being able to see your private information such as your social security number.

Sources:

"Advantages of a Relational Database." Teach-ICT. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http:// www.teach-ict.com/as_as_computing/ocr/H447/F453/3_3_9/database_design/miniweb/pg8.htm>.

Hull, Sean. "RELATIONAL DATABASE – WHAT IS IT AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?" Scalable Startups. N.p., 05 July 2011. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www.iheavy.com/2011/07/05/ relational-database-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important/>.

"Relational Database." Icons of Progress. IBM100, n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/reldb/>.

"Relational Database." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 18 Jan. 2016. Web. 07 Feb. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database>.

Comments:
Yuanjin Li
Haoying Ye

B4 - Derek Zaccheo - Group A

For our project we are doing how office buildings will change in the future using Intelligent building technologies. We will look into this by looking into how  specific buildings utilize intelligent building technology in the first place and how we think they could utilize it within the next ten to fifteen years. We will also discuss how intelligent buildings can revolutionize the workplace and the construction industry leading us to design better buildings more efficiently. In the introduction to the paper we will discuss how we define office buildings and how we view their role in today's society. We will go into some recent history of office buildings by going into their construction history, their design history and their functionality. We will define intelligent systems and discuss what buildings we are choosing to analyze. The three office buildings we will be looking at are the Comcast Center, the One World Trade Center, and the Cira Center.

 For all three buildings mentioned above we will be looking at how they were constructed, what special, if any, techniques were used. Going more in depth for this process will be difficult as the information will likely be tough to find. We will describe current existing technologies that are being used in the buildings themselves. We will go through the current impact that these have on the occupants. Then we will go into what features we can expect to see that will improve these buildings and how these intelligent systems will affect the workplace, designers, and construction.

In our conclusion we will be discussing how other building information technologies that were not discussed earlier on in our paper could be used in other general office buildings. We will also reiterate and concisely summarize how the design and construction industries could be revolutionized by these changes as well as go into how patrons using these buildings will be impacted. We will then reiterate what technologies will be present and prevalent in the next 10-15 years.

The biggest challenge we will face by far is finding all of the information about the current buildings themselves. Sometimes these details can be tough to find and shrouded in secrecy. We chose this topic because it is very interesting and was something that this class got us thinking about. It directly ties into intelligent buildings since that's the focus of what we are talking about on the office buildings.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cira_Centre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast_Center_(Philadelphia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

Comments:
Comment on Samuel Boyce's post
Comment on Rebecca Lynch's post

B4: Janet Tran Group A

Term Project Description

My term project will be an individual that will be related to my senior design project. My design project consists of building a new library for Drexel to suit the needs of contemporary students. I will be using Revit to create a 3-dimensional explicit architectural model of my building. This will allow me to easily create sections, elevations, plans, and 3-dimensional interior and exterior views. Additionally, Revit will also be used to document the mechanical system and create schematic design drawings. Since Revit takes much less effort in drafting duct-layouts than CAD software, I anticipate it will allow me to focus more on design and less on drafting. Additionally, upon sizing and selecting equipment I will be using manufacture's download-able families that interface its specifications. Both drawings and schedules will be made using Revit. This should also allow for a more fluid process between selection, design, and documentation.

 The usefulness of Revit is that is provides and explicit 3-dimensional representation of the building. More traditional software such as AutoCAD is a mere drafting tool that has dimensional limitations. Creating a Revit model forces think about coordination and how the various building systems interact. Although I am not the architect this exercise will allow me to think and take the architectural design into consideration in order to integrate my mechanical design in a more thoughtful way. In addition, it gets me to think about the other systems such as the structural, electrical, and plumbing. 

This project will extend beyond schematic design because I will be providing zone-by-zone load calculations and identify each specific area’s load and system type applications. Unlike the structural system the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system is most likely going to consist of at least more than one type of system. I also intend on beginning ductwork layouts of the building, which is a step more in the design development process rather than the schematic design phase. Though I am not creating an intelligent building, I think these exercises will help advance my skills in the use of Revit. Having never taking a course specifically focused on this program I want to take the opportunity to develop this skill, largely because it becoming an industry standard skill. Once, I am able to establish a fundamental knowledge base it will allow me to really explore other plugin features that are more advanced, such as energy analysis and load calculations. From my understanding most mechanical engineers do not perform calculations in Revit due to its limitations. However, I want to explore this limitation in the future and see how I can use Revit to streamline the design process and make it more efficient.

Student Blog Comments

Comment on AJ Kuzniarowicz's Post

Comment on Mohammed Alqallaf's Post

B4 - Gary Reiff - Group A

The topic for the final project is how office buildings will change in terms of the intelligence used during the design and construction of office buildings over the next 10-15 years, as this is of great interest to me since chances are I will be working in an office building over the next 10-15 years.  Also, the paper will discuss how the revolution of intelligent buildings will change the work place and the construction industry.  Below is the breakdown of how the paper is going to be formatted and written.

The introduction of the paper will define exactly what an office building is.  Next, the recent history of office buildings will be discussed.  This will include the construction history of the office buildings, the design history of office buildings, and the functionality history of office buildings in general.  From there, intelligent features will be defined.  Lastly, the 3 state of the art office buildings that will be discussed throughout the paper will be stated.

The first office building to be discussed is the Comcast Center in Philadelphia.  Research will be done on both the construction process and the design process that went into creating the Comcast Center.  Next, the specific intelligent features originally and currently incorporated into the Comcast Center will be investigated.  Then, the paper will describe how more recent intelligent features could be incorporated into the Comcast Center, and how these more recent intelligent features could affect the workplace at the Comcast Center.  Lastly, the paper might give some insight on how the new Comcast Center is being constructed, and how its intelligent features differ from the Comcast Center built in the last 10 years.  However, this could be challenging depending on how available the information is on the Comcast Center currently under construction.

The second office building to be discussed is the One World Trade Center in New York City.  Research will be done on both the construction process and the design process that went into creating the One World Trade Center.  Next, the specific intelligent features originally and currently incorporated into the One World Trade Center will be investigated.  Then, the paper will describe how more recent intelligent features could be incorporated into the One World Trade Center, and how these more recent intelligent features could affect the workplace at the One World Trade Center.  Lastly, the paper might give some insight on how the One World Trade Center is being constructed, and how its intelligent features differ from the original World Trade Center.  However, this may be more difficult since I’m not sure how much information is available on the original World Trade Center.

The third office building to be discussed is the Cira Center in Philadelphia.  Research will be done on both the construction process and the design process that went into creating the Cira Center.  Next, the specific intelligent features originally and currently incorporated into the Cira Center will be investigated.  Lastly, the paper will describe how more recent intelligent features could be incorporated into the Cira Center, and how these more recent intelligent features could affect the workplace at the Cira Center.

Finally, the conclusion will discuss future technologies on the rise that have not been discussed already, as well as how all of the intelligent features discussed could impact the design and construction industries of office buildings.  Lastly, a prediction will be made regarding intelligent features and how they will be incorporated into office buildings over the next 10-15 years.

References
1.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cira_Centre
2.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast_Center_(Philadelphia)
3.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

Comments

1.) Sam Boyce's Comment

2.) Yuanjin Li's Comment

B4 - Samuel Boyce - Wearables - Group A

The topic that I have chosen to work on for my final project is that of wearables, specifically in relation to their usage in buildings both during construction and its operation. I only heard about this topic last year during my final co-op at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. In their newest building, as well as to some degree in their older buildings, they were installing a system known as RTLS (Real Time Location System). In essence it is a system that is used to locate people within a building, but its applications go far beyond that. One of the main functionalities of the system was integrated with the Nurse Call system. If a call was made, the nurse on duty would be located and identified. As soon as she entered the patients room, the call would be automatically turned off, ensuring efficient usage of resources. The new building had even grander plans for its RTLS system, which included patient tracking.

Although wearables relationship with Intelligent Buildings (IB) may not be immediately clear, I hope the above example has pointed you in the right direction. The applications for this range from the mundane task of ensuring hourly employees are paid justly all the way to personalised rooms that change depending on who is entering the room. As part of this paper I hope to examine not only what is available  today, but also look towards the future of wearables being used in buildings.

One challenge I foresee with this topic is the lack of diversity in current uses. To my knowledge, Hospitals are one of the few places that have adopted this RTLS technology, and off the top of my head I am not aware of any large scale uses of wearables in conjunction with a building, but I am hoping to be surprised. I also see challenges with the implication of this topic, and therefore it is something that I would like to cover as well.

Comments:

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-topic-for-final-project-is-how.html?showComment=1454426436163#c7965182714040418740

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/01/topic-discussion-rebecca-lynch-group-a.html?showComment=1454428052621#c7051254003860384661

B4- Rebecca Lynch (Group A)

The topic that I chose with my partner Sean Coffey is the use of the internet of things in increasing the sustainability of buildings. There is an increasing push in society towards the development of sustainable practices and products that reduce our impact on the environment. Besides from the politicians and spokespeople encouraging this move towards a more sustainable society, the main driving force is the money savings associated with the reduction of energy usage of the building as a large incentive for both companies and individuals. Through research and case studies, we plan to show that the implementation of the internet of things into buildings can increase the sustainability of any building, even those that are LEED certified.

An important aspect in the use and maintenance of intelligent buildings is the implementation of the internet of things. The use of smart devices to monitor and control a building increases the ease of maintaining the building as well as provides optimal comfort with less and less human interference. The ability of products to communicate with each other enables the control and monitoring of an entire building with just one app. With these new capabilities, the sustainability of our buildings can be drastically improved by increasing the ease and awareness of the user in the reduction of energy usage.

Products such as the Nest Thermostat have already been developed and are currently used as an easy way of energy conservation. The system acts as a hub for the control of smart devices through a single app that not only allows the user to change the settings from anywhere, but also learns the user’s preferences and behaviors to predict future changes. This reduces the use of energy through various methods, though the most prevalent is through reducing the energy usage when no one is home. Additional products can be integrated into this system to further reduce energy impacts, such as the connection of the washer and drier to the Nest, which gathers information from the power company to determine when the peak time is, and only run the washer in non-peak times.

As with any new emerging technology, there are many limitations and potential risks of the internet of things. The major limitation at the moment is the integration of existing products to work as one. Currently, the use of hubs attempts to solve this problem by connecting all of the smart devices to a single controller. However, the hubs have their own limitations in their capabilities of connecting to only specific products. The main risk that the public is most concerned about is the impact these systems will have on personal security and privacy. Not only is there the risk of hackers taking control of a smart device to cause harm to the user, but there is a fear of the misuse of the data collected by the companies themselves. For this reason, companies will need to gain consumers’ trust in the protection and use of their data.

Sources:

Amadeo, Ron. "Google Tracker 2015: Everything We Know Google Is Working on for the New Year." ARS Technica. N.p., 29 Dec. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/12/google-tracker-2015-everything-google-is-working-on-for-the-new-year/#h1>.

Cheng, Roger. "​What Lurks beneath the Internet of Things Hype? Nagging Security Fears." CNET. N.p., 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.cnet.com/news/what-lies-beneath-the-internet-of-things-hype-an-undercurrent-of-security-fears/>.

Colon, Alex. "The Best Smart Home Automation Hubs of 2015." PCMAG. N.p., 27 May 2015. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2468647,00.asp>.

Cringely, Robert X. "Prediction #7: Internet of Things Becomes a Security Nightmare." I Cringely. N.p., 12 Jan. 2016. Web. 31 Jan. 2016. <http://www.cringely.com/2016/01/13/prediction-7-internet-of-things-is-a-security-nightmare/>.

Comments:
Laura Worley
Cristian Almendariz

B4, Group A, Worley

The project that I have chosen to write about with Allison Locke is Dynamic Building and adaptive buildings. Dynamic buildings are buildings in which the façade changes to accomplish some type of goal. Adaptive and Dynamic Buildings are built for a plethora of different reasons. Some are created to be visually appealing whereas others have environmental, cost and occupational aspects. I have always had an interest in adaptive buildings and thought that this would be a great way to be able to learn more about it.

I think that this fits into the intelligent building topic in the sense that they are intelligent buildings and can interact with the environment around them. 

There are many different dynamic buildings that are currently constructed. We will focus on some of these buildings as well as research and the technology that is used within them. We have found many different buildings that we are interested in. One particular building is the ICT cluster of Central Serbia. This building has a façade with sensors that monitor the amount of sunlight on the building. These sensors are also attached to bubble like structures on the exterior of the building. Depending on the amount of sunlight that is hitting that spot, the bubbles inflate and deflate to provide more or less insulation to the building. After researching current dynamic buildings, we will research new innovative technology for dynamic buildings. Phase changing materials are currently being studied for new alternatives to dynamic buildings. Phase changing materials are able to freeze and melt. These materials release thermal energy in the process. This is currently being researched as a method of heating/cooling buildings. There are quite a few other technologies that are currently being researched and utilized such as sensors, and programming.

As the paper progresses, I'm sure that we will find more dynamic buildings and innovative technologies associated with them to write about and discuss.

https://nocloudinthesky.wordpress.com/2014/01/

www.puretemp.com/stories/understanding-pcms

Comments:

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/01/as-i-haveprogressed-through-my.html?showComment=1454178281770#c4049806618483910050

http://ae-510-ay15-16.blogspot.com/2016/01/b4-group-c-sean-coffey.html