EDITORIAL

The Royal Academy of Engineering has defined the essential factors that comprise systems engineering thinking (Elliott, 2009) as:

	Debate, define, revise and pursue the purpose
	Think holistically
	Follow a disciplined procedure
	Be creative
	Take account of the people
	Manage the project and the relationships

Emes describes five fundamental principles which not only reduce the risk of projects overshooting budget and time targets but improve the overall effectiveness of design and management processes. They echo to a large extent those described by Elliott.

We in construction can learn a lot from other sectors such as defence, aerospace, automobile, ship building, nuclear and pharmaceuticals, for example. These industries pose danger to life, so seem to be more critical than construction, and, as a consequence, the design and processes are more acute and performance-based assessments have been the norm. Yet even though buildings are rarely dangerous except in case of fire, earthquakes or structural collapse, they do affect the health of their occupants. They are also the biggest emitter of CO₂, more than traffic or agriculture or industry.

Emes and his co-authors briefly cover the history of systems engineering which originally emerged with World War II military- and space-based projects. Life cycle, needs, interdisciplinarity, interoperability and systems are keywords. With these the relevance to sustainable intelligent buildings becomes immediately obvious. Construction has been budget- and time-led but now, with sustainability performance-based evaluation, is becoming more considered. Rather than capital cost the word value is becoming the language marker of success, determined by whole life costs and quality. Quality is leaning towards the fulfilment of sustainability measures.

Articulating and deciding user needs is no easy matter. Barrett and Zhang report on their survey of teachers' opinions in five primary schools. In this survey teachers stressed the importance of good quality artificial lighting, colour, the need for flexible furniture and a preference for larger classrooms. Their previous study described pupils' preferences and there are some differences between these and their teachers, as shown in the authors' Table 3. Good manual control of the heating and windows besides daylight are also important. The study also showed that the real environmental problems are more likely to occur now more in summer than winter. However this is only one of many surveys that are available on schools. The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Schools Group is producing a Technical Memorandum on school design and the British Council for School Environments (BCSE) is working on a Decent School Standard during 2012. Both bodies of work recognise that buildings affect the quality of teaching and learning. These publications will be a substantial reference source on school design.

Most of us are agreed that we need feedback from our buildings in use. The Soft Landings Framework is a big step towards this which brings Post Occupancy Evaluation into the formal design and management processes. We are now working on a Special Issue devoted to this. In practice there can be a reluctance to share these experiences from user surveys because people do not like any faults publicized. Buildings however do not have to be named and shamed they can just add to an accumulating body of experiential knowledge of best practice.

Wireless sensor networks can take us further down the road of discovery by embedding sensors in structures, systems, equipment and even the clothing of the occupant. This will bring the linkage between occupant and building even closer so effecting more personal control of micro-climates near the person. Buildings as well as people can be considered as organisms, continually adjusting to changes in climate, work needs and ultradian rhythms. People will learn about how their mind and bodies are reacting, giving real meaning to subjective responses by interpreting the sensor data measured. Chang and his co-authors use radio frequency integrated circuits with temperature and humidity sensor chips embedded in reinforced concrete structures and the data are fed back to the building physiology information system. The condition of facades plays an important role in building maintenance and facilities management. The authors believe health behaviours of buildings are similar to those of humans. This kind of work is rapidly developing and demonstrates the building–occupant dual organism idea mentioned above, besides offering a more advanced in-depth post occupancy evaluation method for the future.

Reijula and Tommelein present a literature review of lean healthcare practices worldwide. The Finnish perspective is valuable as health and education achieve a very high standard there and the support facilities including the buildings are part of this. As in all things there has to be a commitment by all stakeholders but, by adopting a lean approach in hospital design and management practice, the gains can be very worthwhile in terms of work productivity, patient waiting times, an improved built environment and lower carbon footprints.

This issue demonstrates a wealth of possibilities for intelligent buildings of the future and please all readers let us have your ideas for progressing this work which includes intelligent cities with all their buildings and infrastructures. You may want to write a paper or serve actively on the Editorial Board or simply spread the word about INBI. Just write to me with your ideas.