The reasons to build a smart building are twofold: to save money and to integrate the systems to enable the building manager and tenants to do things that cannot be done with separate systems. Integration means the systems communicate and share data, provide more functionality, and allow information from one technology system to affect the actions of other systems. The essence of the smart building is composed of advanced and integrated systems for building automation, life safety, and telecommunications systems. A typical building has multiple technology systems, possibly upward of 14 or 15. The systems share several common features yet, despite these commonalities, we typically plan, deploy, and run the systems separately. The basis for smart buildings are, quite simply, a handful of technical standards that already dominate the marketplace and allow for integration: Ethernet networks, TCP/IP protocols, SQL databases, standard fiber opticand unshielded twisted pair cables, and the Internet.
    Learning objectives:

• Identify the technical systems and their interrelationships in a smart building
• Summarize the impact of smart buildings on architectural and design issues
• Analyze, through a case study, how the cost of smart buildings is justified to clients