ATTRIBUTES OF A SMART OFFICE

Abstract

It is said that there is no single definition of a smart building. Nowadays, a green building can also be called a smart building due to its adoption of technologies to ensure sustainability. However, many do not realize that a smart building or specifically smart office buildings should not only adopt smart features to reduce carbon footprint but also to achieve other benefits. Thus, this paper will introduce four attributes that a smart office should encompass namely – Interconnectivity (IC), Resource Efficiency (RE), Safety & Security (SS) and Comfort & Convenience (CC) – to ensure a more comprehensive structure of a smart office.

There are not many existing smart offices that meet all four attributes. This paper will study 6 smart offices around the world that adopts smart features and technology based on these four attributes. It will then focus on one smart office to provide a better understanding of the smart features and technologies that is adopted in the building. A simple analysis is done based on the case studies to show the level of extensiveness on the usage of smart features and its technologies to achieve the attributes proposed.

A smart office should encompass all of the four attributes proposed and this is reflected in this research paper. However, it can be seen that many seem to focus on how the adoption of smart features result in resource efficiency and interconnectivity, and this is not sufficient. It is important to highlight that smart offices or smart buildings in general should make full use of existing smart technologies in the market to reap the full benefits that technology poses.