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From Broadband Properties Magazine | www.killerapp.com

The Evolution of the Genius Building
Business : Feature
BY HERB HAUSER, Midtown Technologies
03/08/2007

"Broadband is the lifeblood of the Genius Building."

The Information Age, which has brought us robust communications, very rich entertainment and, of course, plentiful information, has also enhanced our lives with the creation of the “Genius Genre.” This genre includes cars that proactively report their mechanical problems, heating systems that tell us about drafts in our homes, and refrigerators that e-mail us with real-time shopping lists.

Of all the emerging Genius devices, none have the potential to change our lives so much as “Genius Buildings.” Genius Buildings are more than rest stops along the information superhighway; they are the destinations to which we are headed, the scenery that attracts us. They are the places where we choose to live and work.

What is a Genius Building, and why is it the next evolutionary step in real estate?

Forerunners to Genius Buildings

The early ancestors of Genius Buildings were buildings whose fire alarm systems were wired to telegraph lines. When a fire was reported, a switch was thrown and a prepunched card sent a Morse-code message to the fire department. A little later, builders began to install telephone infrastructure into new buildings and connect them to telephone exchanges.

As the 20th century progressed, still more features were added to buildings: radio and television antennas, electronic security systems, elevators that monitored load and efficiency. Although energy was still inexpensive, automated energy monitoring systems began to be installed as well. By the 1990s, buildings were being connected to multiple communications providers.

The year 1997 marked a watershed event with Rudin Management’s introduction of a comprehensively wired building at 55 Broad Street in New York City. This bar-setting building, also called the New York Information Technology Center, was wired for all forms of communication from all providers, including those that were satellite-based. The building made use of fiber optics and prewired spaces as well as advanced security, environmental and building management systems.

Ten years later, the wired building has begun its metamorphosis into the “Genius Building.”

Characteristics of Genius Buildings

Like their ancestors, Genius Buildings are wired and designed to facilitate communications inside and outside the building. They are built with a convergent infrastructure – a single infrastructure that supports many applications including voice, video, data, security, building management, energy controls and operations.

They are green – green as in their relationship to the environment, and green as in the color of money. They are dynamic, not static, in the sense that they are interactive with their owners, managers and tenants.

Finally, like their human occupants, Genius Buildings can articulate their own unique consumption profiles, and in doing so, can have their financial fundamentals adjusted on a real-time, ongoing basis.

At the core of these characteristics is, of course, the broadband information capacity that is available to the building, and its subsequent utilization and distribution within the building. Information has become the fourth real estate utility, after electric power, HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) and water. Broadband is the lifeblood of the Genius Building; without it the building would simply be a static structure incapable of expansion or change.

In order to maximize broadband, two things must be present in the building: bandwidth and distribution. A comprehensive distribution network must be both wired and wireless, since there are always applications or locations for which wireless is the preferred method of transport.

With adequate bandwidth and distribution, the task of converging applications can begin. Application convergence begins at the physical layer of the infrastructure. The essential rule is that the more applications that can share bandwidth on a single infrastructure, the more efficient and cost-effective the installation will be.

In practical terms, this means that voice, video, data, security, building management systems, energy management and other systems all utilize a common infrastructure. Some developers are not comfortable having diverse systems sharing a common infrastructure, due to the potential for global disruption in the event of a failure. While these concerns are reasonable, they can be dealt with through appropriate network design and backup planning.

Why Genius Buildings Are Green

The issue of “Green Buildings” and their role in the movement towards Genius Buildings warrants special consideration. Green buildings are in vogue today. They are touted as energy efficient, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable. But what actually is a green building? And how does greenness relate to Genius status?

A building is considered green if it is built from recycled materials, uses low-volatility paints and glues, recycles its black water, uses energy-efficient glass and has high- efficiency HVAC systems – to name but a few features. While greening a building is an excellent idea in theory, the devil appears to be in the financial burdens that these features place on a project.

Because green buildings are often designed in a nonstandard fashion, their design costs may be relatively high. For example, it isn't a simple task to design a water reclamation system to attach to the waste water system and perform recycling functions. But while green buildings pose many design, financial and operational challenges, they represent a step forward in our attempts to reach an accommodation and balance with our environment.

Green buildings would probably attract more attention and be implemented more frequently if they also posed attractive financial opportunities for developers. How can a green building maintain the color of money?

Often, broadband can provide the bridge between the good intentions of a green building and the realities of the real estate business plan. Any building that achieves a high energy-efficiency rating and/or can anticipate and follow the climate so as to purchase energy in real time will be able to save and, in some cases, earn dollars in the new energy economy. But maximizing energy efficiency and anticipating energy demand in real time is an information-intensive operation. Broadband can provide the real-time connection between the building, its external and internal environment and the systems that produce and deliver energy. With the right information, green building can work financially.

A Machine for Learning

The interaction of the Genius Building with its environment is only one example of how these buildings function dynamically, in contrast to the static, monolithic operations we are used to seeing. A Genius Building may have a security system that uses facial recognition to “learn” who is a regular, who is a guest and who has been to the building but not sought entry.

In another example, Genius Buildings can allow remote monitoring of critical systems so that facilities-based staff can be reduced during evenings, weekends and holidays. One day, Genius Buildings may even track individuals’ locations during off-peak hours so they can provide climate control only to the parts of the building that are actually occupied.

Finally, a Genius Building can not only provide proactive maintenance and trouble ticketing to management, but can also learn about the ways in which its tenants and residents use the building, and provide meaningful and timely information in order to operate economically and efficiently. By designing to Genius status, the value of “Information as the fourth utility” can be realized.

About the Author

Herb Hauser is the president of Midtown Technologies, LLC, which helps real estate owners and telecommunications companies build technology into properties. He will be presenting a session on Genius Buildings at the Killer App Expo & Conference on April 30 in Fort Wayne, IN.

© Killer App Ventures. 2007