What is intelligent? It is important to have the parameters defined for qualifying housing to be called intelligent. The whole process of conceiving, planning, procurement & execution could qualify the housing to be called intelligent. The seed for intelligent housing can be sown right at the Design Inception stage itself beginning from the Concept Design. Home Automation is an added attribute for an intelligent housing and is the order of the day. Intelligent housing with Home Automation or domotics is an interesting perspective but it is also important that the end user understands the combination and goes through his/her daily routine enjoying the benefits of the attributes of the system in place. Home Automation or “Domotics’’ is building automation for a home, called a Smart Home or Smart House (ref. Wikipedia). A home automation system will control lighting, climate, entertainment system and appliances. The house/home living becomes struggle free. Every switch and appliance in a home is a connected device in a “Smart Home” having Automation. Security Systems is an important part of Home Automation. It primarily has to do with home security such as access control and alarm system. Coming to Intelligent Housing—the process of lean could be followed with the last planner approach and following a system driven approach. Let us dwell upon Lean—with the design planning approach for a moment.
LEAN APPROACH
Lean is a way to intelligently manage and design a system to minimize waste of material, time and effort in order to generate maximum output. Ease of Construction can be achieved by adopting Lean through modular construction, standardized details, bulk material purchase and efficient time management. Make the industry as a partner in the development so that material use could be optimized.
DESIGN AND PLANNING APPROACH
Intelligent housing must have a good design. It must have proper orientation to gain energy from maximum natural resources. It should address the social aspect of Housing creating Community spaces for Leisure time and catering to all age groups of residents. Design must be aesthetically sound, cost effective, having pleasing effects and with efficiency features which are governed by Building Automation. Construction of building including all associated services in modular concept taking into consideration the repetition system. Simplified approach to the design of MEP Serviceskeeping the serviceability of prime importance in the building design—over the Life Cycle of the Building. Use of extensive local materials to reduce the carbon footprint and use of dry construction techniques—reduction of wet work leading to saving on time plus reduction of waste. Encouragement to manufacture of components off-site to control quality and save on time. Off—site works can be carried out in parallel to on-going construction activity at site.
SUSTAINABLE APPROACH TO DESIGN & BUILDING AUTOMATION
There is an increasing direction being taken towards Sustainable Approach towards design which is the order of the day. There is provision to provide live data and statistics about most of the systems integrated like energy consumption, water consumption, temperature, humidity and heating system. This would assist in keeping and monitoring the Sustainable Design parameters and reduction in Carbon Footprint. App based monitoring of all components such as Accounts, Energy, Visitor Entry, Service Request Generation /monitoring, notification, SMS Update on energy consumption, Bill Reports, Stand by Complaint attendance and redressal updates- also helps the individual residents in keeping a tab on their consumptions.
HOME AUTOMATION A BOON AND A BANE
Home Automation is to be seen from whole to part and part to whole – having a smooth user interface. When connected with the internet, home devices are an important constituent of the Internet of Things (IOT) A home automation system typically connects controlled devices to a central hub or “gateway”. It also provides various options of Security as illustrated above. There are quite a few systems available with varying features—starting from RFID readers, Biometrics, proximity scanning, IP based surveillance through CCTV which can be viewed on one’s smart phone linked through apps. A lot of app based applications are being included in the housing – where security features are an important part. The nature of home automation devices can also be a problem for security, since patches to bugs found in the core operating system often do not reach users of older and lower price devices. One set of researchers say that the failure of vendors to support older devices with patches and updates leaves more than 87% of active devices vulnerable.
About the Author:
Mr. Jasvinder Singh Khurana is a Graduate from the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi and is an Associate of Institute of Town Planner’s India—from where he completed his Post Graduate study in Town Planning.
He joined ARCOP as an Architectural intern in January 1992 and has continued working here ever since. Presently he holds the position of Associate Director in the company
He has more than 25 years of experience as a Design Associate in Architectural Design and Planning . During this professional tenure. Mr. Khurana has worked and delivered on a wide spectrum of Projects in India and Abroad. He has acquired great deal of knowledge in design and construction – which he applies in the creation of new designs adapting to the Context and Character.
