Classic from the outside, smart from the inside: The era of smart buildings

Abstract

Internet of Things has gained a lot of hype in a very short period and is being adopted by varied sectors in order to attain its potential by bringing advanced level of automation in the respective industry based activities to reap the benefits. The commercial real estate is one such domain that many countries are focusing on transforming their buildings and infrastructure to have the cities contributing towards to become as ‘smarter cities’. The intelligent buildings are where the schools, offices, residential complexes integrate IoT for enhancing the capabilities and efficiency of the building infrastructure. The fundamental drivers that have encouraged for smart buildings in the market place are meeting the goals of corporate social responsibility, revenue growth and improving operational efficiency. With the demand for deployment of smart buildings on the rise, there have been many key trends that have emerged making it a thrust to have revolutionized transformation for digitalizing the commercial buildings, homes, etc. by means of effective smart solutions. The paper critically analyses the role of IoT in smart buildings, the latest trends that are demanding for a shift to smart buildings, and highlights the challenges for smart buildings implementation.