DESIGN QUAR- BUILDINGS, PEOPLE & TECHNOLOGY TERLY ISSUE 09 Dynamic response to digitally driven change DESIGN THOUGHTS, TRENDS AND INNOVATION QUAR- FROM THE STANTEC BUILDINGS GROUP. The Stantec Design Quarterly tells stories that showcase thoughtful, forward-looking TERLY ISSUE 09 approaches to design that build community. IN THIS ISSUE: BUILDINGS, PEOPLE & TECHNOLOGY Increasingly, our digital life intersects with design of the built environment. Technological change challenges our clients to keep pace. The tools and methods we use for designing, building and getting feedback are changing quickly. In this issue, we look at tech from both the design practice and the client perspective, from the digital twin concept to 3D scanning, which digital trends we should design for, and when to think beyond them. Get to know the digital twin The next gamechanger for digital design and buildings. BY RICHARD BAKER AND SETH ELY Top five categories of data cities are using now 100 2020 may be the year 90 of the digital twin. 80 70 60 For designers and planners facing the challenges of designing a smarter, more sustainable building and 50 community, the digital twin is a potentially powerful NUMBEROF CITIES game-changer. We’re experiencing a push to develop 40 and implement the digital twin. But what exactly is the buzz about? What is a digital twin, what elements 30 define it? When can/should we apply this technology? What makes it so powerful? And how will its adoption 20 influence our design process and ultimately our buildings and cities? > 10 1 2 3 4 5 1. IoT–data from the interconnection of devices and machines 2. Artificial Intelligence–data derived through AI and machine learning 3. Real-time–data used immediately after it is generated 4. Citizen satisfaction–data sourced from regular surveys of citizens 5. Administrative–internal data from across departments and city services Microsoft 83 Redmond, Washington Architect of Record: BORA Interiors and ZGF Shell Engineer of Record: Stantec Source: Building a Hyperconnected City, a survey of 100 cities by ESI ThoughtLab co-sponsored by Stantec Check out this interactive piece on 7 Best Practices of Highly Effective Smart Cities Top five categories of data cities plan to develop in next three years Lincoln Square Bellevue, Washington Architect: HKS Architects Lighting design by Stantec What is a digital twin? A single pane of glass 100 There are many ways to define digital Across the industry, the ideal metaphor for twin and it’s likely our understanding will digital twins is the “single pane of a glass.” 90 change as we see it go from concept to real Ideally, we are creating a single pane of glass world application. A digital twin is a digital to look into the building where all systems 80 representation of a physical environment are in one spot. In general, today’s systems that collects real time data, it’s where the real and data are distributed and siloed, they 70 world meets data science and computational are difficult to manage and understand as engineering. This digital model incorporates a whole. From an operations perspective 60 not only the building information model, but we could have users creating different KPIs also live system data from devices within for what they feel is critical and necessary 50 the building. All these different data streams information, but it results in a mixed and NUMBEROF CITIES are brought together and expressed in a unwieldly segmented data stream. But what 40 common 3D environment to, in simple terms, happens if we create a unified data platform recreate the physical world. It allows users that places all this data together, side by side? 30 and operators to query, analyze and track the inputs as well as the parameters of the model User interfaces 20 itself to create a variety of uses. Not everyone accesses the data the same way. A unified data platform is overlaid 10 It's visual. with a system featuring multiple user 1 2 3 4 5 Buildings have been collecting data for interfaces. The building operator will work years. It’s the 3D representation that enables with an interface that show the KPIs that are 1. IoT–data from the interconnection us to visualize the data and see it in real important to them, say energy consumption of devices and machines time that’s the game changer. This data and occupancy. Another user might access 2. Real-time–data used immediately after it is generated rich platform allows us to see and use that the data related to emergency preparedness historical collection of data to understand to see how the building will operate during 3. Artificial Intelligence–data derived through AI and machine learning how a building performs and how it’s an extreme weather event or emergency. 4. Administrative–internal data from being used. Rather than a virtual “mirror” Another access point might simply allow across departments and city services of the building, the digital twin is a visible employees to see the location of the available 5. Business–data from local companies abstraction of all the usable, relevant data desks in a free address system. > reflecting trends and activities of their customers about the building. Source: Building a Hyperconnected City, a survey of 100 cities by ESI ThoughtLab co-sponsored by Stantec TAKE THE QUIZ Are you Smart Cities Smart? Stantec Tower Edmonton, AB What are the elements that make a digital twin? Internet of things Can be focused Hot data vs. cold data Internet of things or IOT The digital twin can be A digital twin offers clients BUILDING SYSTEMS HAVE devices are devices that collect leveraged at several levels of the opportunity to bring all data from a sensor and send implementation. Some digital this data together, to harness ALWAYS PRODUCED A that data to the cloud. In the twins are relatively focused on the future power of cold data, LOT OF DATA BUT IT cloud, a conglomeration of a specific function, say on so that people understand IS TYPICALLY ONLY data from many devices has energy use. A power utility how their interactions with ACCESSIBLE TO ENGINEERS the potential to relay a lot of company, for example, might the building and business are AND DOES NOT PROVIDE intelligence about everything deploy a digital twin strategy related to it. When we’re making ANY VALUE TO USERS. THIS from room occupation to on a district scale. data relevant, we’re turning it IS COLD DATA. technology use to temperature into hot data. and air quality. They're interested in data sets related to energy use because THE DIGITAL TWIN The IOT device itself is not their key performance indicators PROMISES TO MAKE necessarily a digital twin but are all about power usage and BUILDING DATA VISIBLE SO combining IOT sensors and efficiency. IT CAN BE ACCESSED AND IOT inputs with the digital twin ANALYZED BY END USERS creates a really powerful tool. When we talk about live data TO SUPPORT THEIR GOALS. inputs, we’re talking about the ACTIONABLE BUILDING data from IOT devices relaying DATA IS HOT DATA. information into the digital twin. Get to know the digital twin | 04 Stantec Tower Creating a digital twin at Stantec Tower Edmonton, AB We are in the process of creating a digital twin and a smart building and living learning lab in Stantec’s Edmonton tower. Here are a couple of the promising facets from Stantec Tower’s digital twin we’re investigating and hoping to push forward. THE INSTANT FEEDBACK LOOP Typically, in the process of design development you Practically, digital twin is likely to have a profound effect do research, you develop strategies, you build it, you on how we design buildings. Either by code or by training, implement it, and then you evaluate how successful it overwhelmingly, designers are taught to over design was. In the traditional building design process, we receive in the current paradigm. Overdesign impacts costs, but most of the feedback at the one-year mark in a post- also sustainability and embodied carbon. Once we start occupancy evaluation. Then you do the next project to understand the data, we can understand where with the data or feedback from your previous project, overdesign is happening, we can reduce infrastructure, captured at just one moment in time, in mind. So, we can update codes, and then we can start to create traditionally, we accumulate design feedback sequentially truly sustainable smart buildings, which aggregate into from project to project. sustainable smart cities. Digital twin technology changes all that. A digital We could, for example, through digital twin identify a twin gives us access to continuous and ongoing peak energy requirement. We could then design a system feedback around systems, performance, and utilization that meets that maximum requirement but leverages within the building. It’s a much richer and prolonged timing or scheduling to shift the load and minimize the feedback process. energy use so that a smaller system can be used. The result? Greater efficiency and cost savings. With continuous access to the data visualization of the digital twin, we can receive instant and continuous And we’re just getting started imagining the potential of feedback from our design. We can test and simulate the digital twin. It’s theorized that in the future the digital changes to the system before they are implemented. twin will harness the power of AI to refine and improve Ultimately, this means that the digital twin will change systems autonomously. Constantly adjusting toward This Globe and Mail series speaks to the breadth and depth of our 01 the design process just as much as building operations.