Smart Buildings Systems for Architects, Owners and Builders

There is a tendency to assume that universal metrics for smart buildings
should exist regarding energy savings and capital and operating costs or a pos-
sible standardized technology approach. However the wide variety of building
types and sizes, owners, designers, sites and economic scenarios makes that
impossible. Each building needs to be placed in the context of factors that
influence it. Case studies are a way to ascertain real-world results on how
building owners and managers took the smart building approach and applied
it to their situation. The two case studies that follow are examples of smart
building technologies being used in different environments.

Ave Maria University

In 2002, Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza and chairman of the
Ave Maria Foundation and the Barron Collier Companies, a diversified devel-
opment company, became partners in a major development near Naples, Flor-
ida, the town of Ave Maria. The impetus for the development was
Monaghan’s desire to build a permanent campus for Ave Maria University
which became the centerpiece of the development. The campus is situated on
about 1,000 acres, with the initial building phase consisting of 500,000 square
feet of facilities, serving nearly 500 students and 200 faculty and staff
(Fig. 18.1).
While the campus prides itself on social interaction, collaboration, commu-
nity and personal instruction, the technology available to the students, staff,
administrators and managers of the campus is exceptional. Installed in the first
phase of the construction of the university were twenty-three integrated build-
ing technology systems. The project has been referred to as a “clear landmark
in the area of intelligent building management” and has won global awards for
best use of automation (Fig. 18.2).

Project Scope

The initial construction phase of the university involved 11 buildings:

n Campus library

n Oratory

n K-12 facility

n Undergraduate dormitories (4)

n Student activities center

202 Smart Building Systems for Architects, Owners, and Builders